The Late Late Show celebrates the people of Derry through their music, song and dance.
On the eve of Saint Patrick's Day, a Late Late Show Special featuring the people of Derry. Everybody in Studio 1 in Montrose, apart from Gay Byrne, is from Derry.
Guests on the night included The McCafferty Singers, Bishop Edward Daly, John Quigley and Gay McIntyre Band, Britania Brass Band, boxer Charlie Nash, politician John Hume, Dana, Nell McCafferty, Derry Operatic Society, Josef Locke and many more.
Who would like in the audience to hear a song from John Hume?
Despite mock protestations from Eamonn McCann, John Hume entertains the audience with his rendition of the Donegal song 'Tráthnóna Beag Aréir'.
Having sung, John Hume recalls a failed childhood attempt at performing at the Derry Feis. He also talks about Derry characters through the years and how there are not so many of them around anymore. He put this down to improvements in education describing these bygone characters as highly intelligent people without any formal education.
Their intelligence didn’t find an outlet so they became eccentric. We thought we were laughing at them, in fact they were laughing at us.
He remembers two Derry characters in particular, named Johnny and Maggie, and their respective encounters with Bishop Daly and a church worshipper. He then jokes about how Nell McCafferty may have turned out if she had not got a university education.
Previously the Late Late had hosted special shows to Dublin, Cork and Galway.
This episode of The Late Late Show was broadcast on 16 March 1985. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
