Description
Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish-British radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday breakfast programme Wake Up to Wogan regularly drew an estimated eight million listeners. He was believed to be the most listened-to radio broadcaster in Europe.
Wogan was a leading media personality in Ireland and Britain from the late 1960s, and was often referred to as a "national treasure". In addition to his weekday radio show, he was known for his work on television, including the BBC One chat show Wogan , presenting Children in Need , the game show Blankety Blank and Come Dancing. He was the BBC's commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest from 1971 to 2008 (radio: 1971, 1974–1977; television: 1973, 1978, 1980–2008) and the Contest's host in 1998. From 2010 to 2015 he presented Weekend Wogan , a two-hour Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 2.
In 2005, Wogan acquired British citizenship in addition to his Irish nationality and was awarded a knighthood in the same year and was therefore entitled to use the title "Sir" in front of his name. He died on 31 January 2016, aged 77.
