THE DAY MULTI-TALENTED KEN PUT WORDS IN THE MOUTH OF GEORGE BUSH!
OUT of his many guises in media, one of Ken’s best known roles in the past few decades was when he was political correspondent with Independent Radio News, which syndicated bulletins and reports to stations all over the country.
It was here when his vast knowledge of Irish affairs seeped into the White House!
“It was when I was Pol Corr at INN, a comment I made to a White House official on the phone a month before going to Washington with Bertie Ahern, ended up in the George Bush speech on St. Patrick’s Day,” he says with a smile.
“I mentioned that the White House was designed by Irish man James Hoban. It’s a well-known fact now but wasn’t at the time! And it ended up in George’s Bush’s speech.”
It’s easy to see why some people might take Ken’s stories with a pinch of alt, but the evidence is there for all to see, including another major award.
“I was presented with an ‘Irish World’ humanitarian Award in London in 2008 after a story I reported on in 2003 for INN helped to find the last missing next-of kin from the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings, after a gap of 29 years,” explains Ken.
“The Fitzgerald family who heard my report on 98FM came forward and were given compensation of €18,000 which they donated to a house-building project in Malawi and a building called “Elizabeth Fitzgerald House” has housed a needy family there.”
Being an author is also next of Ken’s lengthy busket-list, although he’s no novice.
“I ghost wrote Dana’s autobiography “All kinds of Everything” in 2007, which was launched in Stormont by Ian Paisley!
“I am currently writing the autobiography of Eugene Reavey of Whitecross, Armagh whose three brothers were shot dead by the UVF with the assistance of the British Army in January 1976.
“And I have just completed another book called “Amazing Irish Achievers” which should be published in the coming six months by Liffey Press.”
Did you know the first in-store make-up/ cosmetic counter in the World was started by Drogheda woman Francis Cunningham (Denny) in 1897 in Philadelphia?
Did you know that the chief engineer of the iconic roof on the Sydney Opera House was Peter Rice who was raised in Dundalk? It’s all that type of stuff.
Ken is currently based in Leinster House and provides ‘ The Oireachtas Report” for radio stations including LMFM, as well as Ireland Editor of ecradioireland.eu.
In an hour, we have barely scratched the surface of Ken’s colourful career, so perhaps his next project should be his autobography!