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Terry Wogan

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Sir Michael Terence Wogan KBE (born August 3, 1938) is an Irish-British radio and television broadcaster who works for the BBC in the United Kingdom. He has been a leading media personality in the UK since the 1960s, and is widely considered a national treasure.[citation needed] He was born in Limerick, Ireland and educated by the Salesians and the Jesuits at Crescent College Limerick and at Belvedere College in Dublin. He is married and has three children.

Because his listeners are often middle-aged or elderly, he jokingly refers to them as "TOGs" (Terry's Old Geezers/Gits or Terry's Old Gals (girls)), and at BBC Radio 2 he has become known as "The Togmeister". BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles got into hot water earlier in 2006, by referring to Togs as Wogs. Terry later put the record straight that Chris made a genuine mistake and that he forgave him for this hiccup.

Career

Early radio presenting

After completing his education he went to work in a bank for five years, before he joined Radio Telefís Éireann as a newsreader/announcer. For two years he conducted interviews and presented documentary features before moving to the Light Entertainment department as a disc jockey and host of TV quiz and variety shows such as Jackpot. Jackpot was the top rated quiz show on RTE in the 1960s, but when the show was dropped by RTE TV in 1967 Wogan approached the BBC for extra work. He first worked for BBC Radio presenting Midday Spin in the mid-1960s and, on the inauguration of BBC Radio 1 he presented Late Night Extra for two years, commuting weekly from Dublin to London. Eventually, after covering Jimmy Young's mid morning show throughout July in 1969, he was offered a regular afternoon slot (3 p.m – 5 p.m.) — officially on Radio 1, but in actual fact — due to lack of funding — broadcast over both Radio 1 and Radio 2.

In April 1972 he took over the breakfast show on Radio 2, effectively swapping places with John Dunn, who hosted the afternoon show briefly — by then Radio 1 and Radio 2 had diverged sufficiently to allow separate programming on each network. During Wogan's time on the breakfast show, he had achieved audiences of up to 7.6 million. Also during this period he released his own version of "The Floral Dance", by popular request from listeners who enjoyed hearing him singing over the instrumental hit by The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. His version reached number 27 in the UK singles chart. A follow-up single, "Me and the Elephant", and a self-titled album were also released but did not chart.

In December 1984, Wogan left his breakfast show to pursue a full-time career in television. During this time, he was replaced on radio — initially, but briefly by Ken Bruce, followed by Derek Jameson and finally Brian Hayes.

Moving to television

Wogan is particularly famed for his sardonic commentaries on the Eurovision Song Contest which he has presented annually since 1980, and occasionally in the 1970s. He also co-hosted the contest in 1998 with Ulrika Jonsson live from Birmingham. Also in 1980 he began presenting the BBC's Children in Need telethon and continues to front the yearly event.

In 1981 he had a chance to host a one-off chat show, Saturday Live. Among his guests on this show were Larry Hagman — then promoting his new film S.O.B. — and Frank Hall, who was then the Irish Film Censor. During the course of the interview, Hall accused Wogan of selling out his Irishness and, responding to a question posed by Wogan about his suitability as a film censor, said there was more filth on British Television than in film, citing the BBC TV serial The Borgias as an example.

Wogan was given his own, eponymous, chatshow which was broadcast initially on Saturday nights but between 1985 and 1992 became twice and later thrice-weekly. Highlights of the show included interviews with a drunk George Best; a silent Chevy Chase; a nervous Anne Bancroft (who was so petrified she gave monosyllabic answers and counted to ten before descending the entrance steps to the studio); David Icke claiming to be the "Son of God"; and Vivienne Westwood scolding the audience for laughing at her latest collection (although Sue Lawley was guest hosting the show on this last occasion); and Ronnie Barker announcing his retirement on the show.

Terry has also appeared on the Jonathan Ross show in 2004. He looked comfortable with the format of the show and managed to pull off an excellent interview.

Terry now presents Wogan Now And Then. A show where he interviews guests from his old chat show, as well as new guests. It is a perfect blend of family entertainment. Terry can be seen enjoying the interviews, and he claims it is a light relief after so many years on radio. Terry also designed the set for his new show, allowing him to get a better feel for it. He even claims the seat he uses, is designed to support the lower back, as many of legions of fans will know, Terry suffers from back complaints.

Other television programmes he has presented:

Return to radio

By 1992, something of a backlash began against the seemingly ubiquitous Wogan. This was highlighted when a poll apparently revealed him to be simultaneously the most and the least popular person in Britain. He was released from his talk-show contract after much pushing by the BBC, and was mocked for some time after this. He claims that the BBC also wanted his scheduling slot for the ill-fated soap Eldorado. Swapping Wogan for Eldorado turned out to be a bad decision and earned the BBC much mockery.

In January 1993, he returned to Radio 2 to take back the breakfast show, by then presented by Brian Hayes. As a result, Hayes was moved to a weekend & a Tuesday evening slot.

In recent years Wogan's fortunes have improved. His BBC Radio 2 breakfast show is now the most popular on British radio. His tendency to go off on rambling, esoteric tangents seems to have become popular with younger listeners (however ironically) as well as the older fans. The show is highly interactive, with much of the entertainment coming from letters and emails sent in by listeners (many of whom adopt punning pseudonyms for the purpose such as "Edna Cloud" as in "Head in a Cloud"), often with a surrealistic bent.

In 2005 it was reported that his Breakfast Show ("Wake Up To Wogan") attracted an audience of eight million. After he received a then honorary knighthood the same year (see below) the UK newspaper, The Daily Mirror, ran a front page reading "It's Sir Del and It's Sir Tel", this was in reference to Wogan (whose nickname is "Tel") and actor David Jason who's most famous for playing Derek "Del" Trotter in the classic sitcom, Only Fools And Horses. In the same year, however, he broke strike picket lines when he presented his show on May 23, the day BBC staff were protesting over announced job cuts [1]. Reportedly, he gave a thumbs up to his colleagues and wished them all well. He explained on air the reason for doing so - he is contracted to host Wake up to Wogan and hence is not directly employed by the BBC, and could not strike with their employees. According to figures leaked to British newspapers in April 2006 and neither confirmed nor denied by the BBC, Wogan was the highest paid BBC radio presenter at that time, with an £850,000 a year salary. In an interview with Britain's Hello Magazine in its 30 May 2006 issue, Wogan confirmed this, saying, "The amount they said was true and I don't give a monkey's about people knowing it. Nor do I feel guilty. If you do the maths, factoring in my eight million listeners, I cost the BBC about 2p a fortnight. I think I'm cheap at the price." Terry also earns a reported £150,000 at the Eurovision Song Contest. Terry also picks up a reported and confirmed £75,000 for every Children In Need that he presents, as well as getting a 4% cut of mechandise sales.

Terry is also on the his local council committee where he earns a reported £3,750 a month. [citation needed] [2]

Honours

In the Queen's Birthday Honours list of 2005, Wogan was made an honorary Knight of the Order of the British Empire. As an Irish citizen he was initially only able to use the post-nominal letters KBE, however he is now entitled to use the title "Sir Terry" since he has since taken dual British and Irish nationality. Terry does not use his title on-air; however, it is often used as a catalyst for listeners' contributions, and BBC Radio 2 dawn patrol (early breakfast) presenter Sarah Kennedy refers to Terry as 'STW'. He had previously (1997) been made an honorary Officer of the order (OBE), which is now subsumed in the knighthood.

Terry Wogan has been awarded the Gold Blue Peter Badge. It has been known for Terry to use this badge whilst on family outings with his grandchildren, to gain free entry to certain family leisure parks.

In 2004 Wogan received an honorary doctorate from the University of Limerick.

Trivia

  • In the novelization of TV series Yes, Prime Minister, the fictional PM discusses having an interview with Wogan and wonders how to ensure that it goes well for him. To his suggestion that Wogan be given a knighthood (which eventually happened in real life), his Private Secretary answers: "Sir Terence Wogan? I hardly think so, Prime Minister."
  • Wogan received a mention in the song "The Dark of the Matinée" by Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand. ("So I'm on BBC2 now telling Terry Wogan how I made it and / What I made isn't clear now, but his deference is and his laughter is / My words and smile are so easy now"...)
  • Terry has a 16 acre mansion in Norfolk.
  • He is extensively referred to in the film The Commitments.
  • He was the subject of a 1989 single by A Tribe of Toffs, "Terry Wogan's On T.V. (Again!)".
  • He is mentioned in the box set Divine Madness by British ska group Madness. Track 9 of disk 2 is the "Terry Wogan Jingle" (25 seconds). ("Ter-ry Wo-gan is a blankety blankety blank").
  • Wogan holds the distinction of being one of the slowest people ever in Top Gear's "Star In a Reasonably Priced Car" segment. He is second to last, only placing just ahead of the late Richard Whiteley. A blind man later managed to beat Wogan's time.
  • Wogan is referred to in the Willy Russell play 'One for the Road.' The characters in it play a game called 'The Wogan Game' in which they act out interviews from the show pretending to be Terry. However, the game isn't as innocent as it sounds.
  • Terry once auctioned a pair of his underpants for Children In Need. The relating garment fetched a staggering £7,500.
  • Wogan once held the world record for the longest successful golf putt ever televised; 33 yards at the Gleneagles golf course in a pro-celebrity TV programme[3]. TV golf commentator Peter Alliss described it as "The most remarkable shot I've ever seen in my life".
  • A running joke on his Breakfast Show is that Wogan looks exactly like George Clooney.
  • On Terry's morning radio show, he never uses the word breakfast. Some believe it's an ongoing joke in the production team, others believe it is down to Terry's superstition.
  • Wogan is widely credited with launching the career of singer Katie Melua after he played her debut single, The Closest Thing to Crazy, repeatedly in late 2003. When she performed on Children in Need in 2005, Wogan joked to Melua, "You owe it all to me, and maybe a little to your own talent".
  • Terry Wogan's dream interview would be with Mr.T, as he is a big fan of the A-Team. [citation needed]
  • Terry earns a reported £30,000 per episode for Wogan Now & Then. [citation needed]
  • During the presentation of the Dutch televote in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Terry Wogan called the Dutch televote presenter, Paul de Leeuw, an "eejit" (the original pronunciation of 'idiot', still commonly used in Ireland and Scotland), as de Leeuw started to make comments and gave his mobile phone number and lengthened the Dutch results.
  • Has been accused of being anti-Irish when commentating on the Eurovision song contest and favouring the United Kingdom despite being born in Ireland
  • A popular running joke on Wogan's eponymous chat show was that the interviewee, either male or female, could touch Terry's knee.
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