AT HOME WITH TOY SHOW TOM ...AND HIS NANNY PAT
Leitrim gran is home with Tom after Toy Show – and there’s no calming them down
IRELAND’S new favourite granny stayed up until 2am the night before the Late Late Toy Show putting the finishing touches to Ryan Tubridy’s Christmas jumper.
Pat Corcoran, 86 – now fondly known across the nation as Nanny Pat – also revealed she and her charming grandson Tom Cullen, eight, are still overwhelmed by the public’s reaction following their TV appearance on Friday night.
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday yesterday, she said: ‘We’re still so excited, there’s no calming us down at all.’
And she recalled being ‘very nervous’ walking out on stage when Ryan called out her name.
‘I never thought I’d get there and back again. Honestly, I was shaking,’ she said. ‘But I knew I had Tom there to calm me down.’
The MoS managed to track the pair down in Leitrim village yesterday when they arrived back home to Nanny Pat’s house.
The nanny-grandson duo stole our hearts when little Tom raved to presenter Ryan Tubridy about his nanny – telling the host about her dinners and how they love to knit together – before the granny made a surprise appearance from backstage.
Social media erupted with praise for the pair, so much so that ‘Nanny Pat’ began trending on Twitter.
Tom’s sean nós dance instructor, Edwina Guckian, a former Leitrim Rose of Tralee, tweeted: ‘Tom and Nanny Pat! I told ye he was Leitrim’s finest gentleman!’
Tom was delighted to show off his sean nós dancing skills on the night, admitting: ‘I was so excited, I thought I was going to burst. I wish I could have danced longer.’
He also presented Ryan with a Christmas jumper handmade by Nanny Pat, who told the MoS: ‘I stayed up until 2am finishing off bits and pieces on the jumper.’
Tom wants to be just like his idol Ryan Tubridy when he grows up and present a TV show.
‘I’d love to be like him, he was lovely when I was doing the rehearsal,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t nervous, I was going to explode with the excitement.’
Meanwhile, 11-year-old boxer Ella Thompson – who teared up when she met her hero Katie Taylor on Friday night – will have her promised training sessions with the pro-boxer as early as next week. Ella got to spar with Katie on stage and she just had to give it her all. She told the MoS: ‘I didn’t want to hold back. She was the reason I wanted to start boxing. I wanted to show her what I could do so that she would want to do it more with me.’
‘I thought I was going to burst’