Ste Softley was a producer on Weekend Wogan from 2012-2015. In this post he pays tribute to Terry Wogan who died yesterday.
Throughout my life, Terry Wogan has always been there. Growing up, I would tune into his chat show to see him interview the biggest stars in the world. I watched him on Blankety Blank and Auntie's Bloomers, I laughed out loud to his dry commentary of the Eurovision Song Contest and joined the nation cheering him on for Children in Need every year.
If he wasn't on the TV, he was on the radio. In the pre-internet days, there were no viral videos and we didn't have access to our actors, singers and entertainers around the clock: they lined up to sit on Terry's sofa instead. You knew a star was big not by how many followers they had on Twitter; it was if they had appeared on Wogan. As a lifelong Madonna fan, the 13-year-old me could not contain myself upon hearing she was going to be a guest on his show. The biggest star in the world was doing her first Interview for UK TV in 1991 and it was going to be with Terry. This put him at God-like status for me. If only the 13-year-old me knew then that one day I would be not only working in the radio industry, but producing Terry Wogan's radio show. Even now I can't believe it happened.
I remember when I found out I had got the gig in 2012. I was going to be producer for Weekend Wogan on BBC Radio 2. The man known to millions for all of the above reasons for several generations. Was I nervous and scared or intimidated? Working in this industry I am all too familiar with the disappointment of meeting celebrities off-air. Not with Terry. I just knew that the cheeky, knowing and familiar glint in his eye which made me feel like he was my friend when he appeared on the TV was going to be as sincere in real life. And I was right. He was exactly the same character. Warm, welcoming, familiar, friendly. It was all real. I already knew him. There was no "other Terry" when the faders were down. He was that rarest of gems that we in the entertainment industry dream of working with. This is why millions of people adored him.
What was working with Sir Terry Wogan like for four years? I feel fraudulent using the term "work", because it really didn't feel like work at all. Throughout the week there would be the usual frantic phone calls booking guests, dealing with demanding managers, last-minute cancellations and panic on the morning of the show with musicians arriving at Western House.
Then, in walks Terry. It would start with the mischievous peering through the window. The door would fly open and he would bellow, "And what is going on here?". This is how Terry made his entrance every week - after the weekly episode of him forgetting his pass and one of us having to collect him from reception. Eventually, he made it. Sometimes with an hour to spare. Sometimes minutes. But he made it. And all of a sudden the chaos turns to calm. "Right, I'm off to placate the guest with biscuits".
Somewhere in all the madness, Terry would make his way through with a box of biscuits or doughnuts and insist that every person had one. It didn't matter if they were the artist, the drummer or security just doing their rounds of the building in the right place at the right time, everyone was welcomed in the same friendly fashion. Nobody wanted to misbehave in front of Terry. I saw some of the biggest stars in the world switch from difficult diva to giggling schoolchild as they were propositioned with the biscuit box.
Then the show would begin. "Smoke if you got 'em", he would say to us on talkback before he addressed the nation. Two hours of unpredictable fun every week. Millions of listeners were entertained by Terry on air but a select few of us in the studio were treated to the off-air show. His quips and observations -"Woganisms" - did not stop once the song started. Sometimes I would have tears rolling down my face from laughing. Sometimes I knew what he was going to say: play the Corrs and he would joke, "Ah those terribly brave girls, looking like a bag of spanners".
Terry had a deep love of music and as a producer there was nothing more satisfying than seeing him enthralled in a live performance taking place meters away from him. I always looked forward to shows where we had guests who Terry was a huge fan of: Alison Moyet; Beverley Knight; The Overtones; Beth Nielsen Chapman; Nell Bryden; Deacon Blue; Mary Black; the London Gospel Community Choir - just a few on the list. He was genuinely appreciative to each and every guest.
There were certain songs I would schedule knowing they were personal favourites such as "That'll Do" by Peter Gabriel, "When you are old" by Gretchen Peters, anything by The Platters, Nat King Cole, Sinatra or the Beach Boys. He would close his eyes and sit back in his chair and lose himself in the beauty of the song and - sometimes visibly moved by a song - he would thank me for selecting it.
Terry loved new music too. Yes, we had some of the biggest artists in the world on that show, but he also loved to champion new artists who may not have been given an opportunity elsewhere. They were just as entitled to a biscuit as the established stars and his enthusiasm was contagious. Many of them have gone on to even greater success such as Katie Melua, Ward Thomas, Gregory Porter, Emma Stevens and Greta Isaacs, both unsigned and self-funded artists plucked from BBC Introducing l, the list goes on and - of course - I couldn't not mention Eva Cassidy whose posthumous success all started with Terry's support.
He loved music of all genres from opera to country, American songbook to current songs in the charts. His listeners - "both of them", as he would say - trusted his tastes and instincts, as did I.
One story comes to mind when I think of how respected Terry was by everyone, and that is when Marianne Faithfull appeared on the show. Terry was his usual charming self and full of praise for his guest, as he always was. He treated all of his guests with the utmost respect. He didn't care about their reputation, stories about their personal lives, he wasn't after the shocks and the headline sound bites, that's not what he was about. A beaming Marianne said, "Thank you, Terry, this has been wonderful. It really has. And I must thank you on behalf of my father. I appeared on your talk show in the Eighties when nobody else gave me the time of day and everyone wanted to pull me apart and poke fun at me, but not you. And my father was enormously grateful, which made me happy." That was Terry.
A Sir. A legend. A national treasure. Yes, he was all of the above. But he was also a brilliant, wonderful man, and he was my pal. I will always be grateful that I was given the chance to work with him and play a part in the later stages of his career. The 13-year-old me still pinches my 37-year-old self today. Somewhere above the clouds a door is being flung open..."And what is going on here!"
Thank you, Terry. From the bottom of my heart. You will be greatly missed, but forever remembered.
Ste Softley was a producer on BBC Radio 2's Weekend Wogan from 2012-2015
- Read some of the tributes made by stars and see some of the newspaper front pages reporting Terry's death on the About the BBC Blog.
- Listen to Chris Evan's tribute Breakfast Show via the BBC Radio 2 website.
- The One Show will broadcast a special Terry Wogan tribute show tonight at 7.30pm on BBC One.
