From blankety blank, his chat show, his radio shows, children in need to Eurovision - for many of us he was that friendly man that felt like an uncle or grandad with a lovely caring and reassuring voice that made you feel cosy. He didn't seem to mind being the butt of a joke and was well respected by many.
Although I never really listened to Radio 2, I have fond memories of the short lived Channel 5 show, Terry and Gaby, along with Danny Baker on most days. Although not the best thing he certainly added his charm and made the show watchable and entertaining and often took the mickey out of the show itself if it was doing a ridiculous feature.
A real shame he never got to sign off properly from Children In Need though.
A real shame he never got to sign off properly from Children In Need though.
I actually disagree, I think Terry said he never wanted to give it up so I think it's kinda fitting he never did it give up. Shame he wasn't well enough to host this years event.
I think Sir Terry's other great legacy is the Eurovision Song Contest, without Sir Terry making it relevent and giving people a reason to watch during his 3 decades commentating on the spectacle I don't think it would still be what it is today and perhaps much more a minority event.
I would expect strong tributes surrounding both events this year as he is responsible for what they are today.
I wondered if we'd escape losing another cherished talent before January finished. Turns out we couldn't. His commentary on Eurovision was spot on right until his last. A particular favourite was around 2007 (I think) when, surprise surprise, somebody other than the UK won. Amidst all the live confusion, the winner was wandering all over the place, and at one point walked off stage down to somebody in the crowd. Cue a dry Wogan - "Oh, the winner's leaving the stage... That's nice."
Everyone will either pay tribute to Terry's work on Radio 2, CiN, his weeknight chat show or the C5 chat show, but my favourite memory of him was another short lived show, Wogan's Web which went out at lunchtime on BBC One in 1998.
I've always said the irreplaceable are only irreplaceable until the time comes to replace them, though I think in Children in Need's case they're really going to struggle.
That's probably a topic for another time but I think as others have said he was simply a broadcasting legend, and probably more so because he was slightly flawed too rather than a sickly slick autocue reader, and he fitted into the schedules quite well at C4 (with Perfect Recall) and C5 too, as well as being very at home on the BBC. Did he ever host anything for ITV?