{"id":534412,"date":"2026-07-05T16:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/534412\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T16:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:05:29","slug":"terry-wogans-son-says-we-had-no-choice-as-he-makes-feelings-clear-on-limerick-statue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/534412\/","title":{"rendered":"Terry Wogan&#8217;s son says &#8216;we had no choice&#8217; as he makes feelings clear on Limerick statue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Terry Wogan&#8217;s son didn&#8217;t hold back as he shared his thoughts on the statue honouring his late father, 10 years after the broadcaster&#8217;s death<\/p>\n<p>14:08, 04 Jul 2026Updated 14:10, 04 Jul 2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The statue of Terry Wogan \" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_JS158004745.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"The statue of Terry Wogan \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">The statue of Terry Wogan <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/terry-wogan\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Terry Wogan<\/a>\u2019s son Mark Wogan has shared his honest thoughts about his late father&#8217;s statue. The broadcaster died in 2016, following a short illness aged 77. Shortly afterwards, the then-mayor of Limerick, Kieran O\u2019Hanlon, unveiled a statue of him in Harvey&#8217;s Quay, on the banks of the river Shannon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Speaking to <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/stephen-mulhern\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Stephen Mulhern<\/a> on his Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast, Mark insisted he wasn\u2019t a fan of the brown sculpture. After noting that both his father and Stephen have statues, he shared his different views on each of them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Pointing out that the statue was based in Limerick, he added: &#8220;Have a look at that, that&#8217;s all I&#8217;m saying. Yours, you would go, &#8216;Oh, that&#8217;s Stephen&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">When asked whether it was comparable to David Beckham&#8217;s infamous statue prank, Mark replied: &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t possibly say, it&#8217;s very difficult I think, when it&#8217;s your parent, to be objective.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;It was unveiled a couple of years after his death. They were fantastically celebrating their city&#8217;s son and he&#8217;s out on the point overlooking the sea, he&#8217;s there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sir Terry Wogan died in 2016 aged 77 \" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_GettyImages-567198235.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Sir Terry Wogan died in 2016 aged 77 \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Sir Terry Wogan died in 2016 aged 77 <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Mark went on to explain that he did not attend the unveiling, suggesting he was unhappy about not being consulted on the design.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Recalling a conversation with the mayor, he claimed the politician &#8220;turned up unannounced&#8221; at his restaurant to inform him of the plans. Mark said he had &#8220;no choice&#8221; in the decision and was told an artist had already been selected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">When it came to the Deal or No Deal presenter sharing his thoughts on Terry&#8217;s statue, he struggled to contain his laughter as he commented: &#8220;It does resemble him, but yeah, okay.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Mark added: &#8220;If you look closely, he appears to be holding what looks like a [sex toy]. I think it&#8217;s a microphone, but very sweetly they erected this thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The host went on to praise Stephen&#8217;s statue, which was unveiled in his hometown of Stratford in 2023.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mark Wogan \" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_GettyImages-2237178059.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Mark Wogan insisted he wasn't a fan of his dad's statue \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Mark Wogan insisted he wasn&#8217;t a fan of his dad&#8217;s statue <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Yours is good because you&#8217;re in a redcoat (a nod to his past career in Butlin&#8217;s),&#8221; he shared, to which his podcast guest replied: &#8220;I&#8217;m very proud of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Sharing his thoughts further, Mark added: &#8220;You should be because one, it looks like you and two it&#8217;s in your home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Unveiling Terry&#8217;s statue at the time, the mayor said to the crowd: &#8220;Today, we honour a man who, certainly across the water, was our greatest export.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;There was a huge outpouring of grief when Terry passed away last year and it is only fitting that we remember him in his home city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Terry has a special place in our hearts, and I hope those memories can be re-lived by fans with the unveiling of this sculpture, right in the heart of the city of his birth.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terry Wogan&#8217;s son didn&#8217;t hold back as he shared his thoughts on the statue honouring his late father,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,48805],"class_list":["post-534412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-terry-wogan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}