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Gabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne (born 5 August 1934; affectionately known as Uncle Gay,〔 Gaybo〔 or Uncle Gaybo) is a veteran Irish presenter of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of ''The Late Late Show'' over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999. ''The Late Late Show'' is the world's longest-running chat show.〔 * * * 〕 His time working in Britain with Granada Television saw him become the first person to introduce The Beatles on screen. From 1973 until 1998, Byrne presented ''The Gay Byrne Hour''—later ''The Gay Byrne Show'' when it expanded to two hours—on RTÉ Radio 1 each weekday morning. Since retiring from his long-running radio and television shows, Byrne has presented several other programmes, including ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', ''The Meaning of Life'' and ''For One Night Only'' on RTÉ One and ''Sunday Serenade''/''Sunday with Gay Byrne'' on RTÉ lyric fm. In 2006 he was elected Chairman of Ireland's Road Safety Authority. Since retiring he has become the "Elder Lemon of Irish broadcasting". In 2010, ''The Irish Times'' said Byrne was "unquestionably the most influential radio and television man in the history of the Irish State".〔 In 2011, he was approached to become President of Ireland but declined to run, despite topping opinion polls.〔〔 ==Early life== Byrne is the son of Edward Byrne, who joined the Irish Volunteers in 1912, and subsequently joined the 19th Hussars, Infantry Division, at the commencement of World War I. He later fought during the Irish War of Independence. He fought throughout most of the War, including at O'Connell Street.〔Byrne, ''The Time of My Life'', p. 5〕 Shortly after the War, Edward Byrne was employed by Guinness' St. James's Gate Brewery where he worked for most of the rest of his life. He worked on the barges that operated on the river Liffey, transporting wooden casks from St. James's Gate Brewery to ships at the North Wall, Dublin.〔Byrne, ''The Time of My Life'', pp 6 – 7, & pp 11 – 12.〕 Edward Byrne was the son of Alexander Byrne, a coachman to the Earl of Meath, who lived at a lodge on the Earl's estate near Kilruddery, County Wicklow.〔 Byrne's father, Edward, married his mother, Annie Carroll (from Bray), at Belfast, in 1917, when briefly home on leave from the War. The two had met near Bray just before the War began. Both of them were from County Wicklow. Gay Byrne is the youngest of six children from that marriage. However, one child, his brother Joseph, died as a one-week-old infant. Listed in descending order (according to age), the other children are Edward, Al, Ernest, and Mary. Byrne was born on 5 August 1934 and grew up in Dublin.〔Byrne, ''The Time of My Life'', p. 18〕〔 (The ''Irish Examiner'' is an Irish newspaper).〕 He first lived with his family at 17 Rialto Street, Rialto, Dublin, before his parents moved to 124 (later renumbered 512) South Circular Road, Dublin, in 1944. Byrne's mother, Annie, died in late 1964.〔Byrne, ''The Time of My Life'', p. 89〕 Byrne attended Rialto National School (since closed) and a number of other schools for short periods. Subsequently, he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at Synge Street CBS.〔 He and two classmates bought a jazz record when Byrne was fourteen years old in January 1948, at a time when Radio Éireann refused to play it because of its "licentious" content.〔 In December 2009, Byrne returned to his old primary school on Synge Street to launch an online children's book club, and read an extract from Marita Conlon-McKenna's storybook ''In Deep Dark Wood''. After attending Synge Street CBS, Byrne worked at the North Strand cinema. He subsequently became a clerk in an insurance company. He then worked as a sales representative. He also met foreign dignitaries at Dublin Airport and welcomed them to Ireland. In 2009, whilst celebrating the 250th anniversary of Guinness, he revealed that he had once tried unsuccessfully to earn a job in the brewery near his childhood home. Whilst young, Byrne was inspired by the broadcaster Eamonn Andrews, who had a successful career on British television, and "wanted to be what he was". Andrews was friendly with Byrne's eldest brother.〔 In 1958 he moved over to broadcasting when he became a presenter on Radio Éireann. He also worked with Granada Television and the BBC in England. Whilst at Granada, Byrne became the first person to introduce The Beatles on television when they made their small screen debut on local news programme ''People and Places''.〔 In 1961, Telefís Éireann (later Radio Telefís Éireann and now Raidió Teilifís Éireann) was set up. Byrne finally worked exclusively for the new Irish service after 1969. He introduced many popular programmes, with his most popular and successful programme being ''The Late Late Show''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gay Byrne」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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