Latest news with #TerryWogan
Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Graham Norton has surgery ahead of Eurovision
Graham Norton has revealed he had shoulder surgery two weeks before he was due to commentate on the Eurovision Song Contest. The veteran presenter, 62, admitted he was on a range of medication after receiving a 'brand new' shoulder just a fortnight before hosting BBC One's coverage of the competition. Speaking on Scott Mills' Radio Two Breakfast Show, Norton said he was taking 'many, many medications' for the pain and that it's not his fault if he said 'anything bad' during the show. Norton has been commentating on Eurovision since 2009 after taking over the role from Terry Wogan. He has since become famed for his tongue-in-cheek humour and cutting comments. One included him talking about Romania's entry: 'Here's Cezar, proving that just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.' Norton said that was his left shoulder's first appearance on the radio. He said: 'Brand new shoulder. It's less than two weeks old. Look at the scar, it's new. 'It feels a bit new. It's a little owie. Forgive me, I'm on many pain medications right now so if I say anything bad, it's not my fault.' Norton was joined on the show by Conchita Wurst, the Eurovision winner who triumphed in 2014 with his song Rise Like a Phoenix. The singer confirmed it was also a radio debut for his new face. Wurst said: 'My face lift, first time on radio. I got the Lindsay Lohan treatment.' He also said that although he carried his Eurovision trophy everywhere for the first year, he had not brought it with him on the trip. As part of the lead-up to the event, the UK's entry, What the Hell Just Happened? by all-female group Remember Monday, was played by the Band of the Irish Guards outside Buckingham Palace on Saturday. The Royal Family wished the band luck by sharing the video on X, along with the message: 'THIS just happened.'
Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
If Britain doesn't win Eurovision tonight, we should pull out of this trashy camp fest
Basel is this year's city under siege. The Swiss cultural capital, built around the banks of the river Rhine in the north-west of the country, landed the chalice of Eurovision after Nemo won the 2024 contest with the song The Code. Thus, the narrow cobbled streets and the city's trams are now crowded with the colourful cohorts of fans of a song contest that has been held annually since 1956. With a few exceptions, Eurovision is famed for its terrible music. Indeed the movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, written by and starring Will Ferrell, had a touch of genius as its pastiche of songs were an uncanny match of the real thing. 'Who knows what hellish future lies ahead?' asked Terry Wogan, as he began commentating at the start of Finland's 2007 show, adding, 'Actually I do. I've seen the rehearsals.' Britain, one of the finest song-writing nations in the world, often finds itself in an awkward position, submitting music to adhere to the strictures of cheesy and painful, but which tends to misfire. We've achieved nul points on two occasions. We win, however, when we have the temerity to offer proper talent and the juries and public can't find some political reason to punish us. Thus our five past winners are Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Brotherhood of Man, Katrina and the Waves and (yes, OK) Bucks Fizz. And Sam Ryder would have triumphed in 2022 were it not for Ukraine understandably taking the crown three months after the Russian invasion. So this year, based on song quality, Britain should win it. We should all, by the end of Saturday night, be screaming: 'What The Hell Just Happened?' For the song of that name by pop group Remember Monday is theatrical, pacey, original, funny, spirited, musically diverse, beautifully structured and brilliantly sung. The three women who make up the band, Charlotte Steele, Holly-Anne Hull and Lauren Byrne are great performers, their band is the result of a natural, real friendship and they must win. Because by winning, Remember Monday can also rescue the Eurovision concept, which has gone from lightweight, fun entertainment to a full-on festival of camp. It's no wonder last year's winner, Nemo, was non-binary and pan-sexual. Nothing else would be appropriate. The 1981 Bucks Fizz line-up of two heterosexual couples, with their 'see some more' skirt-ripping seems now as out of touch as Alf Garnett. Today's Eurovision is a confederacy of camp vulgarity, whose ultimate manifestation is to be more catastrophically kitsch than the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics of 2024, when an LGBTQ+ version of Da Vinci's Last Supper achieved the impossible of uniting the world in its revulsion of the spectacle. So here's hoping that Remember Monday can reclaim the show. Except that, whoops, we'd have to host the damn thing the following year. In Brighton, presumably.
Metro
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Nicolas Cage calls famous Terry Wogan interview 'obnoxious' 35 years later
Nicolas Cage has called his infamous 1990 interview with Terry Wogan, where he somersaulted and stripped off, 'obnoxious.' The Oscar-winning actor, 61, is well-known for his onscreen meltdowns – from Deadfall to Leaving Las Vegas and many more – but one notorious interview trumps them all. In 1990, Cage appeared on the talk show Wogan promoting the iconic David Lynch film Wild At Heart, in which the actor stars as Sailor Ripley, who goes on the run with girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). And Cage really was wild at heart as he was introduced on the show, immediately proceeding to do a somersault and several karate kicks. After throwing money into the audience, he finally sat down for his interview – but not without removing his t-shirt and handing it to Wogan halfway through. The bizarre momentum kept going throughout, with the National Treasure star admitting that if he hadn't become an actor, he might have enjoyed 'robbing banks' instead. Now, 35 years on, Cage has said he feels the fever-dream chat show appearance might have been a little bit 'obnoxious.' 'I remember Terry Wogan was a very nice man and I enjoyed the interview with him, although I thought I was both obnoxious and somewhat wild,' the Longlegs star told The Guardian. 'I guess it's no secret that I was promoting a movie called Wild at Heart, so I was sort of play acting to that.' The Renfield actor also elaborated on why he decided to wear nothing but a leather jacket for his talk with Wogan, who died aged 77 in 2016 of prostate cancer. 'I remember, as a child, I was in a car, a guy was walking down the street, and he had a leather jacket on and no shirt on underneath. I thought: 'Well, that's an interesting look',' Cage continued. 'I don't know why that came back to me when I went on Terry's show, but I thought, 'I'm going to create that look again.' It was incredibly absurd and irreverent. I don't have that leather jacket anymore.' It comes as Cage's latest film, bizarre thriller The Surfer, comes to cinemas. In the film, there is yet another signature wild Cage moment that sees his character killing a rat and later eating it, a moment the actor has revealed was entirely his idea. In a new interview with The Guardian, Cage confirmed that it was he who wanted to say 'Eat the rat!' before being inspired by the quality of the rubber prop to go one step further. More Trending 'I had gotten the idea from an old Billy Wilder movie called Sabrina, where Humphrey Bogart takes an olive out of a martini glass, puts it in his uncle's mouth and says: 'Eat it',' he revealed. 'I couldn't stop laughing when I saw that moment. When I saw the prop rat, I said, 'I'll put it in my pocket,' because I liked the way the rubber tail was moving,' he explained, adding that he found it 'amusing' and felt he could 'use' it in some way. Cage decided to 'channel it in more of a punk rock way than Bogart did with the olive, by shoving the rat in Pitbull's [Alexander Bertrand] mouth'. He continued: 'It was a cathartic moment. By that point in the movie, I thought my character has gone through enough suffering and that he's earned the right to go big and shove a rat in the guy's mouth.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Miley Cyrus emotionally breaks silence on 'feud' with parents Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus MORE: The little known musician richer than Taylor Swift and Beyoncé with $1billion net worth MORE: Johnny Rodriguez, first ever Hispanic country music star, dies aged 73
The Independent
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Nicolas Cage finally explains ‘wild' behaviour in 1990 interview
Nicolas Cage has described his iconic 1990 interview with Terry Wogan as "obnoxious and somewhat wild", attributing his behaviour to promoting his film Wild at Heart. During the Wogan interview, Cage performed a somersault, threw money into the audience, and removed his T-shirt, wearing only a leather jacket. He explained the jacket choice as a recreation of a look he remembered from childhood. Wogan never publicly commented on the interview, but Cage speculated that while initially unamused, Wogan later took pride in it. The interview took place during Cage's appearance on Wogan's BBC chat show to promote the David Lynch film.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Colin Berry obituary
Colin Berry, who has died aged 79 after suffering from dementia, was a disc jockey and newsreader whose calm, chatty style was heard on BBC Radio 2 for almost 40 years. He presented late-night and early-morning shows, and then filled the 2am to 5am gap between them as a regular host of You and the Night and the Music when the station started broadcasting 24 hours a day in 1979. 'It's certainly for insomniacs, but not only for them,' he said on Ray Moore's late show, moments before the inaugural edition went out, with Berry as its first presenter. 'There are drivers, there are people working through the night.' He added that the format included short features such as a nationwide 'what's on' guide and a cookery slot for 'those of our listeners who get home late at night and feel like a snack'. Moore retorted: 'If you think I'm going to go home and start frying eggs at 4 o'clock in the morning, you've got another think coming.' Through-the-night programming proved a success and, after the show's run ended five years later, several others replaced it. You and the Night and the Music's launch made Radio 2 Britain's first round-the-clock national radio station. At the same time it became totally independent of Radio 1, finally ending a system where some programmes were shared. From 1981, Berry also started regularly hosting his second stint on what the BBC termed the 'early show', which followed You and the Night and the Music and preceded Terry Wogan's breakfast programme. His Radio 2 career was a merry-go-round of presenting during the 'graveyard' hours (Night Ride, 1973-75 and 1989-95, Music Through Midnight, 1975, and the early show, 1975-77 and 1981-88). In an era when the station's output was dominated by easy-listening music, his soothing tones chimed with the style. Berry was also a newsreader, and eventually the longest-serving one on the station (1973-2012). His was the first voice on Radio 2 to announce the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. But his face was recognised – by television viewers in dozens of countries – only after he became the BBC's presenter reading out the British panel's votes in the Eurovision Song Contest, a job that lasted from 1977 to 2002. 'Television Centre, London, calling – here we have the results of the United Kingdom jury,' were his typical opening words. He missed just two years – with Moore taking over duties in 1980 and Ken Bruce in 1998. His responsibility was actually greater than just revealing the choices of the jurors to up to 600 million viewers from the basement of the BBC. He was also on standby to take over from Wogan as the commentator in the event of technical problems, although he was never called on to step in. Berry was born at Brocket Hall, a stately home near Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire – which the City of London hospital had been using as a maternity unit since the second world war – to Nellie (nee Young) and Cecil Berry, a director of Allied Suppliers, which bought goods for the Home and Colonial Stores grocer's chain. His fascination for radio began as a child growing up in Kenton, Middlesex. Berry would tape records from BBC Light Programme shows and add his own links, with his parents listening on a speaker in another room. On leaving Wembley grammar school, he landed a job in the London offices of the ITV company Granada Television as a studio technician responsible for slotting commercials into the breaks between programmes. He moved on to selling advertising airtime at Westward Television, and then the pirate station Radio Caroline (1965-67), where he additionally organised records and tapes to be taken to its ship off the Essex coast. He had a stint as a newsreader there – under the name Robin Berry, because it already had a disc jockey called Colin Nicol – but gave it up after suffering from sea sickness. A brief job followed selling advertising at Yorkshire Television's London office in 1968 and he was a DJ in London, Essex and Sussex clubs, as well as becoming a record plugger, a summer relief announcer for HTV in 1971 and presenter of his own Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio Medway (1972-73). In 1973, he joined Radios 1 and 2 to write and present programme trailers, and he soon became a Radio 2 announcer, newsreader and DJ. Berry's other shows on the station included European Pop Jury (1978-83), with presenters introducing new songs from their own countries and a panel of young people from each nation voting for the best at the end, Eurovision Song Contest-style. He later returned to BBC local radio with regular shows featuring a strong dose of nostalgia on Three Counties Radio, broadcasting to Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, from 2008 to 2019. In 1981, Berry married Sandra Barker. She and their daughter, Marina, and son, Jonathan, survive him. Colin Derrick Berry, broadcaster, born 29 January 1946; died 16 April 2025
