THE NEW STATUE OF TERRY WOGAN

A few weeks before my three day visit to Limerick a statue of Terry Wogan was unveiled. However there was a serious problem because the statue looked nothing like the late broadcaster. And the people of Limerick are twice unhappy because they also dislike the stone memorial to Munster rugby player and coach Anthony Foley which was recently unveiled on Clancy Strand across the river from Terry [I will publish some photographs within the next few days]


This statue is going to attract lots of Terry’s fans from England and they are all going to be horrified because it looks nothing like their hero at any stage in his life. One local told me that it looks like Terry if you look at it from a mile away but I am not convinced. I actually spoke to a couple from England and they were a bit confused and wondered if there was another Terry Wogan that they were unaware of.

Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL (3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016), better known as Terry Wogan, was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Before he retired in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday breakfast programme Wake Up to Wogan had eight million regular listeners, making him the most listened-to radio broadcaster in Europe.

Wogan was a leading media personality in Britain and Ireland from the late 1960s and was often referred to as a "national treasure". In addition to his weekday radio show, he was known for his work on television, including the BBC One chat show Wogan, presenting Children in Need, the game show Blankety Blank and Come Dancing. He was the BBC's commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest from 1971 to 2008 and its host in 1998. From 2010 to 2015 he presented Weekend Wogan, a two-hour Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 2.

In 2005, Wogan acquired British citizenship in addition to his Irish nationality and was thus entitled to use the title "Sir" in front of his name when he was awarded a knighthood in the same year. He died from cancer at his home in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, on 31 January 2016, aged 77.