Eamonn Andrews

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name = Eamonn Andrews


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birth_date = 19 December 1922
birth_place = Dublin, Ireland
death_date = 5 November 1987
death_place = London, England
death_cause = Heart Failure
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nationality = Irish
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occupation = Television and Radio Presenter
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spouse = Grainne
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Eamonn Andrews, CBE (hon.) (19 December, 1922 – 5 November, 1987) was an Irish born television presenter based in England.

Andrews was born in Synge Street, Dublin, Ireland, the same street as playwright George Bernard Shaw. He was educated at the local school, Synge Street CBS. He began his career as an amateur boxer and went on to be a sports commentator on Radio Éireann. In 1950, he began presenting programmes for the BBC and soon moved on to become one of television's most popular presenters. Series with which he was associated included:

*"What's My Line?" (1951-1963 and 1984-87)
*"This Is Your Life" (1955-64 and 1969-87)
*"World of Sport" (1965-1968)
*"Crackerjack and Playbox" (children's series)
*"Whose Baby? (A panel game he created and owned)

He chaired the Radio Éireann Authority between 1960 and 1964, overseeing the introduction of Television to Ireland and establishing the Irish State Broadcaster as an independent Semi-State body.

He was famous for coming up with off-the-cuff linkings which did not work — such as 'speaking of cheese sandwiches, have you come far?' and so on. This was parodied by the character Seamus Android in the BBC radio programme "Round the Horne" in the 1960s. At the time Andrews hosted a chatshow on ITV.

In the late sixties, at the height of the cold war and Vietnam, he showed his serious side when at his own expense he interviewed many notables to ask them their current opinions, and what they thought the world would be like twenty years into the future. He planned to invite them back, to screen what they had said, and to chat about how accurate they had been. He never lived to record the second part; the tapes exist in the family's archives, and have never been viewed.

He is perhaps best known as the presenter of the UK's version of "This Is Your Life", between its inception in 1955 and his death in 1987, when he was succeeded by Michael Aspel. He also created a long running panel game called "Whose Baby?" which ran on originally on BBC and later ITV for many decades. He was a regular presenter of the early Miss World pageants.

He died suddenly from heart failure in November 1987, aged 64. His widow Grainne died eighteen months later.

Eamonn Andrews is also the name of a linking composition by the 1970s British avant-rock band Soft Machine. It was named after Eamonn because it was an off-the-cuff link between unrelated pieces in their live sets. Over time, it came into its own as a major part of the live Soft Machine repertoire. Fact|date=February 2007

Cornish producer and recording artist Luke Vibert paid tribute to Andrews by releasing a series of hardcore and jungle EPs on Rephlex Records under the pseudonym of "Amen Andrews", featuring a picture of the real Andrews on the second side of all 5 EPs.

ee also

* List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/569940/index.html Eamonn Andrews biography at BFI Screenonline]
* [http://www.petermarsh.freeuk.com/stockcar/staines.html Eamonn Andrews: stock car racing commentator!