Mary Sheerin continues her series on Irish broadcasting
When Sir Terry Wogan died just over two years’ ago, tributes flooded in from Prime Ministers to pop stars and not least, from his band of loyal listeners. He was one of the most loved broadcasters of the BBC and of RTÉ and was considered a national treasure and rightly so.
Indeed, as a tribute to the man whose voice and broadcasting style was revered by millions – including Queen Elizabeth – the BBC named one of their broadcasting houses after him – The Terry Wogan Studios.
It was but one of the many awards accorded to Terry during and after his lifetime. His native Limerick made him a Freeman of the City; Limerick University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Letters and Queen Elizabeth made him ‘Sir Terry’.
Terry Wogan was born into a comfortable Limerick family and educated by the Jesuits in Limerick and later in Belvedere College when the family moved to Dublin. Upon leaving school, he joined the Provincial Bank in Phibsborough, North Dublin.
A sunny natured individual, Terry was perfectly happy working in the bank but on seeing an advertisement for news readers in Radio Éireann in the Irish Independent he applied and was successful. Thus did Sir Terry start, what was to become his illustrious career in broadcasting, on both sides of the Irish Sea.