George Hook

Last updated

George Hook
Georgehook.jpg
George Hook in 2011
Born (1941-05-19) 19 May 1941 (age 82)
Cork, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Education Rathmines College of Commerce, Dublin Institute of Technology
Occupation(s)Journalist and Radio Broadcaster
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) [1]
SpouseIngrid Hook
Children3

George Hook (born 19 May 1941) [2] is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He formerly hosted The Right Hook and High Noon on the Irish radio station Newstalk.

Contents

He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit on RTÉ Television in 1997. [3] He has also made other TV appearances, such as judging on Jigs & Reels and coaching on Celebrity Bainisteoir .

Early life

Hook grew up in the Albert Road area of Cork. He attended Presentation Brothers College, a rugby union stronghold. [4] Subsequently, he attended Rathmines College of Commerce.

Career

Hook has had a number of jobs, beginning as a temporary clerk for CIÉ, and later becoming a travelling salesman for the Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys). He ran a catering business for over twenty years. He coached London Irish and Connacht as well as the United States national team in the 1987 Rugby World Cup.

The Right Hook , Hook's radio show on Newstalk, was a popular late afternoon to early evening drive-time programme. [5] His wife, "the lovely Ingrid", was regularly subjected to having her intimate details discussed and dissected on air by Hook. [6]

Hook appeared as a rugby pundit on RTÉ on a regular basis, most frequently with presenter Tom McGurk and fellow pundit Brent Pope, and appeared as a judge on RTÉ celebrity dancing show Jigs & Reels. He has also been parodied in The State of Us . In 2005, he published an autobiography, "Time Added On". The book described his years involved in business and the failure of this career path.[ citation needed ]

On 26 January 2014, Hook announced that he would retire from Newstalk in 2016 and television punditry after the 2015 Rugby World Cup but RTÉ lost the right for Irish broadcasting to TV3. On 13 February 2015, he reversed his decision to retire from television punditry. However, on 17 March the same year, Hook announced that he would retire from television punditry saying he would never watch the RTÉ rugby panel again.[ citation needed ]

Suspension

In September 2017 he was suspended by Newstalk for comments about rape. [7] In October 2017, Newstalk announced that Ciara Kelly was taking over his lunchtime radio slot. [8]

Voluntary work

In 2009, he visited Haiti where he organised a recruitment drive to get volunteers to go there on a house building week. [9] [10] [11]

The next day a magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti. After the earthquake Hook was heard to say: "It is a godforsaken place. God has literally forsaken it." [12] Following the January 2010 earthquake. Hook urged his radio listeners to donate money. [13]

Hook is also the patron of Comber Foundation, an Irish charity working in Romania since 1991, of which his daughter Michelle McGill is a trustee. [14] The charity provides homes in the community for adults with disabilities who grew up in institutions and orphanages [15]

Views

Politically, Hook is a longtime supporter of Fine Gael, and spoken at party events, he frequently identifying himself on The Right Hook [16] as being "an old Blueshirt".

In 2010, as part of the Catholic Church's "Year for Priests" celebration, he contributed to a DVD, In Praise of Priests, featuring interviews with various people expressing admiration for their favourite priest. [17]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RTÉ2</span> Irish television station

RTÉ2 is an Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eamon Dunphy</span> Irish association football player and journalist

Eamon Martin Dunphy is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retiring from the sport, he has become recognisable to Irish television audiences as a football analyst during coverage of the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and international football on RTÉ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis O'Brien</span> Irish billionaire businessman

Denis O'Brien is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for several years. His business interests have also extended to aircraft leasing, utilities support (Actavo), petroleum, football, and healthcare. As former chairman of the Esat Digifone consortium, O'Brien was questioned by the Moriarty Tribunal, which investigated the awarding of a mobile phone licence to Esat, among other things.

Bill O'Herlihy was an Irish television broadcaster and public relations executive. He was best known for his broadcasts for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), primarily in politics and sport. A presenter for ten FIFA World Cups and ten Summer Olympic Games, O'Herlihy was noted for his "Okey doke" catchphrase. He retired from RTÉ following its coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. According to the Irish Examiner newspaper, "with the possible exception of Michael O'Hehir, Bill O'Herlihy was the broadcaster most universally welcome in Irish homes over the last 50 years."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cork Jazz Festival</span> Music festival in Cork City, Ireland

The Cork Jazz Festival is an annual music festival held in Cork City, Ireland, in late October. The first festival began on Friday 27 October 1978, and has been held every year.

Newstalk is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Bird</span> Irish journalist and broadcaster (1949–2024)

Charles Brown Bird was an Irish journalist and broadcaster. He was Chief News Correspondent with RTÉ News until January 2009. He took up the role of Washington Correspondent, but prematurely returned to his earlier post in Ireland in June 2010. He retired from RTÉ in August 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presentation Brothers College, Cork</span> Private school for boys in Cork, Ireland

Presentation Brothers College is a Catholic, boys, private fee-paying secondary school in Cork, Ireland. As of 2020, Presentation Brothers College was ranked as the top boys secondary school in Ireland and regularly places first in the annual top performing schools table rankings conducted by The Irish Times.

Brenda Power is an Irish journalist, barrister and a radio and television broadcaster on RTÉ and Newstalk.

Mark Anthony Cagney is an Irish television presenter and journalist, best known for presenting Ireland AM, the breakfast show on TV3 from 1999 to 2019.

The State of Us is a four-part mockumentary which was broadcast on Irish television channel RTÉ One on Sunday nights at 21:40. It stars Risteárd Cooper, well known in Ireland for his part in the Après Match sketches. It was created and written by Cooper and Gerard Stembridge and focuses on the clash between politicians and the media. It is filmed mostly in and around RTÉ Television Centre in Montrose. The first episode was broadcast on Sunday 22 April 2007.

Joe O'Shea is an Irish broadcaster and journalist. He lives and works in Dublin and in the past made regular appearances on Irish radio and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattie McGrath</span> Irish politician (born 1958)

Matthew McGrath is an Irish independent politician and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Tipperary constituency since being elected at the 2007 general election.

Richard Sadlier is an Irish former professional footballer and former CEO of St Patrick's Athletic. Since retirement from the professional game he has worked as a pundit with RTÉ Sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RTÉ Sport</span> Department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ

RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ holds the television and radio broadcasting rights in the Republic of Ireland to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as The Sunday Game, Thank GAA It's Friday, Soccer Republic and RTÉ Racing on RTÉ Television, and Game On, Saturday Sport, and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio.

Brent Pope is a New Zealand born rugby television analyst, rugby journalist, charity worker, children's book author, after dinner speaker, founder of Outside in Art Gallery in Dublin, owner of POPE shirts and shoes and founder of The Elephant in the Room, mental Health project. He was born, raised and spent most of his rugby playing career in New Zealand, but has lived and worked in Ireland for most of his coaching, broadcasting, media and business career.

The Right Hook was a late afternoon to early evening talk programme broadcast on the Dublin, Ireland-based national Newstalk commercial radio station, and hosted by George Hook.

Daire O'Brien is an Irish broadcaster and journalist. He is best known for being the presenter and anchorman of RTÉ Sport's coverage of the Pro14 rugby union competition, and has been with RTÉ since 2010. Before this he presented for Setanta Sports, where he was one of their most recognisable faces. Here he was successful until Setanta Sports went bankrupt in 2010, after which he moved to RTE Sport and began broadcasting for them. He has also contributed to Newstalk. He has written for the Irish Independent, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Business Post and the Sunday Tribune and reported for Prime Time in the 1990s. He narrated the RTÉ series Tidiest of Towns in 2007.

Ciara Kelly is an Irish radio presenter, columnist and former GP. She presents the morning show on Newstalk. She also has a weekly column with the Sunday Independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Spittle</span> Irish comedian, writer and actor

Alison Spittle is an Irish comedian, comedy writer, radio producer and actor. She has worked for iRadio, RTÉ Radio 1 and Newstalk and created sketches for Republic of Telly and has written and starred in her RTÉ Two sit-com Nowhere Fast in 2017. She is the host and creator of the Alison Spittle Show podcast hosted by HeadStuff Podcast Network.

References

  1. ↑ "The Leader Interview: George Hook - Limerick Leader". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  2. ↑ [ dead link ]
  3. ↑ "George Hook". Personally Speaking Bureau. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Presentation Brothers College (PBC) School, Cork, Ireland - Activities - Talks / Lectures". Pbc-cork.ie. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Radio 1 recovers lost listeners, ratings survey shows". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  6. ↑ Ni Bhraonain, Eimear (18 July 2012). "George's 'lovely Ingrid' wasn't easily hooked". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  7. ↑ Leogue, Joe (16 September 2017). "George Hook suspended over rape comments". Irish Examiner .
  8. ↑ Linehan, Hugh (18 October 2017). "Ciara Kelly to take over George Hook's Newstalk lunchtime slot". The Irish Times .
  9. ↑ The Irish Times Archived 19 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine , "Irish charity to build houses in Haiti", Thursday, 15 January 2009
  10. ↑ Niamh Hennessy, Irish Examiner, "Hook urges volunteers to get building in Haiti", 13 January 2010.
  11. ↑ Irish Central "Irish connections run very deep to Haiti", 12 January 2010.
  12. ↑ Irish Independent, "Jason O'Brien: Godforsaken Haiti needs help now, more than ever", 14 January 2010.
  13. ↑ Irish Independent, "George hooks Haiti volunteers", 13 January 2010
  14. ↑ "Comber Foundation website" Archived 30 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine , "Comber Foundation", 2010
  15. ↑ "Builders giving up work to build homes for orphans", herald.ie, 2 March 2009.
  16. ↑ "The Right Hook". The Right Hook.
  17. ↑ "Failure of Church leaders to deal with abuse a "source of deep shame"". Donegal Democrat . Johnston Press. 18 August 2010. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.