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Wogan on Eurovision: "Leave while you're in love"

05 December 2008 at 21:37 CET

About his successor, two-times Eurovision Dance Contest host Graham Norton, Wogan said: "Terrific choice - he's witty, he's sharp, he's quick. He'll be perfect for it."

In his 'goodbye-interview', Wogan is traditionally critical towards the competition, the new reality of an expanding Europe and a growing Eurovision Song Contest. Meanwhile, the controversial commentator underlined that those changes were not the reason to leave.

Wogan, one of the BBC's most prominent radio- and television hosts, took place in the Eurovision Song Contest commentary booth for the first time in 1971. One of his more famous lines: "You cannot watch this contest without a drink!" At the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest, he sparked controversy after referring to the hosts of the show as "Doctor Death and the Tooth Fairy".

In 2009, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber will write the UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Without having heard the song and with no performer chosen yet, Wogan is already optimistic about the country's chance in Moscow: I think it's an opportune time for me to leave because it might be the UK's turn next year."

You can read the full interview with Sir Terry Wogan on the BBC website.