Noel Andrews (7 January 1932 – 8 January 2011) was an Irish radio and television commentator and

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

for

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

. His career spanned over four decades, in which he was best known as the regular RTÉ presenter for 14 editions of the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

between 1972 and 1996. He was the younger brother of television presenter

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...

Early life and career

Andrews was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. He had been passionate about boxing since his early youth, and in 1950 at the age of 18 he was hired by RTÉ as a sports reporter, where he covered boxing matches. At the time he was the youngest reporter ever given a permanent job by a broadcasting service. After several years working as a reporter, Andrews subsequently became a radio disc jockey on

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

Career

Olympic Broadcasting

Whilst working on Radio 1, he became a household name he later became hosts of the ''Showband Circuit'', where he introduced many of Ireland's big music names including

Butch Moore James Augustine "Butch" Moore (10 January 1938 – 3 April 2001) was an Irish singer and a showband icon during the 1960s. Moore was born in Dublin, Ireland. He achieved celebrity status as Ireland's first contestant in the Eurovision Song Co ...

, Dana and

Muriel Day Muriel Day (born 11 January 1942) is an Irish singer. Born in Newtownards, County Down, she was the first singer from Northern Ireland to represent the Republic of Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, performing at the 1969 contest. She was ...

. However he still was keen to commentate on Boxing matches, which he maintained in the sixties and seventies. In 1972, Andrews began his long serving association with the Olympic Games. He made his debut at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, he served as the main presenter with fellow sports presenter

Brendan O'Reilly Brendan O'Reilly (14 May 1929 – 1 April 2001) was an Irish Selected Olympic high jumper, broadcaster, journalist, actor, singer and songwriter (best known for the 'Ballad of Michael Collins' and the Olympic song, 'Let the Nations Play'. He i ...

. During the 1972 Olympics both Andrews and O'Reilly spent several hours broadcasting to Ireland over the

Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

. Andrews also gained publicity commentating on

Barry McGuigan Finbar Patrick McGuigan MBE (born 28 February 1961) is an Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer. Born in Clones, Ireland, McGuigan was nicknamed ''The Clones Cyclone'' and held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 ...

's world title victory over

Eusebio Pedroza Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any other boxer in featherwe ...

in 1985 and

Michael Carruth Michael Carruth (born 9 July 1967) is a southpaw Irish Olympic boxer from Dublin. He is best known for winning the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He turned Pro in 1994 but retired in 2000. Amateur boxing ;Ol ...

's gold medal win at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. After O'Reilly retired in 1994, Andrews continued to present the Olympic 8 coverage, the last time he presented the Summer Olympics for RTÉ was at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. A year later he retired from broadcasting.

Other work

Outside sports broadcasting, Andrews was heavily involved in initiating the

Melody Fair A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...

and was a member of the Avoca Singers, he also was the RTÉ Television commentator for the

1971 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. Organised by the European Br ...

Personal life and death

In 1960, Andrews married Joan, with whom he had six children. In 1970 he bought The Avoca Inn, a hotel in

Avoca, County Wicklow Avoca () is a small town near Arklow, in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated on the River Avoca. The Avoca area has been associated with its copper mines for many years and the valley has been celebrated by Thomas Moore in the song " The M ...

. Joan died in 1981, and in 1985 he married Agnes (née Stack), manager of the nearby

Arklow Arklow (; ; , ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 re ...

Bay Hotel. The two later sold the Avoca Inn in 1990 and moved to

Annagassan Annagassan ()"Annagassan" A Dictionary of British Place-Names. A. D. Mills. Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Solihull Libraries. 16 April 2008 is a village in the townland of Ballynagassan, County ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

. After a long illness Andrews died on 8 January 2011, the day after his 79th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Noel 1932 births 2011 deaths Television personalities from Dublin (city) RTÉ Radio 1 presenters RTÉ television presenters Irish sports journalists Irish television presenters Irish radio presenters People educated at Synge Street CBS