Terry Wogan: Boyhood pals from Limerick remember ‘Wogie’ as ‘one of the lads’

Boyhood friends of Terry Wogan have paid tribute to the broadcasting giant they will forever remember as “one of the lads”.

“Wogie”, as he was affectionately known by his former school pals, spent the first 15 years of his life in Limerick.

Best friend Jim Sexton and former classmate Mick Neville said, despite winning worldwide fame, Wogan always remained their “pal Terry, from Limerick”.

Both recalled how the BBC veteran, like them, grew up dreaming of emulating their comic boyhood heroes “Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future” and “Roy of the Rovers”.

Sexton, a founding partner of Holmes O’Malley Sexton solicitors, grew up around the corner from Wogan who lived at Elm Park, just off the Ennis Road.

Sexton, 77, remembered himself and Wogan as leading members of the “Elm Park gang”, galavanting around their neighbourhood, and using “jumpers for goalposts” for kickabouts on the green.

“The gang warfare between eight-year-olds is not going to rock the city, especially when our weapons were bows and arrows, made from Sallys we cut down at Barrington’s Pier, beside the river,” said Sexton.

“We had fun. Our fort was our back garage, and we’d attack some of the guys from Elm Park and they’d attack us. At the end of the day, our mothers’ imposed peace.

“I have tinselled memories of it, I suppose...jumpers for goalposts, and the like.”

Sexton added: “He was my best pal at school... and I can safely say that not too many guys that I know, and have read about, have done enormously great or memorable things like Terry.”

The three amigos, Wogan, Sexton, and Neville, who were in an honours class at Crescent College, sat their Inter Cert exams a year early.

Neville, who captained the school rugby team, recalled how Wogan “hated” the Irish language in school.

“I used to help him with the Irish, and he used to help me with the geography, because I was useless at that.”

Delivering another warm cut off his old friend, he added: “He played rugby, but he was useless at that too.”

Reflecting on Wogan’s life from short pants to stardom, Sexton said his former school pal should not be forgotten for his natural broadcasting skills, that others too have remarked, diffused tensions between England and Ireland during the IRA’s bombing campaign in London.

He added: “Let’s face it, if you can have an audience of eight million, and have that kind of audience over a period of five decades, that is some tribute.”