Terry Wogan: "sympathetic" to strikers, and scab

The Guardian reported that he said he supported the strike but felt he was not in a position to join the 24-hour walkout.

"Of course I have sympathy for them [the strikers] but I have a job to do. I am on a contract," he said. Of course all of the strikers also had contracts.

Wogan had earlier refused to take a leaflet on the strike action from a representative from broadcasting union Bectu.

Wogan also faced criticism for taking over £10,000 payment for helping present Children In Need in 2006, on top of his £800,000 a year fee for his breakfast radio show alone. Other presenters, like Natasha Kaplinsky - who refused to cross BBC picket lines - and Fearne Cotton waived their fees.

While critical of Jimmy Savile, Terry Wogan was more defensive of convicted paedophile Stuart Hall who was jailed in 2013 for a series of indecent assaults on children describing him as “a good-humoured fella, very ebullient… Jolly, hearty, a good broadcaster, a funny man. I’m not trying to excuse him.… But it will be interesting to see what will happen when all these cases come to court, how many are proved.”1

Hall had actually already pled guilty to the indecent assaults of 13 children, some aged only nine years old.

• 1 Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/terry-wogan-hatred-jimmy-savile-2341936 - retrieved 31/01/16