Gay Byrne: His top 10 most memorable moments on air |

Contents:

• GAY BYRNE FUNERAL: IN PICTUR
• WHERE DID LATE RTE BROADSTER GAY BYRNE FUNERAL TAKE PLACE AND WHERE IS HE BURIED?
• GAY BYRNE OBUARY: THE MATRO OF IRISH BROADSTG
• DETAILS OF GAY BYRNE'S WILL HE MA JT 12 DAYS BEFORE HIS ATH REVEALED
• GAY BYRNE, TV STAR WHO 'CHALLENGED IRISH SOCIETY', DI AGED 85
• DOZENS OF RED FLOWERS VER FAL RTG PLACE OF RTE LEGEND GAY BYRNE AFTER IRELAND SAYS GOODBYE
• GAY BYRNE: HIS TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR
• GAY BYRNE OBUARY – SON OF GUNS WORKER WHO BEME MOST FLUENTIAL BROADSTER HISTORY OF STATE
• RTE LEGEND GAY BYRNE 'DIDN'T FEAR ATH' BUT HAD 'TWO DYG WISH' SAY FAYTODAY MARKS THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE DUBL TV AND RAD GIANTDUBLLIVEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYDARRAGH BERRY09:59, 4 NOV 2020BOOKMARKVIO LOADGVIO UNAVAILABLECLICK TO PLAYTAP TO PLAYTHE VIO WILL TO-PLAY SOON8CANCELPLAY NOWNEVER MISS A BEAT OM DUBL AND BEYOND BY SIGNG UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 NEVER MISS A BEAT OM DUBL AND BEYOND BY SIGNG UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!
• GAY BYRNE WAS A LOYAL, IF QUTNG CATHOLIC ALL HIS LIFE
• GAY BYRNE LEAV €1.1M WILL MA 12 DAYS BEFORE HE DIED
• GAY BYRNE ‘MA A DIFFERENCE OUR WORLD. OUR SOCIETY WILL BE FOREVER HIS BT’
• GAY BYRNE: THE GREATT SHOWMAN
• YOUR MEMORI OF GAY BYRNE: ‘I FEEL LIKE PART OF MY CHILDHOOD HAS DIED’
• GAY BYRNE: ‘I AM NO DIFFERENT TO HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF PEOPLE WHO LOST MONEY’
• NOTHG COMPAR: SéAD O’CONNOR, A PATRONISG GAY BYRNE, AND THE SHOCK WAV OF THAT PHOTO-RIPPG MOMENT
• THE WOMEN BEHD GAY BYRNE’S SUCCS: WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID
• GAY BYRNE HAS DIED AT AGE 85

GAY BYRNE FUNERAL: IN PICTUR

PhotographyHundreds me to pay their last rpects to broadster Gay Byrne, who died earlier this week aged 85Image 1 of 25Broadster Gay Byrne, who died earlier this week at the age of 85 after a long illns.

Gay first announced he was battlg prostate ncer November 2016 on his RTE Lyric FM show Time Warp and would be gone for a week -- but he never returned. Stills: The Irish Tim/ As creded Gay Byrne Born: Augt 5th, 1934 Died: November 4th, 2019Gay Byrne, who has died at the age of 85, was the undisputed leadg figure the history of Irish broadstg, and played a hugely fluential role the transformatn of attus the latter part of the 20th a reer that spanned six s, he was father figure, nfsor, quisor and entertaer, all rolled to one. Both parents were om Co Wicklow, his father om Kildry (where Gay Byrne’s grandfather was achman to the Earl of Meath) and his mother om Bray.

WHERE DID LATE RTE BROADSTER GAY BYRNE FUNERAL TAKE PLACE AND WHERE IS HE BURIED?

She was termed that her children would better themselv and sent Gay to sendary regular e om Guns’s ma the fay more fortunate than many others. Mr Moynihan was so pleased wh young Gay Byrne’s performance that he gave him a threepenny those the stud thought of the boy who, the future, would revolutnise Irish broadstg, remas unknown.

GAY BYRNE OBUARY: THE MATRO OF IRISH BROADSTG

She had promised to go to Mass and Communn every day if her hband me back safely om the first World War – they had married Belfast 1917 – which he daily Mass-gog eventually chafed wh the young Gay Byrne and at the age of 14 or 15 he had a ser row wh his mother durg which he said some extremely solent thgs to her. By the time the uple fally married Saggart Parish Church 1964, their weddg was a celebry event, wh a crowd of more than a thoand gatherg the Dubl village to tch a glimpse of the newlyweds, who need a Garda rt to get to their a broadster, Gay Byrne, or Gaybo, as he me to be known, saw his populary as fickle and as somethg that uld disappear at the whim of the dience.

DETAILS OF GAY BYRNE'S WILL HE MA JT 12 DAYS BEFORE HIS ATH REVEALED

The girls who flocked to the ballrooms uld, if they beme pregnant, fd themselv shut to a mother and baby home for up to two years, spendg their time scbbg floors and workg the kchens, their nam changed, their right to munite wh the outsi world cut off, their babi taken om them to be sent to Ameri on a few hours’ Gay Byrne – who was very well aware of the existence of that other Ireland – chipped away and away at , lethally on The Late Late Show, brgg on, for stance, guts who champned the right of unmarried mothers and their babi to be treated cently by the the old Ireland stepped – and had plenty of reprentativ RTÉ, polics and the civil service – to sist that The Late Late Show stick to “safe” entertament, the story of Gay Byrne would probably be of ltle tert to today.

Neverthels, his survival was a remarkable achievement for the boy who got a ser beatg over givg cheek to his mother bee he didn’t want to go to great ntradictn of Gay Byrne, of urse, was that so many of his views he was nservative, though he did so much to unrme the very nservative approach which had characterised Irish life well to the 1960sHe did make one apology which he regretted was the Bishop and the Nightie affair, when he asked a woman the dience what she had worn on her weddg night. But he didn’t feel good about and he cid he would never aga apologise when he had done nothg enough, he was probably the only one who remembered years later that he had apologised: all the public remembered was that a bishop had ma a fool of himself over a harmls joke by a woman about her weddg Gay Byrne Show, the rad programme which brought him to the natn’s kchens every weekday morng, started 1972 and ran until 1998. They ntaed the prevly untold, heartrendg experienc of many women Ireland at the great ntradictn of Gay Byrne, of urse, was that so many of his views he was nservative, though he did so much to unrme the very nservative approach which had characterised Irish life well to the took the view, for stance, that the untry was gog to the dogs enomilly and that State spendg was too high.

GAY BYRNE, TV STAR WHO 'CHALLENGED IRISH SOCIETY', DI AGED 85

”This renred the loss of his money the Rsell Murphy affair all the more shockg – when emerged after Murphy’s ath 1984 that the acuntant had taken all the money which he had managed on Gay Byrne’s behalf and had left him bt. Worse, Murphy had been a close iend and Gay Byrne had seen him almost as a father blow was a grievo one to a man who nfsed to havg a sense of secury about his e, spe his great succs.

He ntued to appear on televisn, prentg the Irish versn of Who Wants to Be a Millnaire?, along wh seri such as The Gay Byrne Mic Show and Make ’Em Lgh (about edy Ireland), Gaybo’s Gmpy Men and Class beme a tirels and forceful advote for savg liv, appearg equently on rad and televisn, durg a perd which saw a dramatic fall road traffic fataliHis long-nng terview seri The Meang of Life clud a number of remarkable moments, cludg actor Gabriel Byrne’s admissn that he had been abed as a child and Stephen Fry’s nunciatn of God. “I am not gog to say, bee would promise me terms of the show if people knew I had a posn, ” he 2006, he also prented Sunday afternoon shows on Lyric FM, where he displayed his encyclopaedic knowledge and ep love of classic jazz while lightg his substantial dience wh curmudgeonly asis about the state of 2014, he prented a documentary, Gay Byrne: My Father’s War about his father Edward’s service the 19th Royal Hsars durg the first World War, and his return to Ireland afterwards.

Photograph: David Sleator Gay Byrne was diagnosed wh prostate ncer 2016 and he wrote and spoke publicly about the gellg nature of the chemotherapy treatment regime he was recently due to receive the Ireland-US Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award om Print Michael D Higgs, but was unable to attend the ceremony due to a broken wrist and cht fectn.

DOZENS OF RED FLOWERS VER FAL RTG PLACE OF RTE LEGEND GAY BYRNE AFTER IRELAND SAYS GOODBYE

Print Higgs paid tribute to him at the event, sayg: “Controversial, outspoken, and unaaid to break new ground, has been said that, throughout his many s on televisn and rad, Gay Byrne’s role the shapg and craftg of morn-day Ireland has been profound.

GAY BYRNE: HIS TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR

Generatns grew up watchg the host of RTÉ’s long-nng chatshow blend light entertament wh current affairs and taboo-shatterg moments, a cultural renzvo that domated Friday night viewg and praged a new Gay Byrne era officially end on Monday when he died at home Dubl, surround by fay, aged 85. ”Ireland had braced for the ath of Uncle Gaybo, as many lled him, sce he revealed he had prostate ncer hosted The Late Late Show om 1962 to 1999, one of the world’s longt chatshow ns, as well as a rad show and other gigs such as the Rose of Byrne 1962.

GAY BYRNE OBUARY – SON OF GUNS WORKER WHO BEME MOST FLUENTIAL BROADSTER HISTORY OF STATE

Print Michael D Higgs, his wife Saba and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar offered their ndolenc to Gay’s widow Kathleen, his dghters Crona and Suzy and their fai. Former RTE Director General Bob Colls said Gay as a “profsnal to his fgertips” and drew lghter om mourners wh a licence fee quip durg tal of Byrne’s rad show durg the 1960s and 1970s.

Son of Guns worker Edward Byrne, the young Gay began his reer after leavg school Synge Street triple-jobbg as an surance clerk, a variety pere and host on RTE Rad. Stts at Rad Eireann weren't enough for Gay, who soon moved over the water to Granada TV, beg the first person to troduce The Beatl on telly 1963.

RTE LEGEND GAY BYRNE 'DIDN'T FEAR ATH' BUT HAD 'TWO DYG WISH' SAY FAYTODAY MARKS THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE DUBL TV AND RAD GIANTDUBLLIVEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYDARRAGH BERRY09:59, 4 NOV 2020BOOKMARKVIO LOADGVIO UNAVAILABLECLICK TO PLAYTAP TO PLAYTHE VIO WILL TO-PLAY SOON8CANCELPLAY NOWNEVER MISS A BEAT OM DUBL AND BEYOND BY SIGNG UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 NEVER MISS A BEAT OM DUBL AND BEYOND BY SIGNG UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

Shortly afterwards, Gay returned to Ireland beg the biggt name Irish broadstg for the last half century wh a morng rad programme on RTE Rad and RTE TV's flagship programme The Late Late Show, which he hosted until 1999. It was a goln age of TV where anythg uld happen and often did om actor Oliver Reed throwg himself at actrs San Gee on live TV, to Gay challengg psychiatrist RD Lag for g on dnk.

Even more ntroversial was Gay's terview the year before 1993 wh Annie Murphy, who revealed the tails of her affair wh the Bishop of Galway Eamon Casey, which led to their birth of their son.

But Gaybo's fence, late newspaper edor Pl Dry said "All Gay had been dog was reflectg the mood of the Irish people - most of whom, back then, still had an enormo rpect and affectn for Dr Casey.

GAY BYRNE WAS A LOYAL, IF QUTNG CATHOLIC ALL HIS LIFE

Gay Byrne had terviewed a married uple om the dience, Richard and Eileen Fox om Terenure Dubl, and asked each of them a seri of qutns while the other was out of earshot. In her book, The Gaybo Revolutn: How Gay Byrne Challenged Irish Society, thor Fola Doyle-O’Neil wrote: "From 1962 to 1999, Byrne mataed what appeared to be an effortls grip on the live talk show, both on rad and on was not a missnary; he was a talented broadster who had no hatn phg boundari to make entertag televisn.

No one ptured the mood of the natn more than Gay when he vered the ath of 15-year-old Anne Lovett, who had given birth to a stillborn child next to the Grotto of Our Lady a field Granard Co Longford, which beme one of the most poignant stori vered by the groundbreakg Gay Byrne rad programme. On page 224, Gay reunted how Ryan Tubridy's grandfather Todd Andrews, then Chairman of the RTE Authory, once rang RTE's Director General to tell him "get rid of that f***er Byrne. It was the late Gerry Ryan who joked shortly before his ath "'s a py Gay wasn't ad" bee the olr man so often got the shows he wanted to do, cludg beg the job of hostg an Irish versn of Who Wants To Be A Millnaire, another post Late Late outg for Byrne semi-retirement.

GAY BYRNE LEAV €1.1M WILL MA 12 DAYS BEFORE HE DIED

Close pals said Gay's reluctance to stop workg was fuelled by his experienc wh late acuntant acuntant Rsell Murphy, who effectively stole everythg Gay ma durg his early reer. Fah discsn The Meang of Life, and entertament show For One Night Only were other vehicl for Gay semi-retirement, as well as a Sunday afternoon programme on Lyric FM which quickly beme the most listened to show on the easy listeng statn. If that didn't make his semi-retirement by enough, 2006 Gay beme boss of The Road Safety Authory vowg he would "walk away" om the job if nonted by a "solid wall of burecracy".

Gay uld have even been Print, backed by huge support 2011, he cid to turn down a race to Aras bee remd him of his peak hostg the Late Late Show and a rad programme. One of the great ironi about Gay Byrne is that, while so many believe he was the wedge which opened a narrow, sular Ireland to the wir world, he himself remaed the boy shaped by a very tradnal Irish Catholic was a creatn of those two immovable forc which shaped so many succsful Irish men the mid- to late-20th century – mother and Carroll, his mother, was om Bray, Co Wicklow, and married his father Edward 1917 while the latter was home on leave om fightg the Brish army durg the first World War. Dear iends, if you want to see a tribute to Gay Byrne, look around this thedral this morng and fd the assembled Augt 1962, the programme manager at Telefis Éireann sent a memo to “all programme divisn staff” was all the thgs – reflective, ep, ser, thoughtful.

And for that, we are gratefulFormer RTÉ director general and Gay Byrne’s iend Bob Colls who gave the funeral logy at Dubl’s Prothedral Gay Byrne: 1934-2019. The risk was always prent that the dience might miss the real person, the real Gay, might unrtimate the reflective spir, might not fully appreciate the ser person, might mistake the qutns asked for the beliefs and valu held.

GAY BYRNE ‘MA A DIFFERENCE OUR WORLD. OUR SOCIETY WILL BE FOREVER HIS BT’

But Gay regnised that, he discerned what was g terms of social velopment and social change, he unrstood the mocratisg power of televisn and he was a very important pann and gui on that journey to the morn era. And not a ltle panic on the floor and the gallery when Gay, as he would have done Stud 1 Donnybrook, rambled down to mix wh the dience and brg the stud alive.

Jt over 20 years ago, the televisn programme Stat of Fear we heard such a voice – the first of s kd, the voice of a man talkg to Gay Byrne on the rad 1986 and breakg the silence about the pa of his showed to ourselv and he had the unrivalled abily to reach out to vast dienc by speakg to each person, dividually, as were.

GAY BYRNE: THE GREATT SHOWMAN

If that is right, then Gay Byrne is first among those we have to thank for the abily to talk – and listen – to so, ar Gay, remas only to say, wh Shakpeare, "Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Nor the fur wter's rag; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta'en thy wag:"For your wonrful humany, for the us of your worldly task, for the joy and fort you brought to untls thoands the length and breadth of the untry and for the richns of unrstandg that your ep prence RTÉ’s archiv will brg to future generatns, we are all gathered here simply to say, thank you soilsí solas na bhFlaheas ort ag suaimhneas síoraí go raibh agat. When Annie Murphy, at the centre of a sndal when she ma public that she'd given birth to a son whose father was Eamon Casey, the then Bishop of Galway, appeared on the show, Gay seemed to si wh Casey, who had clearly taken advantage of a vulnerable young woman.

– Avril Ingram LondonBack the 1980s my late father wrote to Gay Byrne about the trials and tribulatns of tryg to n a small engeerg and nstctn bs. He tly was a pneer; as a man he ma empathy the normal rponse my lifeGay Byrne, then 43, pere of The Late Late show sce 1962, photographed 1979 at RTÉ. This was somethg I uld appreciate even my very young years, as Gay Byrne had a way of relatg to all, young and old, and makg part of the story of a changg Ireland.

YOUR MEMORI OF GAY BYRNE: ‘I FEEL LIKE PART OF MY CHILDHOOD HAS DIED’

– Lorrae M Co GalwayThe Gay Byrne Show rned all 13 Cron siblgs wh their parents 1998 We the Cron fay of Ballyfermot, wt Dubl, are forever grateful to Gay and his show for the gift of our fay homeg, live on his rad programme, on December 18th, 1998, when he surprised our parents wh the rnn of all 13 children unr the one roof after 26 years.

– Anne Marie Hourigan DevonIt was Febary 1986, three months after the publitn of my book The Dtctn of Dubl, and I was stg bi Gaybo on The Late Late Show, wearg a black leather jacket and a th yellow leather tie, facg a panel that clud Frank Feely, who was Dubl cy manager at the time, and Sam Stephenson, the notor archect, discsg the state of the cy and what should be done about .

GAY BYRNE: ‘I AM NO DIFFERENT TO HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF PEOPLE WHO LOST MONEY’

– Franc McDonagh Co RosmonThe night Gay monstrated how a ndom was ed I was workg at arrangg an em for the next segment of The Late Late Show. Gay was headg for a short bathroom break, and I said to him, "You know all the lads will be rollg those on their fgers and sayg, 'Mary, we're safe tonight.

Photograph: RTÉ When we were growg up our strange, orange-and-brown 1980s home Glasnev, north Dubl, Gay Byrne was nsired godlike by my mother.

' Managed to make me lgh no matter how many tim I heard Some of my earlit and fonst memori are of listeng to the Gay Byrne rad show the kchen wh my mom. – San SlaneAnne O Neill’s son William wh Gay Byrne on O’Connell Street Dubl More than 12 years ago, while a stunt at the Natnal College of Art and Dign, my son William spotted Gay Byrne as he waed, hat pulled low across his forehead, to cross O'Connell Street Dubl. – John Rogers Abu DhabiWe always admired Gaybo's art beg able first to lay a fger a fterg wound and, moments later, to have stch wh a hilar storyIn 1981 my first hband and I bought a relict ttage Co Lerim.

NOTHG COMPAR: SéAD O’CONNOR, A PATRONISG GAY BYRNE, AND THE SHOCK WAV OF THAT PHOTO-RIPPG MOMENT

Photograph: Eddie Kelly Dpe havg harboured a ol, on-trend teenage rejectn of Uncle Gaybo, when I was faced wh him my late 20s, on the top floor of RTÉ, I was stantly won over by this charismatic, charmg man, who seemed to float the length of the rridor towards me.

THE WOMEN BEHD GAY BYRNE’S SUCCS: WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID

– Douglas Syme ArizonaKathleen, should be well wh your soul that you were the one to live this amazg life wh your beloved GayBack 1967, while still St Louis' Sendary School, I was asked to sg on The Late Late Show by Pan Colls, his rearcher.

GAY BYRNE HAS DIED AT AGE 85

Her words about Gay and his health were betiful, and she monstrated aga why so great a man would wd up wh so betiful a soul, even though the grandchildren lovgly scribed her as daft.