I’ve no patience for people who say they never watch television. It’s a great way to keep in touch with popular culture, and it’s important that children can relate to what their schoolmates are watching. – Terry Wogan
My life has been a happy accident. Anybody who succeeds in anything should count their lucky stars, because that’s the biggest element. It’s not hard work; it’s not necessarily talent. – Terry Wogan
I’ve always been the kind of person who leaves parties early to catch the last bus home. – Terry Wogan
I will never do ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ There are certain things you’ll do that you have some control over, but you should do things that leave your fate in the hands of others, too. – Terry Wogan
‘Senior Citizen’ and ‘Silver Surfer’ are the new euphemisms. Unless you’re a female presenter on TV, in which case you’re ready for the knacker’s yard at 35. – Terry Wogan
Oh, I’m a great believer in the power of the pause. Radio is a bit brasher now. My style was slower. I just used to go in, open the microphone and say the first thing that came into my head. – Terry Wogan
You have to be aware of your own shortcomings. The main thing I try not to do is lose my temper. Doing live interviews on television, you learn not to say the first thing that comes into your head. – Terry Wogan
Treasure is the kind of thing you dig up… or bury! And when people say, ‘Oh, he’s an icon,’ well, an icon is a very old painting hanging in a Russian church! If you want to say something, say something nice about me. Don’t call me a national treasure. – Terry Wogan
Nobody ever texts me, because they know what I’m like. I’m a constant frustration to my children because I never switch my mobile phone on. I only use it when I need to make a call or when I’m stuck somewhere or lost, then I switch it off again. I’ve never texted anyone in my life, and I’m not sure I even know how to. – Terry Wogan
I was brought up to do my duty. Not to be vain, not to shout from the rooftops about my virtues – to be modest and well-behaved. I’m totally wrong for show business. – Terry Wogan
I have great fun with the Togs – Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals. They’re a group that formed around me over the years of my radio shows. They are loyal to me and I’m loyal to them, so I’ve been to their conventions – Leicester University gives us their campus. – Terry Wogan
A talk show is about having a look at a famous face, a bit of stand-up comedy, knockabout stuff – an interview is what Barbara Walters or Connie Chung does in the States, in-depth, done properly. – Terry Wogan
My parents spent an awful lot of money sending me to the best possible schools, and I came out of my exams and thought, ‘I don’t really want to do a degree.’ I did philosophy with the Jesuits for about a year, and then I joined a bank. While I was there, I saw an ad in an Irish paper for radio announcers. – Terry Wogan
I’ve never wanted to drive a car fast for the sake of it. I mean, I like nice cars. I’ve got the Bentley, I’ve had a Lotus, I’ve had a Rolls-Royce and a few Jaguars, including an E-type. But I’m not somebody for driving tremendously fast. – Terry Wogan
I’m never going to write a book like Anthony Sher did, you know, ‘The Broadcaster Prepares.’ I’m only talking to myself. I’d have liked to be a writer, or a journalist, but if things don’t come easy to me I don’t do them. I think if you’re always thinking how difficult something is, you shouldn’t be doing it. – Terry Wogan
Sadly, I can’t avoid being 75. Like many people of my age, we are all heading towards the grim reaper, and I am clinging on. I just to have to sharpen my fingernails a little so that I can hang on for longer! – Terry Wogan
Go out and face the world secure in the knowledge that everybody else thinks they are better looking than they are as well. – Terry Wogan
Just as the England football manager starts with bells and flags and balloons and ends up reviled, so do prime ministers. Tony Blair – is there anyone more despised now? Gordon Brown – all right, nobody voted for him but, you know… just think of any of them. Margaret Thatcher. John Major. Steve McLaren. Fabio Capello. – Terry Wogan
All of us are private to ourselves. Nobody ever really knows anybody else. Everybody in the world keeps something to themselves. – Terry Wogan
Nobody really knows what they look like. The mirror shows you only what you want to see. – Terry Wogan
I’ve always had an unsentimental view. I don’t think the BBC is my auntie. I worked there for years, and you learn that they don’t love you for yourself. They’ll use you as long as you’re popular. You shouldn’t wait until it starts to wane. It can sometimes end badly. – Terry Wogan
Places like India can give you a real culture shock because of the poverty you see, and it brings you up sharply. – Terry Wogan
My father was always slightly bemused by my success. Although he knew that I had reasonable intelligence, he always thought that I was a little bit lazy. – Terry Wogan
Da was a real fisherman. But it wasn’t the catch that mattered, it was the skill of the cast, the preparation of the flies. I often think my inability to prepare, my desire to get going, are a direct result of watching my father making all those painstaking preparations before he cast his line. – Terry Wogan
The BBC is the greatest broadcaster in the world. It’s the standard that everyone measures themselves against. If we lose the BBC, it won’t be quite as bad as losing the royal family, but an integral part of this country will have gone. But then, I’m an old guy. – Terry Wogan
I get a lot of letters from people saying, ‘How do I get into radio, how do I get into telly?’ and I wish there was an answer, because there’s no ladder. There are no parameters. You’ve just got to go in wherever you can, make the tea, and slowly make your way up the ladder. – Terry Wogan
BBC TV gets hold of an idea and beats it to death until we’re all heartily sick of it. They buy people without thinking what they’re going to do with them. It’s the wrong way around. What they should be doing is employing really good ideas people to come up with good ideas. – Terry Wogan
