Larry gave us so many Golden Hours
From theatre and confectionery stock, Larry Gogan had the sweetest voice, writes
‘I remember Larry Gogan when he had grey hair!’
HE was, said Fr Brian D’Arcy in his 35-minute homily, “a man who was incredibly popular and incredibly humble, a friend to everybody”.
The RTE establishment was saying goodbye for the third time in recent months to an all-time favourite, Larry Gogan, whose death came so soon after Gay Byrne with whom he worked and Marian Finucane, who was to talk radio what he was to music radio.
Fr D’Arcy warned that the funeral service, conducted by himself and Fr Gerry Moore, might not run with the slick and professional timing of Larry Gogan’s The Golden Hour because, “we cannot sum up the life of this incredible man in a few minutes”. He didn’t, but the church of St Pius X in Templeogue, Dublin, near to the DJ’s home, remained packed to capacity until the incense had evaporated last Friday.
Before he went for a heart bypass, doctors attached Larry to a heart monitor for a number of days and found that he was at his most relaxed between the hours of 12 and 2pm — “when he was presenting his radio show on 2FM” said Fr D’Arcy.
Larry Gogan’s life was bound up with his wife Florrie, his five children, 12 grandchildren — and his music.
“The most important thing for Larry was not Larry, it was the music,” said Fr D’Arcy. “There is only one person in the world I never heard a bad word said about, and that was Larry Gogan.”
His daughter Orla said: “We have lost the king of the family, Lorcan as he was known to us, the coolest and hippest dad you could have. We loved him so much.”
Coming from a family of confectioners and theatre people, it was hardly a surprise that he ended up with one of the sweetest voices on radio.
Larry Gogan, who died last Tuesday at the age of 85, was born into a family of eight children on May 3, 1934, a date that was kept secret until his death.
His father, John, who had taken part in the 1916 Rising, was a newsagent and bookseller in Fairview and other members of the family had confectionery businesses in Rathgar and Marlborough Street, Dublin.
He was brought up in comfortable circumstances on Maxwell Road, Rathgar and attended school at St Mary’s College in Rathmines. His father died when he was 10 and his mother, Mary, ran the business.
Another uncle was a theatre manager and along with Gay Byrne, the young Larry Gogan, or Lorcan O’Gogain as he sometimes styled himself, took part in shows in the
Olympia, the Gaiety and other theatres in Dublin and at one time contemplated a career on the stage.
Even after he decided to become a DJ, influenced by listening to Radio Luxembourg and Alan Freeman in particular, theatre remained an interest. There is an obscure recording of him reciting the Padraic Colum poem She Moved Through The Fair in the honeyed voice that became so familiar to listeners of Radio Eireann and later RTE during 59 years of broadcasting.
He met the love of his life, Florrie Duffy, who was also the daughter of a shopkeeper, her father PP Duffy being proprietor of Lucky Duffy’s in Fairview, when she was just 15. They were engaged when she was 17 and married when she was 21.
Through a customer of the family business who worked in advertising, Larry was introduced to Fred O’Donovan and like so many of those who would go on to make a name for themselves in radio, began presenting sponsored programmes, then the mainstay of Radio Eireann.
He joined Radio Eireann in 1961, on the same day as Terry Wogan, working out of the GPO in Dublin, and later took over a showband programme, The 17 Club, from Gay Byrne. He compiled the Top 20 and, according to Fr Brian D’Arcy, could read the entire hit parade in two minutes.
He was a regular on a Monday night at the Television Club in Harcourt Street where singers, musicians, band managers, journalists and record company executives gathered to listen to the talent, gossip and drink into the early hours.
“He was a very amiable and moderate person,” said one of those who frequented the weekly gathering. “He’d drink a glass of lager but that was about it.”
To a generation of young people who had largely defected to Radio Luxembourg and the home-grown pirate radio stations sprouting up all over the place, Larry Gogan became the ‘official’ voice of pop when the national broadcaster finally woke up to a changing audience.
He played the first tune, Like Clockwork by The Boomtown Rats, for the launch of Radio 2 on May 31, 1979. In an official promo photograph of the station’s line-up with Gerry Ryan, Marty Whelan, Lorcan Murray, Jim O’Neill and Jimmy Greeley, he is the only one wearing a jacket and tie and not striking a pose for the camera.
Larry Gogan was a man of relatively simple tastes, he did his job brilliantly and with consideration for his listeners and the musicians and bands he admired. If they were good enough, he promoted homegrown talent and came to be admired by Bob Geldof and Larry Mullen of U2, because he played their music and encouraged their talent.
He preferred to be known as a DJ rather than a presenter and apart from the sometimes hilarious ‘Just a Minute’ quiz, which became legendary more for its wrong answers than the standard of its questions, he let the music speak for itself. His own favourite album was Steely Dan’s Katy Lied and Casablanca his favourite film.
He was also a standard on the National Song Contest and Eurovision coverage on both radio and television over the years, and even after he ceased to do it for radio, he was included as part of the
Irish delegation because he had so many friends in the BBC and other radio stations in Europe.
Larry Gogan became such an integral part of popular music in Ireland that he attained legendary status, both as a broadcaster and a ‘good guy’ in a tough and sometimes ruthless environment. In January, 2019 he moved from 2FM to RTE Gold.
His wife Florrie died in 2002 shortly after he underwent a heart bypass. In his last months, he suffered ill-health and was admitted to Kiltipper Woods Care Centre. He also attended dialysis at the Beacon Hospital in the months before his death.
The gifts at his funeral Mass reflected his life. They included a thesaurus used for the daily crossword, “the most battered headphones in RTE” for listening to music, a packet of wine gums and the Daily Star for his “fix of show business gossip”.
Fr D’Arcy also revealed that he gave each of his five children €25 a week pocket money until they were 21, when it was doubled to €50 a week, adding “no wonder he had to work until he died”.
He also told the story of a group of showbusiness people, including Larry, reminiscing about the old days when Bill O’Donovan, who was head of light entertainment at RTE, quipped: “I can remember Larry Gogan when he had grey hair!”
Among those in attendance at his funeral were the U2 drummer Larry Mullen, a close friend for many years, Moya Doherty who once worked as his assistant and is now chairwoman of the RTE board, the director general of RTE, Dee Forbes, and his many good friends from the radio studios, among them “Larry’s girls” who worked with him over the years, Ronan Collins, Marty Whelan, Joe Duffy, Gerry Ryan’s widow Morah and a host of others from radio, television and showbusiness in general.
Fr D’Arcy said that “at 4am in the quiet of the night, when nobody was looking, he disappeared”.
He added Larry brought happiness wherever he was, before asking, “As happy as?” referring to the answer to one of his ‘Just a Minute’ quiz questions, which was given as “a pig in shit”, rather than “happy as Larry”.
The funeral Mass was followed by a private burial. He is survived by his children Gerard, Orla, David, Grainne and Sinead.