[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

I'll never forget this one show where they were giving away a prize at the end of the show and he would phone the person whose name he pulled out of the box. So he dials the number and asks to speak to the woman named on his card and the woman who answers is like "Is this some sort of a joke?" and she's getting a bit upset/annoyed and Gay is wondering wtf is wrong with her and it turned out that the woman named on the card was the lady who answered the phones daughter and she'd been hit by a car on her bike and killed a few days earlier this was all going on on live TV but he handled the whole thing so well. Couldn't imagine Ryan Tubridy doing that

...I was just reading The Guardian article and tribute to him...and they related this story from 1966...

‘During a quiz item for married couples in 1966 Byrne asked a contestant what colour nightie she had worn on the night of her honeymoon. She hadn’t worn any, she replied.

The bishop of Clonfert, Thomas Ryan, protested in what became known as as the “bishop and the nightie” incident, splitting the country into those who were scandalised and those who roared laughing.’


...also from the article...

“Through his work in radio and on television he challenged Irish society, and shone a light not only on the bright but also the dark sides of Irish life,” said the president, Michael D Higgins. “In doing so, he became one of the most familiar and distinctive voices of our times, helping shape our conscience, our self-image, and our idea of who we might be.”

Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, said: “The story of his remarkable contribution to Irish life is the story of how we changed and evolved as a society over the past 60 years. A consummate entertainer, he also provided a voice for all those who had been silenced or were afraid to speak up, and he forced us to confront things that needed to be challenged in our society.”


...a very loved and much respected man......