Presenter Dermot O’Leary has paid tribute to Sir Terry Wogan on his BBC Radio 2 show by playing a song recorded by the former Eurovision commentator.
The 52-year-old, who replaced Sir Terry on BBC charity variety show Children In Need in 2015, said “it’s been 10 years since we lost him”, before adding that he had to play Sir Terry’s 1978 hit single The Floral Dance in tribute.
Before playing the song, O’Leary asked fellow radio presenter Romesh Ranganathan if he had ever met Sir Terry, to which he replied: “I didn’t, unfortunately, but I regularly go back to watch him hosting Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
“Because it was so good, because that was such a comedy, comedy show, and obviously Terry is so funny … you basically feel like you could drop him into any environment or scenario and he’ll be absolutely brilliant.”
Presenter Dermot O’Leary replaced Sir Terry on Children In Need (David Jansen/PA)
(David Jensen)
It comes after Sir Terry’s son, Mark Wogan, described him as “the least showbiz person in showbiz” while speaking on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show on Friday.
Wogan said: “He loved what he did.
“As he said, ‘I’ve got the best job in the world. I go into work every day and laugh for two hours’.”
Wogan said Sir Terry was a “family man” who “made a conscious decision that he was public property” but did not want his family to be bothered by his fame.
He added: “He was very private and when he clocked off at Radio Two, he genuinely went home. And he was a family man.
Dermot O’Leary played The Floral Dance in tribute on his BBC Radio 2 show (Ben Whitley/PA)
(Ben Whitley)
“He was the least showbiz person in showbiz. And, you know, if you talk about the Wogan years, where, I think there were two-and-a-half thousand people he interviewed over that period, he became friends with two of them, really.
“Various people came through the door, but, I mean, it wasn’t kind of like a sort of showbiz extravaganza at home.”
Asked what Sir Terry was like when he was not working, Wogan said: “He was exactly the same, but at home, the volume was turned down.
“He was a man who, if he wasn’t working, he was very much relaxing.”
Sir Terry was also known for his own Radio 2 show, which he stepped down from in November 2015 as he battled prostate cancer, and his chat show, Wogan, which ran from 1982 to 1992.
He died on January 31, 2016.
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