Some were in bed with their wives when his gunmen, "The Twelve Apostles", came calling. His personal grip on military activities, finance and intelligence held together a campaign that might otherwise have foundered. Playing on what the British least expected, he would chat with troops at checkpoints as he criss-crossed the city on two wheels, prompting comment that his was the first revolution conducted by bicycle.He was also ruthless, ordering the assassination in a single morning of the "Cairo Gang" - 19 British agents closing in on his operations. After his narrow escape from execution after the 1916 Easter Rising, Collins used the Irish Republican Brotherhood (a precursor of the IRA) to pioneer a closely-organised guerrilla movement, later emulated by independence movements all over the world.During the final years of British rule Collins repeatedly eluded arrest, aided by tip-offs from his spies in the British headquarters at Dublin Castle.

Some experts suggest it could match the previous record of £296,000 for a Lavery.The film-makers planning movies of Collins' life will hardly need to embellish the plot: his career was tailor-made for an epic thriller. She had to be dissuaded from wearing widow's weeds at his funeral, as Collins was engaged to Kitty Kiernan when he died. Later Belfast-born Lavery's painting of his wife was used on Irish bank notes to symbolise Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Mother Ireland.The international interest shown in the painting is a measure of the fascination with Collins. Historians are divided over whether Hazel Lavery and Collins were lovers, or if it was just wishful thinking on her part. Michael Cimino and Kevin Costner are also considering making movies about him. The depiction of Collins' Requiem Mass by Sir John, one of the leading society painters of the time, is made all the more poignant because he and his wife Hazel were friends of Collins. The sale will herald a year of unprecedented interest in the brief but dramatic life of the republican who was assassinated 73 years ago.

Plans exist for three films of Collins' life, with the first, directed by Neil Jordan, who made the successful IRA drama The Crying Game, due to begin shooting later this year. AMERICAN collectors of Irish republican memorabilia are expected to vie with art galleries and museums to buy Sir John Lavery's painting of the funeral of Michael Collins, Ireland's lost leader, when it comes up for auction in 10 days' time. And, by the right economic conditions, the Government does not only mean the Maastricht criteria - they are a necessary but not a sufficient condition to justify a single currency."- to the Conservative Way Forward group, Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London, 3 February, 1995.. can only be doing so because they expect to negotiate away one or other of those safeguards and I don't and I won't.''- interview, BBC Breakfast With Frost, 8 January, 1995."I will tell you my fear: unless economic conditions are right, a single currency would tear the European Union apart. a referendum would be if they were prepared to accept constitutional change in the negotiations, such as the ending of the veto, massive new powers for the European Parliament, or a firm commitment to a single currency Anybody offering a referendum at this stage. We need to listen to these warnings if we are to make the right moves in the future."- at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands,

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7 September, 1994."The only real reason for anybody offering. we must stop taking measures which unnecessarily destroy jobs, for that is what has been happening in recent years."- to Lord Mayor's Banquet, Guildhall, London, 15 November 1993"Monsieur Oui, the Poodle of Brussels.''- John Smith, the late Labour leader, House of Commons, 22 March 1994"The European Union seems temporarily to have lost the self-confidence of the 1980s Popular enthusiasm for the Union has waned.

If they do recite it, it will have all the quaintness of a rain dance and about the same potency."- article in the `Economist', 25 September, 1993"The plain fact is that much of Europe is becoming uncompetitive. Such a concept would never be in the interests of the British people."- to the Institute of Directors, Royal Albert Hall, London, 28 April, 1992."I hope my fellow heads of government will resist the temptation to recite the mantra of full economic and monetary union as if nothing had changed. We want a prosperous Europe; a Europe with more jobs; a competitive Europe; a Europe built on free trade and open markets; a Europe of independent nation states; a wider Europe, spreading peace and prosperity across our continent; a Europe which works for the citizen; a safer Europe."- to the Focus on Scotland Dinner at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow, 18 February 1994.but he's a bit of a sceptic too"I MAKE no secret of my view that we want a Europe that is a community of nation states I do not want a United States of Europe. since we joined, our exports to it have grown nearly 50 per cent faster than have those of our old European Free Trade Area partners".- to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Midland Hotel, Manchester, 23 April, 1993"Our vision is a positive one: we want a strong Britain in a strong Europe.

That is a challenge we take up with enthusiasm."- to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bonn, Germany, 11 March 1991."Any who fear and oppose Europe are like the fat boy in Pickwick They want to make your flesh creep. They think we are always going to lose the argument in Europe That is defeatist and wrong. We learnt to swim in that sea long ago."- to the Conservative Group for Europe at the Hotel Inter-Continental, Hyde Park Corner, London, 22 April, 1993."Have your reservations by all means No one says Europe is perfect But. I want us to be where we belong - at the very heart of Europe, working with our partners in building the future. Very rarely, nowadays, does he remind us of his pledge to be at the heart of Europe.Keen on being a good European ..."THE European Community remains central to our place in Europe and the wider world. The Channel Tunnel, connected last week, re-emphasises yet again that we are part of Europe."I believe it is in our national self-interest to help build and shape the European Community as it evolves. We must be there, arguing, persuading and, yes, fighting for our interests and our vision of Europe - just like our partners."- to the media and MPs, accepting the Conservative Party leadership at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, Westminster, 4 December, 1990."My aims for Britain in the Community can be simply stated.