It used to be the case that a street directory was part and parcel of most households in Northern Ireland. I loved these bulky red books, telling the tale of who lived where and what their occupation was.

They were a window on the world from the 1840s until they ceased publication in 1996. There was so much information, historical facts and figures, details of public buildings, lists of parliamentary dignitaries and fulsome adverts.

My dad was in insurance and this was his bible; now they are a rare commodity and fetch big prices on the resale market - a 1973 edition is on sale for £89.99 plus 7.99 p&p, for example.

This all came pouring back from deep in my memory at an excellent lecture which was part of the very successful Imagine! Festival. Fr Martin Magill has the same fascination with street names as I have so it was a must to listen to his talk on the 4,178 names he has researched from BT1 to BT15.

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For the last four years he has walked the streets, making notes and photographing townscapes. He has raided Google, visited Queen’s University, the Public........

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