Daniel O'Donnell pays tribute to Terry Wogan

The broadcasting legend with the velvety voice – who had a broadcasting career spanning more than four decades following a “short but brave” battle with cancer.

Daniel O’Donnell told Radio Ulster that he credited the Limerick native with helping him become a household name across the UK.

“He was very, very supportive. I think he was very important to the [Irish] singers and acts.”

President Michael D Higgins led tributes in Ireland and said that he had learned with sadness of the death of “one of the great figures of broadcasting”

“People in Ireland will remember his early career in Irish broadcasting,” he added.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: “It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of legendary broadcaster Terry Wogan.”

Mr Kenny also said that the broadcaster’s sense of humour and wit were “unparalleled”.

Here are just some examples of Terry Wogan’s wit and wisdom:

“Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.”

“Gratuitously hurtful folk declare that I am very popular in hospitals because the listeners abed there are too weak to reach out and switch me off.”

“The price of fame? Who in their right mind would want to pay it?”

“If the present Mrs Wogan has a fault – and I must tread carefully here – this gem in the diadem of womanhood is a hoarder. She never throws anything out. Which may explain the longevity of our marriage.”

“Could it be that behind every great man there’s a woman working him with her foot?”

“Go out and face the world secure in the knowledge that everybody else thinks they are better looking than they are as well.”

“My opinion has the weight of a ton of feathers.”

“Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Tosh, mon brave. If there was any truth in that load of old frog spawn, would the present Mrs Wogan have spent a fortune doing the bedroom?”

“The girls themselves resemble nothing so much as garden rakes, and bad-tempered, pouting garden rakes at that” – On thin models.