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Terry Wogan, one of my favourite broadcasters of all time, has died aged 77, “after a short but brave battle with cancer”, his family have announced this morning, and they were also with him at the time of his passing.
I woke up to this news and this news has come with as much impact as the death of David Bowie, another icon who’s been ever-present in the radio throughout my life.
Terry Wogan was the original presenter of BBC1 gameshow Blankety Blank, where the winner wouldn’t receive money, but could instead win some general household items, while the loser would get the ‘Blankety Blank cheque book and pen’, in silver trophy form.
In the ’90s, he hosted chat show Wogan, a live programme where Oliver Reed turned up drunk and where sports star-then-commentator-but-ultimately-total-moron David Icke announced that everyone should wear turquoise shellsuits as some sort of salvation, and that the Royal Family are lizards… and don’t forget that he proclaimed he was the Second Coming of Jesus.
There’s also The Floral Dance, a song which described the annual Furry Dance in Helston, Cornwall, with a tune and lyrics written in 1911 by Katie Moss, yet which came to public prominence in 1978 when Terry recorded it. It only reached No.21, but feels like it went far higher at the time.
And in later years, he also presented BBC1’s Points Of View, clearly showing it up for the nonsense that it is as they never seriously address the concerns of viewers.
However, as well as having a regular programme on Radio 2, he’ll be best remembered for presenting the annual Children In Need from its inception in 1980 to 2014, taking last year off due to illness, the full extent of which we now know.
I’ll forever remember him also for giving me a mention on his Radio 2 show back in 1982, which I heard on the way to school (I wish I had it recorded), as I was going in to hospital soon for a co-arctation of the aorta, one of my many visits to the hospital which led to my eventual aortic valve replacement in 1994. Somewhere, I also have a signed copy of his book, Banjaxed.
Terry Wogan’s death also brings a conclusion to a month of high-profile deaths which we thought had long since finished – David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Alan Rickman, Colin Vearncombe from Black, Signe Toly Anderson from Jefferson Airplane, Dale Griffin from Mott The Hoople… I figure the only plus in all this, is that since my father also passed away this month last year, aged 76, I hope everyone who dies in any particular month gets to meet up and chat, so he’s in very good company.
RIP Terry Woan. Your legend status is assured.
But to end, let’s remember some of Terry Wogan’s lighter moments. As well as performing The Floral Dance on Top Of The Pops, and interviewing David Icke in 1991, but two of my favourites were Terry clearly looking very proud on Points Of View, as he presented the entire show completely oblivious to the fact that he had an erection, and then the following week when his great sense of self-depreciating humour showed he can laugh at himself by referring to it. I did a mash-up for both of these. Check those out atop the video selection below:
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.