Local hero with global reputation

Gay Byrne, Niall Tóibín and Brenda Fricker recount lasting memories from their meetings with John B Keane

AS HOST of The Late Late Show, Gay Byrne knew that the introduction of John B Keane as his next guest would always make his audience smile. Over several appearances on the Late Late, John B covered a range of subjects in his own inimitable fashion, including match-making, marriage and the nine types of Kerry hoors.

“I first came in contact with Keane in 1963, when he asked me to chair a meeting in the Mansion House for the Language Freedom Movement,” Byrne says. “The Movement were people who loved Irish, but felt compulsory learning in schools was counterproductive and was turning a generation of children away from the language. I refused initially, but then a senior civil servant came out and said that the Movement shouldn’t be allowed to use the Mansion House for the meeting as it was a public building. He also suggested that the Beatles, who were due to visit, should be proscribed. I was so incensed I agreed to chair the meeting, which turned out fairly fractious.