Dáithí Ó Sé: People say I talk for a living, actually, I listen for a living

The life lesson I would pass on is you can only sleep in one bed every night

Daithí O'Sé, in his role as the host of the Rose of Tralee. Picture: Dominick Walsh

I grew up out the country, about seven miles west of Dingle in a place called Ballydavid in West Kerry. It was a Gaeltacht area, there was no differentiation for me between speaking English and Irish. I did both naturally. I spoke Irish to my father and English to my mother. I remember a big rule in school that you weren't allowed to speak English — we were never going to speak English anyway.

I have two brothers and two sisters: my eldest brother Kevin is a teacher, my brother Danny is a butcher in Supervalu and Marianne works down in Cork. My sister Deirdre was living in Pennsylvania but sadly passed away about 20 years ago. We had a good ol time growing up. It was a small house, a three and a half bedroomed house, and during the summer two of those rooms were given to eight students learning Irish. Myself and my siblings were all thrown into the sitting room for the summers. There was no hurling or rugby — it was all céilís and football.