Matt Cooper (born 21 July 1966) is an Irish journalist, author, television presenter and radio presenter of '' The Last Word'' on

Today FM Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a lic ...

. He is also a former editor of the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tab ...

''.

Early life

Cooper was born in Cork in 1966 and was educated at the

North Monastery The North Monastery (Irish: ''An Mhainistir Thuaidh''), commonly known as The Mon, is a co-educational education campus comprising Scoil Mhuire Fatima Primary School, North Monastery Co-educational Secondary and Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG located ...

school and later at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

. As well as radio, sport was another early passion. Cooper played rugby with

Sunday's Well Sunday's Well () is a suburb of Cork (city), Cork city in Ireland. It is situated in the north-west of the city, on a ridge on the northern bank of the River Lee. Sunday's Well is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-Central (Dáil const ...

and later captained the under-20s team. He also had a fondness for GAA, and played Gaelic football and hurling for the

Bishopstown GAA Bishopstown Hurling and Football Club is a Cork-based Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the Bishopstown area of Cork city, Republic of Ireland. The club was founded in 1957. Honours Hurling * Cork Senior Hurling Championship Runners-U ...

club. He supports Leeds United. He is a former editor of the ''

'', appointed in September 1996, as well as a former business editor of the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

''. Then aged 30, he was the youngest person in Ireland to be appointed an

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of a national newspaper. Cooper was awarded Business Journalist of the Year in 1992 and 1999 and also National Journalist of the Year in 1993 and 2001. He is a graduate of

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...

''The Last Word''

Cooper presents the news review show '' The Last Word'' on

from 16:30 to 19:00 every weekday. In 2008, he spent hours recreating the iconic picture used for the cover of '' Abbey Road'' to publicise Today FM's move across the River Liffey only to admit "I'm not really a

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

fan. Maybe I'm just a little bit too young or something". Cooper writes a weekly column for the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country. ...

'' and one for the Irish edition of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' newspaper. In 2011, Kim Bielenberg said in the ''

'' that Cooper would make a worthy replacement for

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-yea ...

at RTÉ with Kenny in the "autumn of his career". Bielenberg also said Cooper was "never going to be the next Graham Norton".

Television work

Cooper was a frequent host of live

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

coverage on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

. He has also hosted live rugby and GAA matches on the same channel. To coincide with the 100 year anniversary of

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in July 2016, Cooper narrated the RTE documentary Heroes Of The Somme, which uncovered the stories of some of the men that won

The Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

fighting there. From 2017 to 2021, Cooper has co-hosted The Tonight Show on Virgin Media One with

Ivan Yates Ivan Yates (born 23 October 1959) is an Irish broadcaster, businessman and former politician. He was elected as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency at the 1981 general election and at each election until his retirement fr ...

Writings

Cooper's book, ''Who Really Runs Ireland'', was published in 2009. It examines Irish businessmen and politicians and their relationships. * ''Who Really Runs Ireland?'' (2010) * ''How Ireland Really Went Bust'' (2011) In 2015, a biography of

Tony O'Reilly Sir Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly (born 7 May 1936) is an Irish former businessman and international rugby union player. He is known for his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009,Dublin, Ireland, ...

, titled ''The Maximalist: The Rise and Fall of Tony O’Reilly'' was published by

Gill and Macmillan Gill is an independent publisher and distributor based in Dublin, Ireland. History In 1856, Michael Henry Gill, printer for Dublin University, purchased the publishing and bookselling business of James McGlashan, and the company was renamed McG ...

Personal life

Copper is married to Aileen Hickey since 1995. The couple share 5 children, 3 daughters and 2 sons.

Visit to North Korea

In January 2014, Cooper secretly accompanied Dennis Rodman to North Korea for

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

's big birthday basketball game. His cover was blown when they were seen together on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

at an airport in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. ''Today FM'' confirmed Cooper's presence in North Korea and that he would meet Kim Jong-un while there. A documentary was filmed based on Rodman's trip and the basketball game he organised versus North Korea; entitled ''

Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang ''Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang'' is a 2015 documentary film produced and directed by Colin Offland, written by Matthew Baker, and narrated by Matt Cooper. The film follows retired professional basketball player Dennis Rodman on his miss ...

'', it received a cinematic release in July 2015 and featured narration by Cooper, who also featured extensively in the film.

References

External links

* Today FM bios
OldNew

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Matt 1966 births Living people People educated at North Monastery Alumni of Dublin City University Alumni of University College Cork Bishopstown Gaelic footballers Bishopstown hurlers Dual players Gaelic games writers and broadcasters Irish journalists Irish Independent people Irish sports broadcasters Irish writers Writers from Cork (city) Sunday Tribune people Today FM presenters 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Virgin Media Television (Ireland) presenters