Farewell Sir Tel
Woke up late today. Came downstairs just as Sam switched the radio on, to hear Mark Goodier sitting in for Steve Wright. No problem there until he said 'welcome to Radio 2, we're paying tribute this morning to Sir Terry Wogan'. Both me and Sam shouted 'oh no!' at the radio and were dumbstruck for a few seconds.
Wogan was (like Bowie, I suppose) one of those people who always seemed to be present in one form or another throughout my life. As a child, his was the radio breakfast show my friends parents listened to, and I'd catch snippets of his show in their houses as I called for them on my way to school. His was a show for 'old farts', we thought, and I reckoned my parents were proper trendy as we always had Radio 1 on in the morning. (I now realise that was down to my older sister having control of the wireless as dad had already left for work when we got up for school - she was truly the only person in our family who was ever trendy!)
I was never a fan of his TV chat show - he always came across as a bit too smug on there and I thought as a host he was over-rated. But I loved him on 'Blankety Blank' and, of course, he was the only man who could make Eurovision watchable for so many years! I discovered 'Wake Up To Wogan' in the late-90's, when Zoe Ball took over the breakfast show and Radio 1 fully transitioned to becoming Radio Shite*. I desperately wanted to find something I could wake up to and listen to on my commute to work without wanting to constantly throw things at the radio. WUTW was the perfect way to start the day. Gentle chat, great humour and in-jokes, excellent music and, best of all NO SHOUTING! Such a shame I didn't find it sooner!
An old friend of mine used to manage a cinema in High Wycombe. Apparently Sir Tel lived around that area somewhere, as he was a frequent visitor. She met a few 'famous' types working there, but he was the one who stood out because he was apparently never anything but lovely, polite and considerate every time she spoke to him. As she said herself to me earlier today, "Lovely man, always friendly and with a great selection of different length hair pieces".
I remember listening to his final breakfast show and getting a bit teary when he made his final 'goodbye' speech at the end. I didn't realise it had been filmed. So here it is, making me a bit teary again. Proof, if proof be need be, of what a true professional he was. The broadcaster's broadcaster. They don't make them like that anymore.
RIP Sir Tel. I hope you're somewhere with Pauly Walters, raising a glass of something and having a ruddy good laugh.
*I would have said 'when I fully transitioned into being an old fart, but we all know that's rubbish. I've been a fully-fledged old fart since the age of 10.
Wogan was (like Bowie, I suppose) one of those people who always seemed to be present in one form or another throughout my life. As a child, his was the radio breakfast show my friends parents listened to, and I'd catch snippets of his show in their houses as I called for them on my way to school. His was a show for 'old farts', we thought, and I reckoned my parents were proper trendy as we always had Radio 1 on in the morning. (I now realise that was down to my older sister having control of the wireless as dad had already left for work when we got up for school - she was truly the only person in our family who was ever trendy!)
I was never a fan of his TV chat show - he always came across as a bit too smug on there and I thought as a host he was over-rated. But I loved him on 'Blankety Blank' and, of course, he was the only man who could make Eurovision watchable for so many years! I discovered 'Wake Up To Wogan' in the late-90's, when Zoe Ball took over the breakfast show and Radio 1 fully transitioned to becoming Radio Shite*. I desperately wanted to find something I could wake up to and listen to on my commute to work without wanting to constantly throw things at the radio. WUTW was the perfect way to start the day. Gentle chat, great humour and in-jokes, excellent music and, best of all NO SHOUTING! Such a shame I didn't find it sooner!
An old friend of mine used to manage a cinema in High Wycombe. Apparently Sir Tel lived around that area somewhere, as he was a frequent visitor. She met a few 'famous' types working there, but he was the one who stood out because he was apparently never anything but lovely, polite and considerate every time she spoke to him. As she said herself to me earlier today, "Lovely man, always friendly and with a great selection of different length hair pieces".
I remember listening to his final breakfast show and getting a bit teary when he made his final 'goodbye' speech at the end. I didn't realise it had been filmed. So here it is, making me a bit teary again. Proof, if proof be need be, of what a true professional he was. The broadcaster's broadcaster. They don't make them like that anymore.
RIP Sir Tel. I hope you're somewhere with Pauly Walters, raising a glass of something and having a ruddy good laugh.
*I would have said 'when I fully transitioned into being an old fart, but we all know that's rubbish. I've been a fully-fledged old fart since the age of 10.
cold
busy
chipper
bitchy
apathetic