Michael Terence Wogan has been one of Ireland’s and Britain’s best known, best liked and most successful broadcasters on both radio and television for over forty years. During that time he has entertained, enlightened and engaged the people of both islands with his combination of self-deprecating wit, understated knowledge and empathic kindness. Michael Terence Wogan – known universally as Terry - was born in Limerick in 1938 and spent a happy childhood moving between attentive relatives in Limerick and Dublin. He attended Crescent and later Belvedere Colleges, where he excelled at rugby, acting and, occasionally, Latin. He showed early promise with the Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society and, after a brief interlude in banking, he joined RTÉ as a radio presenter first of documentaries and later of quiz and variety shows. Terry Wogan’s career with the BBC is without parallel. He has moved effortlessly between the intimacy of radio and the glare of television, playing the roles of compere, notably for the Eurovision Song Contest, quiz-master, in-depth interviewer and whimsical commentator with equal ease and distinction. He has had the courage to leave many programmes at the height of their success so as to explore new formats or ideas. Typically, he left BBC’s most popular radio show to host the live chatshow, Wogan which, in turn reigned supreme in TV terms from 1985 to 1992. He capped his subsequent return to radio when, in 1991, his Wake up with Wogan became the most popular radio show in Europe with an audience of 7.2 million. Wogan himself was quoted as hailing ‘the triumph of the coffin-dodgers’. Terry Wogan has won many awards, both from peers and from the public, in his 40 year career in broadcasting. He has been recognised by the Variety Club, the Pye Society of Authors and the Radio Industries Club. Sartorially he has been voted ‘Tie Man of the Year’ and ‘Best Dressed Man of the Year’. In newspaper polls he has been voted the ‘Most Popular TV Star of the 1980s’ and the ‘Most Popular Radio Star of the Past 25 Years’ in the UK, reflecting his unique place in the affections and appreciation of a huge radio and TV audience. In January 2004 Terry Wogan was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Limerick. In 2005, Terry Wogan was awarded an honorary knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Terry Wogan’s charitable activities are too numerous to list in full. He was President of the Lords Taverners and the Saints and Sinners charitable societies and is patron of Arthritis Care, Action for Epilepsy and of the association for Adventure Playgrounds for Handicapped Children. He works with a number of hospitals including Hammersmith, St. Mary’s Paddington and Wexham Park. For six years he held the Terry Wogan Golf Classic for the benefit of Irish charities and he continues to be involved with the Ireland Fund in Great Britain. However he is best known for his commitment to Children in Need, of which he is now a trustee. Using his charm, humour and quiet determination to the full, he manages to make this relatively low-key event a resounding success every year.