WOGAN’S LAST CHRISTMAS OF LAUGHS

Despite failing health, he was worried more about his beloved wife than his own condition

SIR TERRY Wogan was able to spend one last Christmas laughing with his family before being told that his illness was terminal three weeks ago, it emerged yesterday.

Colleagues and fans were left shocked when the beloved broadcaster’s death aged 77 was announced on Sunday after a short battle against cancer.

Instead of revealing his diagnosis, the Radio 2 star batted away inquiries about his mysterious absence from the airwaves by claiming he was suffering from a bad back.

And despite his ailing condition, friends revealed yesterday, the selfless broadcaster spent much of his final months worrying about the health of his wife Helen.

BBC golf commentator Peter Alliss, 84, a close friend of the Wogan family, said that he was given the ‘bombshell’ news about Sir Terry’s terminal illness only two weeks ago.

He said he first noticed Sir Terry’s condition during a holiday at the Wogans’ luxury home in Gascony, south-west France, three months ago. Sir Terry refused to acknowledge his ill health, so Mr Alliss was stunned when he received a phone call from Lady Wogan a fortnight ago informing him that her husband had only a month to live.

He said: ‘We were with them on holiday at his lovely home in France just a few months ago and he was moving a bit slowly then but there was no notice that he wasn’t very well.

‘We were more worried about Helen. She wasn’t moving about too speed- ily and he was talking about putting a lift in the house in France just to get her up the stairs more easily.’ He added: ‘We were speaking less than two weeks ago and Helen said, “Well Terry is not very well, he may have a month to live”. It was like a bombshell. He lasted about 18 days, which was extraordinary.’

He described Sir Terry – a godfather to his son – as a ‘dear, dear friend and absolute delight’. Lady Wogan, who had been married to the broadcaster for 50 years, is understood to have been at his deathbed at their Buckinghamshire mansion alongside their chil dren, Mark, All en and Katherine.

A priest who travelled from Ireland to say his ‘last goodbye’ to the Eurovision host last Thursday also described how he had been left surprised by Sir Terry’s rapid decline.

Father Brian D’Arcy, a friend of Sir Terry’s for 40 years, said that the broadcaster was in substantial pain over the festive period but ‘alarm bells’ began to ring three weeks ago.

He said: ‘I was a bit worried when he wasn’t able to turn up for Children In Need, which was his great passion and great love for 25 years.

‘I phoned him and he said, “Everything’s going to be all right, old boy. You might want to say a few prayers if you have any influence up there, if t here i s anyone up there”.

‘Then after Christmas, it seemed to change a little bit. It seemed more serious and the first opportunity that I was able to get over I came over.

‘I wasn’t sure how it was going to be but as soon as I saw Terry I knew it was the last time I was going to see him and the handshake was the last shake of hands I would ever have with him.’

Executives at the BBC were convinced that Sir Terry would be returning to his weekly Radio 2 slot in a matter of weeks after he left on health grounds last November.

Friends had been left concerned about his condition since last October when he had to be helped on to the stage at a charity event. But the broadcaster blanked i nquiries about his frail appearance by telling friends that he was simply suffering from tiredness.

Colleagues at the BBC – where Sir Terry rose to national stardom thanks to the huge success of his Radio 2 breakfast shows – described him as a ‘genius’ yesterday.

Chris Evans, his successor on t he programme, called t he broadcaster his ‘radio dad’ in an emotional broadcast that left listeners in tears around the country.

He welcomed listeners to the tribute broadcast by paying his respects to the broadcaster and reflecting with sadness on a world that is now ‘Wogan-less’.

‘What a heart and what a man,’ he said. ‘ A giant of entertaining broadcasting. There have been and will be few like him – one of the all-time great, right up there with the big guns, BBC hall of famers.

‘All unscripted, all ad-lib, and always supremely assured. Unwaveringly confident. And do you know why? Because he never took any of this seriously – least of all himself.

‘He was the butt of most of his j okes. “Laugh and the world laughs with you”, sure, but Terry knew if you go one better and laugh at yourself then you’re really on to something.’

David Cameron paid tribute to the ‘wonderful human being’, revealing that he became a fan of his breakfast shows through his mother. ‘Someone my age very much j ust f eels you grew up with this man,’ he said. ‘When I used to travel around in the car with my mum she listened to him on the radio and she felt he was speaking directly to her.’

During his 40 years at the BBC Sir Terry also became one of Britain’s most recognisable TV stars, hosting his own chat show three times a week and the panel show Blankety Blank.

Fans were also won over by his gently sarcastic commentary for the Eurovision song contest, which he last presented in 2008.

He was knighted in 2005, the year his radio audience passed the eight million mark.

Siobhan Synnot – Page 15