My 80s Playlist: Mark Wogan reflects on ‘generous and lovely’ father Sir Terry Wogan

Virgin Radio

2 Jan 2024, 15:38

Mark Wogan, the son of Sir Terry Wogan, stopped by Virgin Radio 80s Plus to go through his favourite tunes of the decade for My 80s Playlist. 

The Homeslice Pizza owner founded the foodie company with brother Alan in 2011 and prior to that, he’d worked as a chef in several restaurants, including The Groucho Club. 

Mark’s father Terry, who sadly died in 2016, was a broadcasting legend, kicking off his career in the 1960s, and he worked on some of the biggest shows on TV, including Wogan, through the 1980s. 

While on Virgin Radio 80s Plus with host Steve Denyer, the Spooning podcast host went through some of his beloved tracks of the era, as well as some memories of his father and how his national treasure legacy has continued through the years. 

Watch Mark Wogan’s full My 80s Playlist below: 

Reflecting on all the fame that came along with being Terry Wogan’s son, Mark explained: “There are times when you think I wish my surname had been Smith. But on the whole, my dad was a beautiful individual, both as a public persona but also as a father and as a human being. He was just kind, generous and lovely. 

“It's been a number of years since his unfortunate passing but it's nice now to just sit with the legacy that he left. And yes, he was taken early, but he was taken how we all remember him. For us as a family obviously we'd like to still have him here, but everyone just remembers him as who he was, which was a great person.”

He continued: “We all miss him and we miss him particularly as a family but I think what he left behind was beautiful. I think it's nice that we can go to things like CarFest and meet people who he was important to and they still want to celebrate him and that's a lovely thing.”

Despite his dad being a national treasure, Mark admitted Sir Terry never “brought work home” in a bid for his family to keep their “anonymity,” but there were some moments he got to meet some seriously big names, including George Michael. 

While behind the scenes at Wogan, Mark revealed: [George] was incredibly welcoming, and generous and lovely with us because we were little kids. He was such a big star at that time. I just count myself as very lucky to have been able to meet him at all because in terms of his influence as an artist, and just song after song after song. Any of those solo albums. They're the kind of albums you can put on and you can listen to from beginning to end. You don't skip a track because they're so good.”

You can listen to Virgin Radio 80 Plus HERE. You can also listen on DAB+ in London and Central Scotland and on smart speakers across the UK, as well as via the Virgin Radio UK app.