Terry Wogan: Freaks

I suppose in the eyes of the public our closest association would be over the Eurovision Song Contest. I had been presenting the magnificently awful thing since God was a boy for BBC TV and thought it was about time to give the viewing public a break.

The inspired, logical choice for my replacement was Graham. In the book, he tells of the rivalry between himself and Jonathan Ross for what was regarded as a plum role. Actually, every presenter and stand-up comedian in the country would have killed for the gig. Norton says my only advice to him was not to start drinking before song seven. He made it his own from year one – although I’m bound to say that the Bearded Lady who won this year, reducing Graham to tears, might have had a slightly different effect on me. I’ve always seen the Eurovision as a sometimes foolish farce, but not as a freak show...

Terry Wogan reviewing Graham Norton's Better The Devil You Know for the Irish Times.

Readers with long memories may recall Mr Wogan saying when Dana International won in 1998, that Eurovision had been 'taken over by the gay lobby'.

Update: Pink News' editor, Joseph Patrick McCormick, writes on this great scandal for Independent Voices. 

Boy, is he angry!

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