Early bird Eoghan loves fun in the sun
She said she was approaching 40, and I couldn’t help wondering from what direction,’ Bob Hope once joked. Eoghan McDermott saw the funny side of it recently when I wrote that he had, not only approached, but celebrated his 40th birthday.
Eoghan doesn’t look like he is ready for a comb-over, a seniors’ golf holiday, putting a rubber mat in the bath just in case he slips, or even going to a meeting for premature ejaculators and leaving early (that’s another joke, this time by Jack Benny.)
I sat next to him on a long flight to Vancouver (no jokes about the risk of DVT being slightly higher on flights for elderly people, please) a few years ago to meet U2 and he is a lovely fella.
So when I mistakenly put five years on his age last month, I wasn’t surprised that the very popular radio and TV broadcaster took the horrifying error in his stylish stride, even communicating to me from Spain last week.
No — he hadn’t gone there on a seniors’ golf holiday. “Last week has been pretty hectic,” he told me. “Even for a sprightly young man who is definitely not 40! I’m in Majorca, narrating the Australian version of ITV’s big hit TV show Love Island. Because we shoot on local time, but broadcast on Australian time, I’m up at 3am every morning,” he added.
The fresh-faced 35-year-old Eoghan is usually finished and back in his hotel for about midday. He then preps for his radio show on 2FM, “which I’m continuing with. That starts 4pm Irish time, 5pm Spanish time. When that finishes at 8pm, I go straight to bed as I am up at 3am again”.
It puts a new meaning on bed-hopping in Spain. “It is definitely full on, so I’m being very strict. No alcohol. Good food. Midday power nap.” (Midday power nap? Is Eoghan sure he isn’t 40, after all?)
“Saturday is my one day off. I see as much of the island as I can and maybe have a Mojito. Hopefully I won’t crash and burn halfway through. But no complaints. It’s a rare and wonderful thing to be too busy in this fickle industry. So I’ll enjoy it while I can.”
Glad to see Eoghan isn’t thinking of retiring just yet.