Financial Times FT.com

First Person: Danny Devenny

As told to Teresa Levonian Cole

Published: January 3 2009 00:25 | Last updated: January 3 2009 00:25

I learnt how to draw at Long Kesh prison. When the troubles arrived in Ireland in 1968, people of my generation joined the IRA automatically. That’s how 11 out of 13 people in my football team ended up imprisoned or dead.

I volunteered at 15, in 1970, and three years later robbed a bank for the IRA, with two 16-year-old mates. We were just kids – we even forgot to bring a bag to put the money in. But there must have been a tip-off, because the police were waiting for us. A passer-by wrestled me to the ground, and I was shot three times as I tried to escape. It was like a scene from Dog Day Afternoon.

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