(Terry Wogan - Memorial service in Westminster Abbey London on September 27 2016 - will be broadcast live on BBC RADIO 2)
It will be prefaced and followed by a special edition of ‘The Jeremy Vine Show’, where he will celebrate the life and times of Terry, speaking to listeners and hearing their memories of him. Ken Bruce will also host ‘Thank You For Being My Friend - A Tribute to Terry Wogan’ on 26 and 27 September on Radio 2 at 10pm, tracing Terry’s professional life, from Limerick to London via Eurovision, BBC Children in Need and his own TV chat show.
The shows will feature contributions from those including Chris Evans, Sue Lawley, Sue Cook, Claudia Winkleman, Esther Rantzen, Cheryl Baker, Nicky Byrne and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.
There will also be music from the artists he championed, including Eva Cassidy, Katie Melua and Foster and Allen and the music he loved, from Nat King Cole to Peggy Lee.
BBC One will also air ‘Sir Terry Wogan Remembered: Fifty Years At The BBC’, which is billed as a celebration full of classic moments, including much loved shows from ‘Blankety Blank’ to the Eurovision Song Contest.
“It will explore the three facets of Terry: on television, on radio and as the charity figurehead for BBC Children in Need, and will also reveal the private side of a man whose values and beliefs laid the foundations for his extraordinary success,” a press release reads.
The tribute will feature contributions from the likes of Jeremy Vine, Ken Bruce, Alesha Dixon, Michael Grade, Eamonn Holmes, Katie Melua, Dermot O’Leary, Len Goodman, Graham Norton, Fearne Cotton and Rob Brydon.
Former BBC chairman and controller Michael Grade has paid tribute to Terry Wogan ahead of a memorial service to the late Irish broadcaster at London's Westminster Abbey next week.The Limerick man passed away in January at the age of 77 after a short battle with cancer. Speaking to the British entertainment magazine The Radio Times, Grade described Wogan as "authentic - the real deal" and "a joy to work with, a joy to be with socially". Grade said the service at Westminster Abbey would be a fitting tribute, and that Wogan's "living memorial" was his work with charity Children in Need. "Over the years Children in Need has raised over £638 million, but today it's easy to forget that giving on such a scale had never happened before in British broadcasting - and finding someone viewers would give their money to wasn't easy," he said. "He was a great broadcaster and absolutely nothing could throw him" "Of course, once Terry got hold of Children in Need, it just took off and he was so proud of what it became." Grade attributed Wogan's success as a broadcaster to his ability to listen, and the fact that people trusted him. "I suppose you could say he was a TV personality. I hate that phrase because it rather undersells his talent," continued Grade.
"He was a great broadcaster and absolutely nothing could throw him."One of his great strengths was that if things were going wrong, he'd own up. He wouldn't try and pretend to the viewers that everything was fine. He told you the truth - even if it made him look silly."That was the beauty of him hosting the Eurovision Song Contest: he told the truth. He did it with charm and dignity but he'd say - 'Well, this is a load of old tosh, isn't it?' And we'd say, 'You're absolutely right, Terry'."
(Terry Wogan - Memorial service in Westminster Abbey London on September 27 2016 )
