SNIPPET: In April 2006 there were many events to celebrate the centenary of the birth (April 13, 1906) of the Irish writer Samuel Barclay BECKETT, whose plays "Waiting for Godot" and "Krapp's Last Tape" are perhaps the best known. BECKETT was born in Dublin. His works were influenced by his close friend, Irish writer James JOYCE. BECKETT began writing in the early 1930's, settling in France in the mid-1930's. He first gained international fame with his "Waiting for Godot" (1952). His best-known novels include the trilogy "Molloy" (1951), "Malone Dies" (1951) and "The Unnamable" (1953). BECKETT spent much of his life in France, but he always retained an interest in Ireland; his writings show an Irish reference in turns of phrase and description of the landscape. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, in 1969, he became the fourth Irishman to be awarded, the Nobel Prize for Literature. BECKETT wrote in French and translated many of his own works into English. His works show man as an absurd and pathetic creature in a meaningless, or at least unknowable, universe. His characters long chiefly for extinction. All of their actions, even suicide attempts, are futile. BECKETT was considered by many to be reclusive and unapproachable. The opposite appears to be true as the photographer John MINIHAN found out in 1980. MINIHAN was born in Athy, Co. Kildare. When he was eleven, his family moved to London where he later became a photographer, firstly with the Daily Mail and then with the London Evening Standard. Each time he returned to Ireland, he photographed his homeplace and in 1980, after learning that BECKETT was in London, John sent him a letter asking for a meeting. BECKETT responded positively and John got access - albeit conditionally - to the austere, reclusive writer, bringing along some of his Athy portraits. There was a quality in John's portrayals which appealed to BECKETT and so until his death in 1989, BECKETT allowed MINIHAN to photograph him in rehearsals in England and at home in Paris. MINIHAN's photographs of BECKETT are very moving and there was an ease between photographer and writer which they both understood and respected. When BECKETT first moved to Paris in 1928, one of his friends was Thomas MacGREEVY, who later became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. BECKETT spent many hours at the Gallery, so it is fitting that, from June to mid-September, 2006, as part of the Beckett Centenary an exhibition 'Samuel Beckett - A passion for Paintings' will be held in the new Millennium Wing. Several of John MINIHAN's photographs may be seen in the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, Dublin, and in the July-August 2006 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine.