I read an article recently about a man claiming he “knew people in every townland in Ireland.” I was fascinated. Ireland may be a small country but it has oceans of townlands. I was keen to know if Peter Murphy knew anybody in the ‘stony grey soil’ where I came from. But first I had to find out how he came to be one of Ireland’s best known TV and Radio personalities.
Originally from Clonegal in Carlow, Peter began his career at Huntington Castle, where his father worked as a farm manager. He loved working in Clonegal and had no aspirations to move on or do anything else.
It was only when he joined Macra Na Feirme (social and cultural organisation for rural living) he discovered a love for public speaking. I was curious to know what people debated about in those days. Having listened to my own father talking about how simple things were then, I figured there wasn’t a lot to give out about.
Peter remembers the topic of his very first debate with a smile. ‘Will the tractor ever take over from the horse?’ In 1950s Ireland, nobody ever believed it would.
In 1953, Peter was selected by the Macra Na Feirme National Council to lead a campaign to form The Irish Farmer’s Association. On the campaign trail he met some of the most colourful characters he has ever encountered.
One such character called George was from my hometown in Emyvale. I knew him well as he was the local healer who had cured my strep-throat.
Peter remembers it as being one of the funniest interviews he had ever conducted. The day he arrived George was digging a well. Not one to stop work in progress, Peter interviewed George in the well– but there was a ‘slight’ hitch. George had his dog in the well with him and every time George went to answer a question the dog barked, making it impossible for Peter to hear him.
Peter’s love and natural way with people captured the interest of Radio Eireann in 1960. There were no screen tests or auditions involved. Whelehan’s, a Farm Supply Company, simply asked Peter to say a few words on a radio programme they were airing from a Spring Show in the RDS. When the heads of radio heard the programme they were so impressed with Peter’s voice and personality they offered him a presenting job with the Whelehan’s show. Peter accepted the job and it wasn’t long before other farm supply companies wanted him as their front man.
From these humble beginnings Peter went on to travel the world meeting all sorts of interesting people, including Muhammad Ali and the Pope. A love of quizzes from his Macra Na Feirme days resurfaced and Peter became the face of ‘Cross Country Quiz’ which he hosted for RTE. On his living room wall hangs a framed collection of his widely published quiz books and crossword puzzles.
When I mentioned that my mother swears by crosswords for keeping Alzheimer’s at bay and that she had now become a huge Sudoku fan, Peter flinches in slight panic. Like the tractor versus the horse issue, Peter hopes that Sudoku doesn’t kill off the crosswords, as he still enjoys compiling crossword puzzles for the ‘Sunday Independent’, the ‘Farmers Independent’ and the ‘Farmers Monthly’.
What’s more, he loves it when people stop him on the street and ask him “what’s the answer to 21 Across and 3 Down in yesterday’s paper?”
Before leaving, I asked Peter to share with me a few special moments he’s had in his life. There are many, which include marrying his lovely wife Bridie in 1967, the birth of his four wonderful children, fixing the flowers on Patrick Kavanagh’s coffin as it crawled down the canal (a moment remembered not by him but by a local who recalled it to him later), being the last to interview Luke Kelly before he died and meeting Pope John Paul in 1984.
Peter vividly recalls how that interview came about. The Pope was still recovering from his assassination attempt and was giving very few interviews at the time. Unperturbed, Peter contacted the Pope’s private secretary, Monsignor John Magee and a meeting with the Pontiff was arranged. “It lasted seven minutes,” said Peter, showing me a photo of him and his wife (pictured left) meeting the Pope.
I asked him if he remembered what they spoke about and what kind of questions he asked him. Peter laughs and tells me to ask his wife Bridie. “I asked him if they’re would ever be women priests?” said Bridie. To which the Pope candidly replied, “Not in my lifetime.”
Peter is now happily settled in Sandymount but his heart will always remain in his beloved Clonegal. Every wall in his home is filled with photographs of all the folks he has met down through the years. To this day, Peter loves meeting people, which he does on his many walks around Sandymount and the surrounding areas.
He has recently been approached by someone to write a memoir about his life and travels, which he is now considering. Hopefully, Peter will share his gift of story telling and charm us with stories of all the wonderful characters he met on his jaunts through Ireland.