Dungiven singer Cara Dillon pays tribute to '˜gentleman' Terry Wogan

The vetaran broadcaster died of cancer on Sunday at the age of 77.

Cara Dillon said the few times she was lucky enough to meet and work with Sir Terry Wogan “he was always a gentleman and had a lovely charming manner”.

“On one occasion I was recording on the Children In Need single in Abbey Road on the very same morning that Terry announced he was leaving Radio Two and, even though the studio was full of celebrities recording the song, it was only after Terry made his announcement that it became besieged by the press; that’s the impact he had,” the award-winning singer told the Derry Journal.

“Terry waltzed in with a tear in his eye and apologised profusely for holding up proceedings and then, quite emotionally, recorded his wee bit of the song. He was a true professional.”

Cara met Sir Terry back in August 2014, when she was a guest performing live on his Sunday show Weekend Wogan.

“We enjoyed a lot of banter off mic about both coming from Ireland and he made the interview very easy. It was a genuine pleasure to have met him and the world of broadcasting will be a much poorer place without him in it,” she said.

Terry Wogan died surrounded by his family “after a short but brave battle with cancer”, a statement released by his family said.

He leaves his wife, Helen, and their three children. The couple also had a daughter who died in infancy.

Books of condolence have been opened in his birthplace of Limerick to allow people to mark the passing of “a true son of Limerick”, the city’s mayor Liam Galvin said.

President of the Irish Republic Michael D Higgins said Terry Wogan was “always proud of his origins in Limerick”, and returned frequently to his native country.