Paddy Feeny
FOR over 35 years Paddy Feeny was the voice of the BBC World Service’s weekly sports programme Saturday Special.
But aside from his encyclopaedic knowledge of sport, Feeny’s affinity with his audience was such that he was revered by his fans as more than just a broadcaster.
Until he retired in 1995, Feeny had one maxim – “I want the listeners to relate to me as a friend,” he would often say.
And to listeners across the world he was considered just that and they would treat him as such, with everyone from Sheffield Wednesday fans to Bangladeshi soldiers writing to him to confide their hopes and troubles.
Born in Liverpool in 1931, as a boy he tried his hand at acting before moving to radio broadcasting with the BBC Home Service in Birmingham.
After impressing a studio manager during a brief visit to the BBC World Service headquarters he was offered a freelance job which led to a varied career in TV and radio. When he first began presenting Saturday Special in 1959, the show was an hour long and ran only during the summer months. However it soon proved a hit and grew to become a staple fixture of two or more hours long.
Feeny kept his fans updated on sporting events and offered wise words during such times as the Hillsborough disaster.
Throughout the 1980s the public would write in to ask advice on such things as football pools draws.
Throughout his career Feeny also starred as the quizmaster on Top Of The Form, was the chair of the schools radio programme Springboard in the 1960s and presented the Young Scientists Of The Year on TV throughout the 1970s.
He is survived by his second wife Dee and daughters Cathy and Sarah.