There are some people out there who believe that Joe Baker is a very well educated man who done well at school and studied hard at university, the facts however are very different.  When Joe left school he could barely read and write, (mainly teaching himself later using children’s books) and the nearest he’s ever been to university was the Students Union Bar.  From the Barrack area of the New Lodge, Joe, like a lot of Belfast kids at that time, was constantly in and out of trouble.  He believes he holds the record for the most amount of people after him at one time which included  the  IRA,  (both Provisional  and  Official),  INLA, RUC and a patrol of the British Army who sought  him  after he cleared off with their money after they foolishly asked him to go to the shop.  But to stay on the fair side he was one of those kids who got blamed on a lot more that what he actually done.


He states that his interest in local history began in these days when he and his friends drank cider and sniffed glue in the local graveyard and the only real pastime was reading the tombstone inscriptions. It was as a result of this reading that he ‘obtained’ a small book called As I Roved Out by Cathal O’Byrne and the seeds for one of Belfast’s most distinguished local historians were planted.


The very first article he ever wrote was for a publication called Not The New Lodge News which was compiled by members of the Artillery Youth Club. It was also through this club that he was one of a team who organised a photographic exhibition on the New Lodge area.  A few years after this Joe, along with Michael Liggett, established the Glenravel Local History Project  and  the  contribution  made  to the archives on local history since then have been unbelievable.  In addition to his local historical writings he has organised massive photographic exhibitions, conducted tours of historical sites (which have even included the Crumlin Road Jail) and gave talks in institutions such as  Queen’s  University  and   the   Hydebank   Young  Offenders  Centre  where  he  talked  about  the  importance of education.


His material has been reviewed in almost ever paper in Ireland as  well  as  titles ranging from the Guardian through to the Sunday Times  and he can be seen regularly on various local television programmes discussing topics of historical interest and writes for the Andersonstown News, North Belfast News, Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life.


Not bad going for a Belfast glue sniffer!