My Childhood with Gráinne McElwain: 'Granny was my teacher... she had a huge influence on me'

The TV presenter recalls a growth spurt that knocked her confidence, and crying to her dad in a phone box when she realised she had picked the wrong college course

Gráinne McElwain was born in Canada and moved to Ireland when she was four in the 1980s. At school, the other kids 'had lots of questions about travelling by airplane because none of them had ever been on one'

GRÁINNE McElwain could have grown up Canadian. The TV presenter was born in Edmonton, where her parents Peggy and Seamus had moved after they married.

“Dad played in a band called The Irish Ventures, and mam worked as a nurse,” says McElwain. “My earliest memories are of snow and tobogganing in the winter time. I remember being happy there.