Media work saved my life, says retiring George Hook

As straight-talking rugby pundit George Hook begins to wind down his illustrious career, the broadcaster has taken to the airwaves to credit his media work with saving his life.

“Of course it saved my life,” he told RTÉ radio yesterday.

“The day Niall Cogley rang me up to do a match, best part of 20 years ago… the other phone calls I was receiving were from the Irish Permanent — ‘We need you in the High Court, we want to evict you’; my wife saying ‘Howya, I really don’t want you back any more’; and about 11 banks on a near-daily basis saying ‘What about the money you owe us?’”