The grave of Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, in Dublin’s St. Fintan’s Cemetery, is the most-visited gravesite in all of Ireland. And those who made the pilgrimage would often be greeted by Philomena Lynott, his mother, who spent large amounts of time maintaining his grave. Before leaving, she would kick the headstone because he “was a naughty boy for doing drugs.” Indeed, in a letter she wrote to her son last year while in hospice, she promised to “give him a big kick in the bum for breaking my heart” when they were reunited.
When she wasn’t metaphorically kicking, Lynott was the true keeper of her son’s flame. A single mother who was shunned by her local community for having a mixed-race child out of wedlock, Lynott went on to become a vocal advocate for LGBT rights, an integral figure in getting a statue of her son erected in Dublin, and found time to tell Mitt Romney to fuck off in 2012 when he tried to use “The Boys Are Back In Town” as an election campaign song. Now, let the kicking commence.
Philomena Lynott
22 October 1930 – 12 June 2019
Died aged 88 (four picks)