In Michael Wood's documentary series "In Search Of The Trojan War" from the early 80s, he films an old, possibly even blind, Irishman reciting some epic poetry in Gaelic. He was supposedly the last of his kind who could recite it all from memory and from memory he couldn't speak English. It was remarkable to see it captured on film before that era ended.
Discussion
Man I'm defo chasing up that doc. The oral tradition in Ireland was very VERY strong throughout history. Most people for the large part of our history could not read or write.
I think it's in this episode but the whole six-part series is worth watching if you're into ancient history.