RIP Derek Davis
with Davis throughout his career, last saw his friend on Sunday following his appearance on the Finucane show.
He told RTÉ’s Liveline yesterday that Davis felt a bit tired and went home to bed for a rest. ‘When he woke it was clear he was extremely ill and had to go straight into hospital.’ Mr Keogh said he was grateful that he got to see his old friend before he passed away.
‘I just managed to whisper a goodbye in his ear and squeeze his hand,’ he said. ‘It was very sad but I was very glad to see him before he passed away.’
Mr Keogh said Derek was ‘a wonderful clever smart, funny’ man.
‘He was such a generous person in spirit, you would never hear him say a bad word about anybody and I am just so sad for Una and the family.’
Another close friend, the former newscaster Colm Connolly said like all good professionals, Davis took his work very seriously, but didn’t take himself seriously. ‘When we became newscasters the poor weather men and women used to die 100 deaths wondering what kind of joke he would crack at them but it was never malicious... if anything he was the epitome of kindness.’
But Mr Connolly also provided an insight into a career which, while it spanned news, current affairs, music, food and light entertainment, was in the view of some, not the equal of his huge talent. ‘He had a brilliance about him and a lot of people had trouble coping with that brilliance, it was a difficult thing to contain and difficult thing to manoeuvre. I have seen him down, I have seen him disheartened about things but he never stayed down for long.’
IT is a tragic irony that just as Derek Davis seemed to have become as healthy as he had ever been, he should be taken from us in such a sudden manner.
He often said that his larger-than-life personality was the result of his physical size, and yet when he lost all that weight his joie de vivre, his ready wit and his acute intelligence were undiminished.
He enjoyed a l engthy career that spanned many disciplines. After stints as a reporter for both the BBC and the American network ABC, he joined the RTÉ newsroom. It was his occasional impromptu comments on the day’s news that first caught the public’s attention when he was working as a newsreader for the national broadcaster.
But Derek’s decade-long stint presenting Live at 3 alongside Thelma Mansfield is what he will be best remembered for.
It was during that golden era of light entertainment that we saw him at his best. His easy-going charm and genuine interest in people were ideally suited to the programme’s format.
In a simpler age, Derek Davis gave pleasure to millions of viewers during a highly distinguished career.
May he rest in peace.