Terry Wogan Bio, Wiki
Terry Wogan born Michael Terence Wogan was an Irish-British television and radio broadcaster who for most of his career worked for BBC in the UK. While he worked at BBC Radio 2 from 1993 to December 2009 during his semi-retirement, his weekday breakfast program called Wake Up to Wogan, attracted an estimate of 8 million listeners. Wogan was the most listened-to broadcaster in Europe.
Terry Wogan Age
Wogan was born in Limerick, Ireland on August 3rd, 1938 and died on January 31st, 2016. He was 77 years old when he passed on in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England.
Terry Wogan Height/Measurements
Wogan stood at an approximate height of 6 feet 0 inches.
Terry Wogan Education
Wogan attended Belvedere College which was Crescent College sister’s school. While at the school, he was a member of the amateur dramatics and that is when he discovered a love of rock and roll.
Terry Wogan Career
During the first two years at Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Wogan held interviews and presented documentary features prior to working as a DJ and host of television quiz and various shows like Jackpot, in the light entertainment department. After RTÉ TV dropped the show in 1967, Wogan approached BBC for extra work. However, David Attenborough turned down his application to work as a presenter for BBC. In the year 2016 after the death of Wogan, David said that to have had 2 Irishmen working as presenters on BBC 2 would have looked ridiculous. Wogan started working for BBC Radio previously known as Down The Line, on September 27th 1966. He presented on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 on the show, Late Night Extra, Tuesday edition for two years, commuting everyday from Dublin to London.
Wogan was was offered a weekday afternoon slot on September 29th 1969after working as a stand-in presenter on Jimmy Young’s mid-morning show while presenter Young was on holiday throughout July 1969. He started on BBC Radio 1 but later he simultaneously broadcast on BBC Radio 2 from early 1970. In 1972, he began presenting breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 switching places with John Dunn who moved to the afternoon show. Wogan drew an estimated audience of around 7.9 million. He also released a parody vocal version of The Floral Dance song in 1978 due to many requests by listeners who loved listening to him singing over the instrumental hit by Rastrick Brass Band and the Brighouse. His version of the song was number 21 in the UK Singles Chart. Wogan left his breakfast show in December 1984, to do a full-time career in television and Ken Bruce replaced him. His first chat show was Wogan’s World on BBC Radio from June 6th 1974 to September 1975.
Wogan returned to BBC 2 in January 1993 and replaced Brian Hayes to present to present the breakfast show which changed its name to Wake Up to Wogan. It started in 1992, with a preview show in the mid-morning of Boxing Day. His tendency to go off on esoteric tangents, rambling, mostly involving banter with his producer at the time called Paul Walters, became popular having both young and old listeners. Most of the entertainment came from emails and letters sent in by listeners. In one occasion, Wogan once read out an email from an individual who used the name Tess Tickles. Without realizing what the name meant and he had to use Paul Walter’s standard reply, saying he just only print ’em.
He was widely credited through his show with launching Katie Melua’s singing career after he played her debut single called The Closest Thing to Crazy repeatedly in late 2003. In the year 2005, when she performed on Children in Need, Wogan made a joke saying Melua owed her career to him. He gave her credit for her discovery to Walters. Wogan jokingly called his fans TOGs which stood for Terry’s Old Gals or Terry’s Old Geezers because his show mostly attracted older listeners. TYGs on the other hand stood for Terry’s Young Geezers/Gals who he joked were forced to listen to him because their parents loved the radio station. He was referred to as The Togmeister by members of his production team, on his own program and he called the podcast of his show a togcast.
Additionally, there were jokes involving Wogan’s colleagues; Fran Godfrey who was nicknamed Frank, John Marsh who was nicknamed Boggy, and Alan Dedicoat who was nicknamed Deadly. On one occasion, Marsh told Wogan that his wife’s name was Janet. After that, there was a series of Janet and John stories read by Wogan during the breakfast show. These involved stories of pastiche of children’s learn-to-read that had humorous sexual double-entendres, that most of the time resulted in Marsh and Wogan breaking into laughter. In aid of Children in Need, they sold 6 CDs and 2 books of the stories, raising £4 million. Wogan ran a campaign criticizing the British government for levying VAT on the CDs which led to a government rebate of £200,000. The program also featured Wogan’s exchanges with Lynn Bowles, the traffic reporter from Splott.
Wogan provided BBC’s radio commentary, in 1971 and between 1974 and 1977, for the Eurovision Song Contest. He became popular for his TV commentary which he first handled in 1973, 1978, and from 1980 to 2008. He was the co-host of the 1998 contest with Ulrika Jonsson held in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena on May 9th. Wogan was the 3rd person in the history of contests to combine the roles of a commentator and presenter. When he was not on stage, he was providing the necessary television commentary to BBC viewers in his private booth. Wogan hosted the UK selection show every year from 1977 to 1996. He returned to the job in 1998 and then from 2003 to 2008.
His deadpan commenting style that mostly involved humor at other people’s expense caused controversy. An example is when he called Natasja Crone Back and Søren Pilmark, hosts of the 2001 Denmark contest, Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy.
Terry Wogan Net Worth
Throughout his career as a television and radio broadcaster, Wogan was able to accumulate an estimated net worth of around £20million.
Terry Wogan Parents and Siblings
Wogan was born and brought up in Limerick, Ireland by his parents Michael Wogan and Rose Wogan. His father was the manager of a high-class grocery store called Leverett & Frye in Limerick. He had a younger brother called Brian Wogan. Terry Wogan was raised and educated as a Roman Catholic but when he was 17, he became an atheist. He had not revealed much details concerning his family to the public.
Terry Wogan Wife
Wogan got married to Helen Joyce on April 24, 1965 in Our Lady of Refuge Rathmines church. The couple resided in Taplow, Buckinghamshire and also had another home in Gascony, Southwestern France. Together, they had four children inclusive of a daughter, Vanessa, who died when she was a few weeks old. They also had 5 grandchildren. The couple was married until Wogan’s death in 2016.
Terry Wogan Interview with David Icke
During David Icke’s interview with Wogan in 1982 on BBC, David said that he believed he was the son of Godhead. He explained the claim and added that he could predict the future of the world.
Terry Wogan Death
After celebrating the 2015 Christmas, Wogan’s health started declining. He did not even present Children in Need in November 2015due to back pain. Father Brian, one of his friends, paid him a visit in January and noticed he was very ill. He died of cancer on January 31, 2016 at the age of 77. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister at the time said that Britain had lost a big talent.
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, praised Wogan’s career and his regular visits to his homeland. Tánaiste Joan Burton and Taoiseach Enda Kenny remembered his role in assisting Anglo-Irish relations during the Troubles. D’Arcy thought that a public funeral would have been hard because a lot of people would want to pay their respect. Therefore the funeral was a private service attended only by family and close friends out of the spotlight as the family requested.
Terry Wogan Radio and Television Shows
- Jackpot
- Lunchtime with Wogan
- Eurovision Song Contest
- A Song for Europe
- Children in Need
- Wogan’s Guide to the BBC
- The Great British Song Contest
- Points of View
- Eurovision: Your Decision
- Secrets of the Body Clock
- Midday Spin
- Housewives Choice
- The Jimmy Young Show
- The Terry Wogan Show
- Weekend Wogan