‘Big Fella’ of Irish broadcasting bows out after 35 years

HE IS the ‘Big Fella’ of Irish broadcasting — bearish, avuncular with a roguish grin and friendly patter — but we won’t be hearing quite so much from Derek Davis from now on.

“I’ve a letter from RTÉ which says I am no longer working for them,” explains Mr Davis who has spent over 35 years at the station.

He says he is looking forward to an “active” retirement, which will include his love of composing stage shows, and lecturing. He will also be involved in assisting in the promotion of courses to help aspiring journalists.

Davis cut his teeth as a news reporter with the American network ABC and BBC Northern Ireland, before spending 11 years in the newsroom in RTÉ. His break into broadcasting in the south came about in unusual circumstances.

“I was sharing a modest dinner with Tom McGurk when someone rang Tom from RTÉ and asked him to come in because the night editor had had a heart attack. Tom could not go in, but recommended the “distinguished Northern journalist Derek Davis”. I went in to RTÉ, started going in there regularly and I was eventually offered a job.”

Over the decades his career has swung from hard news to pure entertainment and back again. Before joining RTÉ, his journalistic career took a brief detour into show business when he went on the road as a country and western singer. Davis has won two Jacob’s Awards for his television work and a dozen other industry awards.

He pioneered the two-handed news bulletin with Anne Doyle, presented the Rose of Tralee on two occasions and co-hosted Live at Three with Thelma Mansfield for 11 years. He had an interactive summer show, simply called Davis and, in the late 90s, managed to get paid by RTÉ to indulge his passion for boats with a marine programme called Out of the Blue.

The programme was watched by a quarter of the viewing public and, like the man himself, it was often full of surprises. Tiger Woods turned up in the first episode of the last series.

“I have been knocking around in boats since I was a boy in Bangor. Love of the water has been in my family for generations.”

He can often be seen in Kinsale, County Cork, among the boating fraternity.

Davis is an avid supporter of Scunthorpe United and is said to have joked about dying for his team. He is also a keen pigeon fancier and races his sporting pigeons. Now he will have the time to indulge all his passions — an active retirement indeed.