Mairead was born in 1944 and became involved in the peace movement in Northern Ireland in 1976 following the deaths of her sister Anne's (who later committed suicide) 3 children who had been hit by a car driven by an IRA fugitive fatally shot by police.
Within 2 days of the incident Mairead and her co-recipient of the Nobel Prize, Betty Williams, who had witnessed the deaths, had collected thousands of signatures and organised a march for peace which was attended by 10,000 people, both Protestant and Catholic.
Members of the IRA attempted to disrupt the march, accusing the marchers of being "dupes for the British". The following week the pair organised another march attended by 35,000
1944 - Born