Wogan: how he really felt about RTÉ from an unheard interview found in the archives
HIS television chat show attracted 13 million viewers per episode, while his irreverent remarks on the Eurovision made the BBC’s coverage a must-see and his easy presenting of the annual ‘Children in Need’ telethon added tens of millions of pounds to the coffers of Britain’s charities.
But in a long lost and never heard before interview – discovered in the BBC vaults – the late Terry Wogan said he was not as comfortable in front of a camera as he was in front of a radio microphone. And that’s because he was ‘traumatised’ after working with RTÉ.
The Limerick-born broadcaster also admitted he left his native land for England and the BBC because he was bored reading the news here.
These admissions were made in a no-holds-barred interview recorded 42 years ago while Terry was in the English seaside town of Brighton to broadcast his ‘Wake Up Wogan’ radio breakfast programme, which regularly attracted as many as eight million listeners every day.
And the searingly honest question-and-answer session with the broadcasting star will be aired tonight on BBC Radio 2, as part of a 50th anniversary tribute to the radio programme whose fans reportedly included Queen Elizabeth. Describing how he was ill-atease working on live television, he
‘You are a father figure and a sex symbol’
revealed, ‘I had a great deal of difficulty with television right from the beginning. I think possibly I had a number of horrendous experiences on Irish television, which was in its formative years, and I was there in my formative years and I never found it easy to achieve the same degree of relaxation or communication on television as I did on radio’.
‘It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve achieved that. I came over here really to a blaze of publicity in Ireland and absolutely nothing over here,’ he added.
And when asked why he left Ireland to work in England, the broadcaster said, ‘I had started as a news reader doing documentary features when I was 23 and then I got fed up reading the news because I found it very boring’.
He added: ‘I think it’s the easiest job in the world to be a news reader on television because you can’t fail… you are a combination of a father figure and a sex symbol. You can’t miss it. I was the Anna Ford of my day and I stopped being Anna Ford and then became extremely foolish doing quiz programmes, which I never did awfully well.’
Terry Wogan was born in Limerick but his family moved to Dublin where they set up home on the city’s north side in Glasnevin.
After going to the exclusive boys secondary school, Belvedere College, he started broadcasting with fledgling national station Telifís Éireann which became RTÉ.
He then relocated to England to work with the BBC and at the height of his fame, his thriceweekly TV chat show attracted 13 million viewers each night while eight million others tuned into his early-morning radio show.
The Irishman became so popular in his adopted country he was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 2005.
And because he was born before 1949, he could accept the honour and could use the title Sir.
However, despite his success, Wogan admitted that his fame took a toll on his family.
He and his wife Helen had two sons and a daughter and throughout his career he tried to shield them from unwanted publicity.
He explained: ‘I’m in the business. They’re not. They didn’t choose to be in this business, I did and they have enough to put up with being my children or my wife without exposing them to a great deal of publicity. I try to ration it as far as I can to maybe one [at home with the Wogans magazine articles] a year or two a year.
‘You have to do some of that, again it’s part of the price you pay, but your family ought not to have to pay that price.’
He said that his children had some tough days in school, due to what their dad did for a living.
‘It’s rough on them because it’s hard enough growing up… children go straight for the jugular and if I’m on the television then I’m a useful weapon with which to beat my children. Children don’t do it out of…. maybe they do… they’re little animals, children. They use whatever weapon they can against other children.’
When asked what was the secret to his success, his advice was simple – ‘Be yourself and do not read flattering letters and emails from listeners on air’. He added: ‘That doesn’t impress anybody that you are reading out letters in praise of yourself. Even children can see through that. The big hole you can fall through as a popular entertainer is trying to be popular with everybody, trying to get everybody to identify with you,’ he said.
‘You have to be prepared to be yourself, say what you would say yourself and if the public responds to that in sufficient numbers, you will be popular. If they don’t, you will not succeed but you must do it. You cannot start out with the premise, “I’m now going to say something that everyone will find acceptable”.’
‘You shouldn’t apologise for anything,’ he added.