Gay Byrne regarded himself as highly professional but much less relevant than he actually was in the course of modern Irish history, writes Terry ProneThe first key thing about Gay Byrne is that he was a native speaker of television. The second key thing about him is that he had the courage of a lion. The first time I met him was when I was booked as a Late Late Show panellist when I was 14. I’d appeared several times on Bunny Carr’s Teen Talk, and Gay — who produced as well as presented the Late Late, decided a much younger panellist than the rest might be an interesting wheeze. At the end, he reached out and touched her cheek with his palm so gently, because that was the right thing to do, in broadcasting terms.

Source: Irish Examiner November 04, 2019 20:12 UTC