Latest news with #TubridyTonight
Extra.ie
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Amy Huberman details 'chance' encounter that led to marriage with BOD
Amy Huberman has recalled that her guest appearance on an Irish television chat show led to her relationship and eventual marriage with Irish rugby star, Brian O'Driscoll. Next month, the couple celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary, after saying 'I do' in a stunning Lough Rynn Castle ceremony in 2010. The wedding took place four years after they started dating, which was spurred on by Amy appearing on TV while Brian was out of sport with an injury. Amy Huberman has recalled her a guest appearance on an Irish television chat show led to a relationship and eventual marriage with Irish rugby star, Brian O'Driscoll. Pic: Brian McEvoy Speaking on Ryan Tubridy's podcast, The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy, Amy recalled appearing on his show Tubridy Tonight during the height of her stint on The Clinic. 'Brian was injured and he was at home and he was watching it,' Amy told presenter Ryan Tubridy. 'We were on anyway and I think he enjoyed the chat and he was like, 'I don't know who she is! Who is she?'' The rugby star rang PR Joanne Byrne wondering who Amy was and was she a 'hermit' as he had never heard of her despite being the same age. Amy explained that the women had been in tracksuits at the time. Despite the set-up being organised for Brian, the Leinster player was 'shy' on the night as he had a 'crisis' about duping Amy. Pic: Brian McEvoy 'Joanne said, no, she's living in London,' Amy explained. 'The next time I came home, they'd kind of orchestrated that we'd kind of bump into each other. 'Norma Sheehan, she's a great friend of mine as well, we went to visit another friend of ours. Coming back, she was like I've to drop a book to somebody in the Merrion.' Amy explained that the women had been in tracksuits at the time. Despite the set-up being organised for Brian, the Leinster player was 'shy' on the night as he had a 'crisis' about duping Amy. 'I think it's quite sweet,' Amy noted, with Ryan confirming it was indeed a 'good sign.' The pair were around 26 years old at the time, with Amy previously telling Doireann Garrihy on the Laughs of Your Life podcast that she 'first shifted him downstairs [in Cafe en Seine].' More than 20 years on since their 'chance' encounter, the pair now share three children — Sadie, 12, Billy, 11, and four-year-old Ted.
Extra.ie
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Ryan Tubridy: 'Watching Aaron, I knew that I had just witnessed a star of the future'
A most enjoyable week in London included a trip to the London local on Wednesday evening for the launch of some new music by a singer-songwriter you might not have heard of just yet, but I reckon could be a household name by the end of the year. I met Aaron Rowe a few months ago at The Devonshire, and he was telling me that things were going well in his music career as he was attracting the attention of people like Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi. They spotted Aaron's talent from a mile off and have been putting a gentle wind in his sails as he leaves the harbour of anonymity for the headwinds of global domination! Since we last met, Aaron has supported David Gray at his gigs at the 3Arena in Dublin, duetted with the aforementioned Ed and stunned a crowd of 20,000 in Boston when he joined Dermot Kennedy on stage for a knockout rendition of The Parting Glass. Ryan Tubridy and singer Aaron Rowe. Pic: Supplied On Friday, Aaron released his beautiful single, Hey Ma, and I urge you to download it today as it's an instant classic. At the launch on Wednesday, a crowd of friends and supporters gathered to hear him perform a small but powerful selection of songs. Surrounded by the brilliant trad house band, Aaron belted out the tunes with a gusto I haven't seen since a memorable appearance by Liam Clancy on Tubridy Tonight nearly 20 years ago. It was electric, authentic and distinctly Irish, but with beautiful twists of Motown and The Dubliners – depending on the song. Aaron thanked some of the people who had been backing his ascent and then invited Ed Sheeran to join him for a haunting version of The Parting Glass. The crowd went wild, and the short but perfectly formed launch came to a close. Aaron hugged and shook hands with everyone in the room; the feeling was that we had witnessed something and someone special whose future is big, bright and beautiful. Ryan Tubridy with Vogue Williams and her sister Amber. Pic: File I've always loved chatting with and interviewing Vogue Williams, top right, and since I've moved to London, we see a lot more of each other than either of us would have anticipated. I've always found her to be very authentic and great fun, which explains why her new book, Big Mouth, is so enjoyable. Beginning with a dictionary of Irish slang/expressions for her loyal UK readers, this is a series of episodes in Vogue's life rather than a typical A-Z autobiography, and it's all the better for that. There are stories about her sister Amber, bottom right, her late father (a bon viveur whom they buried with €20 and a packet of Benson & Hedges) and her shock at being divorced and childless at 31. There's a bizarre fantasy moment where she envisions a future in which her husband comes out as gay, living with his husband in a brownstone house in New York's East Village! All told, it's a thoughtful, funny and often poignant tiptoe through the life of a hard-working, thoughtful and entertaining woman who is surfing the pop cultural waves with aplomb. Every so often, a book lands on your lap that you know within a few pages will be an 'event' book, one that everyone will read or want to get their hands on. The Names by Florence Knapp. Pic: File Books like The Time Traveller's Wife and Star Of The Sea would go on to be career-defining tomes for authors and fan favourites for readers. This week, I finished The Names, below, by Florence Knapp. A great name, beautiful cover, and perfect length meant this was a great start before a word was read, and things got better from there. Pitch-wise: A mother carries a baby in one arm while holding the hand of an older child as they make their way to have the baby's name registered. On the way out the door, her husband forcefully reminds her to call the baby Gordon after him and his father and so on. At the registry office, she is asked what she wants to call the baby, and she pauses before giving a name – it's not Gordon. Chapter 2 sees the same scenario, but another name is given, and in the third chapter, she gives the name Gordon. What follows is a series of alternate chapters that imagine how life transpires for each of the characters depending on the name they were given. The consequences are devastating and sometimes painful to read, but that's a testament to the author, who has constructed the most extraordinary series of stories that confront ugliness, fear, kindness, and so much more. The book looks at the power of the names we are given at birth and the impact they can have on the rest of our lives. I've spent a lot of time this week telling everyone about this book, as it's a rare thing to be able to make such a general recommendation that is highly unlikely to disappoint anyone. My favourite comment came from a listener who said that she hasn't read a book in 20 years, but after hearing me rhapsodising about The Names, she went and bought it. With any luck, the book will bring that person back onto the reading bus and she'll never be bored again!
