Sir Terry Wogan to be remembered in special Songs of Praise

All time great: Sir Terry Wogan
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty
Hannah Al-Othman5 February 2016

Sir Terry Wogan will be remembered in a special Songs Of Praise to be broadcast this Sunday and presented by Aled Jones.

The Welshman will take a trip to Northern Ireland to visit Father Brian D'Arcy at his church in Enniskillen.

Atheist Sir Terry and Father D'Arcy were good friends, and spent a day together just before the presenter died.

Father D'Arcy, a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2's Wake Up To Wogan for 20 years, will share memories of the much-admired broadcaster.

They had been friends for more than four decades.

The Co Fermanagh priest delivered reflections on life and faith during the Pause for Thought part of the late star's radio show.

Talking on Chris Evans's Radio 2 show on February 1, Father D'Arcy recalled their final emotional handshake.

"I wasn't sure if it was goodbye, but as soon as I saw Terry I knew it was the last time I was going to see him, and the shake hands was the last shake hands I'd ever have with him."

His voice cracked as he added: "It was a beautiful day, a day I'll never forget, a sad day, because it was the end of a beautiful friendship."

Sir Terry had spoken in recent years about not believing in God after the death of his three-week-old daughter Vanessa in 1966.

At the end of the interview on Songs Of Praise, Jones asked: "Do you think he (Terry) is in heaven then?"

Father D'Arcy replied: "If he's not then I don't want be there because I'd like to be where he is, because that's where goodness is."

The programme will close with Jones and Sir Terry's duet of Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth, which was released as a Children In Need Christmas charity single in 2008.

Songs Of Praise will be broadcast on Sunday at 4.15pm.

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