All the kids are gone bananas about computers. There’s approximately 1,000 Commodore 64s in Irish schools. In 1983.
Gay Byrne on the Late Late Toy Show in 1983 interviewed nine year old Oric whizz kid, Mark Feldman who has been playing games since he was six, and thirteen year old Johnson McEvoy who does programming and games and creates graphics.
Nice demo of the Commodore 64, playing some sort of typing tutor game too! I had no idea the C64 was ever on the Late Late Show!
Veteran Irish broadcaster, Marian Finucane died suddenly this morning. She was only 69.
I rarely listened to her during the week but I did catch her sometimes on her weekend show in the last few years.
Time marches ever on but with the passing of Gaybo, Niall Toibin, and now Marian Ireland is saying goodbye to voices and faces that generations knew well.
There are still podcasts of her show on the RTÉ website but you’ll have to go back to the start of December as Brendan O’Connor presented the show for the last few weeks.
Like most Irish people my age and older I was shocked to hear about the death of Gay Byrne today. He was ever present in Irish daily life as he presented a daily radio show and a talk show on Friday evenings.
If you’re not yet 40 or not familiar with Gaybo because you haven’t lived here, @PantiBliss explained how big an influence he had on Ireland in this tweet.
The #RIPGaybo hashtag on Twitter and in part Irish Twitter is a place of mourning today.
If you watched Stephen Fry on God then you’ve watched Gay in action. Over 8m people have watched this video!
Stephen himself tweeted today about Gay, with this message sent to one of our national radio stations:
RTÉ published this post about Gay featuring lots of the “finest moments” from the Late Late Show. I couldn’t watch many of them for some reason but maybe you can. They don’t load in Firefox for me, even when I try to load them directly. I do remember Boyzone’s first public appearance on the Late Late. Can’t believe that was in 1993!
Every December The Late Late Show has a toy show episode. Here’s one with Zig & Zag & Dustin from 1992. I have to admit I never saw this clip but it made me laugh!
RIP Gay.
That was 1998!
The Reeling in the Years for 2016 will be an eye-opener, but I bet 2019 will be even crazier.
Thank you James for sharing this lovely short video. I remember reading somewhere that the music that defines us, or that we "really get" is the music we hear in our twenties. This leads to disenchantment in later years because everything's changed, and it's not the same "as the good ol' days".
The thing is, you're not the only one who loves that music, and that's a wonderful bonding experience. A recent episode of First Dates Ireland (yes, yes, I'll watch it sometimes) featured a couple who bonded over music, only as friends but they now had someone to go to gigs with. Unfortunately this clip doesn't show any of their banter about music, but it's the only one I could find of them!
And this is the only time you'll read about First Dates Ireland on this blog, I promise!
Holly and Declan are a young couple addicted to 21st century technology. Writer and journalist Colm Tobin follows them to the island of Carnananánachán where they undergo a bizarre, back-to-basics digital detox.
Could you survive a week without your phone or any access to the Internet?
“A tribute to the legendary RTÉ broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy. 49 years. 10 World Cups. 10 Olympic Games.”
Bill O’Herlihy, RIP.
And for a little fun, here he is on Naked Camera in 2007:
Another cracking video from Republic of Telly.
Two podcasts that Irish football fans will enjoy:
The fable of the Irish 1965 World Cup campaign games against Spain. A story of brilliance, luck and dodgy decisions as told by Dermot Corrigan.
Ireland played three games against Spain in the run-up to the 1966 World Cup.
In 1988 the Republic of Ireland football squad qualified for their first major international championship.
An old Apres Match sketch but I never watch these things so I missed it. I should subscribe..
(via and Ger Gilroy)