Gay Byrne obuary | Televisn & rad | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY BYRNE: ‘I AM NO DIFFERENT TO HUNDREDS OF THOANDS OF PEOPLE WHO LOST MONEY’
• GAY BYRNE, TV STAR WHO 'CHALLENGED IRISH SOCIETY', DI AGED 85
• DETAILS OF GAY BYRNE'S WILL HE MA JT 12 DAYS BEFORE HIS ATH REVEALED
• GAY BYRNE ‘BROUGHT TERROR FOR SOME AND LIBERATN FOR OTHERS’
• GAY BYRNE OBUARY: THE MATRO OF IRISH BROADSTG
• GAY BYRNE: HIS TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR
• GAY BYRNE
• THE WOMEN BEHD GAY BYRNE’S SUCCS: WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID
• GAY BYRNE, VETERAN IRISH BROADSTER, AD AT 85
• GAY BYRNE OBUARY
• GAY BYRNE, VETERAN IRISH BROADSTER, DI AGED 85
• GAY BYRNE, WHO TACKLED TABOOS AS IRELAND’S TV HOST, DI AT 85

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

Gay Byrne may have sat at or near the top of the TV ratgs for most of his half-century broadstg but his fancial health was far ls nsistent.

It was said there was no sex Ireland until the The Late Late Show, and for that a natn owed thanks to Gay Byrne. 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, TV STAR WHO 'CHALLENGED IRISH SOCIETY', DI AGED 85

“Gay brought two unique gifts. Most importantly Gay was a listener.

The natn was mourng when was nfirmed that Gay Byrne had passed away after his lengthy battle wh ncer.

Gay Byrne wh wife Kathleen Watks and dghters Suzy & Crona Byrne. It as RTÉ aired a special, Gay Byrne's Late Late Memori, which took a look back at Gay's bt moments hostg The Late Late Show.

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

Viewers praised the special and lled Gay 'one of a kd'. Gay Byrne was more than a broadster, and for that reason this celebratn of his role as natnal agony uncle mak for btersweet viewg.

Dear Gay (RTÉ One, Wednday, 9.

GAY BYRNE ‘BROUGHT TERROR FOR SOME AND LIBERATN FOR OTHERS’

35pm) is a big-hearted homage to Byrne's humany and urage as prenter of his morng rad show, which began 1972 and ran for 27 also asks to reckon wh the dismal hellspe that was late-20th-century Ireland – a place of supprsed sexualy, unchecked homophobia and asphyxiatg religsy.

GAY BYRNE OBUARY: THE MATRO OF IRISH BROADSTG

We were all livg si a giant open-air nfsn this of Dear Gay is that Byrne’s rad broadsts were every b as fluential as his more lnised role on The Late Late Show as a ndu for social change. Hoewiv would tune and, later, wre to Gay Byrne.

GAY BYRNE: HIS TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR

Or maybe the letter wrer was gay and had grown up a untry where their mere existence was perceived to be an abomatn. “Gay Byrne brought Ireland to my kchen every day. You uld potter around the kchen and do everythg and still tune to Gay.

”Dear Gay grows darker as go along. Patrick Freyne looks back at the reer of the multi award-wng broadster Gay Byrne. 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.

GAY BYRNE

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.

It was partly for this reason that the young Gay Byrne never got close to him. 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.

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

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. 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.

GAY BYRNE, VETERAN IRISH BROADSTER, AD AT 85

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. Gay Byrne brought to an end wh what he later scribed as a “half” apology. 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.

GAY BYRNE OBUARY

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, VETERAN IRISH BROADSTER, 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.

GAY BYRNE, WHO TACKLED TABOOS AS IRELAND’S TV HOST, DI AT 85

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. 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 is survived by his wife, Kathleen Watks, and their two dghters, Crona and Suzy.