Veteran BBC presenter Terry Wogan dies aged 77: BBC

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Veteran BBC broadcaster Terry Wogan dies of cancer at age 77.
British television presenter Terry Wogan died on Sunday, Jan 31, 2016. PHOTO: EPA

LONDON (AFP) - BBC presenter Terry Wogan, one of British television's most familiar faces and long-running anchor of its Eurovision coverage, died of cancer on Sunday aged 77, his family announced.

"Sir Terry Wogan died today after a short but brave battle with cancer. He passed away surrounded by his family," said a family statement.

Irish-born Wogan had a successful television career and hosted a hugely popular radio show for 27 years, retiring in 2009.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain had lost a "huge talent".

"I grew up listening to him on the radio and watching him on TV," he wrote on Twitter. "His charm and wit always made me smile.

"Britain has lost a huge talent - someone millions came to feel was their own special friend," he added.

Wogan started his career as a banker in Ireland but after five years left to become a radio newsreader, beginning a remarkable broadcast career that was recognised with first an OBE and then a knighthood in 2005.

He began presenting the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show in 1972, propelling it to Europe's most-listened radio broadcast with his combination of smooth Irish charm and sharp sense of fun.

He also hosted BBC TV chat show Wogan from 1982 until 1992, presiding over many memorable moments watched by millions of viewers.

They included football legend George Best turning up drunk, former sports presenter David Icke proclaiming himself as "a son of the Godhead", US actor Chevy Chase remaining silent throughout the interview and music icon David Bowie's refusing to cooperate.

"David Bowie, well he probably wasn't at his best when I interviewed him," he later said.

"I thought a solid slap would have helped the situation. I didn't hit him, of course, but it came close."

He offered commentary on the Eurovision Song Contest from 1980 until 2008, garnering a huge following with his light-hearted cynicism of the kitsch music competition.

In an address to Eurovision delegates in May, shortly after handing over the British commentary to fellow Irishman Graham Norton, Wogan criticised countries who voted together along political lines in the annual singing competition.

He told them to stop taking the contest so seriously because "everybody knows it is rubbish".

Wogan, born in Limerick in 1938, also hosted popular quiz show Blankety Blank, and annual fund-raising event "Children in Need" for over 30 years.

He even entered the pop charts in 1978 with his version of popular English folk song The Floral Dance.

He is survived by three children, another one dying shortly after birth, and wife Helen Joyce.

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