

We’re very excited to have one of Britain’s best-loved broadcasters on this episode of the Big Travel Podcast. He grew up in what was essentially a war zone in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has travelled extensively with seminal programmes such as the BBC Holiday Programme and also How the Other Half Live, a TV show on which he and his broadcaster wife Ruth Langsford road-test the lifestyles of the ridiculously famous, he’s a huge fan of Manchester United and Hawaii with Elvis Presley would be his dream trip. Notching up an incredible 38 years as a broadcaster, I’m sure he will want me to emphasize that he DID start very young, it is of course Mr Eamonn Holmes.
On this episode we cover:
His happy childhood in Belfast
Living in a war zone
His rustic neighbours
Mice in wellington boots
Showers in the local launderette
Local kids’ asipirations
Being only one of two catholic families on the council estate
Missing out on teenage kicks
Watching and learning TV
Working in Primark
Knowing he wanted to be a reporter age 11
Journalism college
Starting as a reporter age 19
Farming
Rule 1 of journalism
Being unpopular because of his job
Hosting the main show at 21
Hosting the general election at 23
Interviewing Ian Paisley
Interviewing Gerry Adams
Moving to Manchester at 25
What makes a good TV host
Not getting nervous
His wife Ruth Langsford getting nervous
Family trips to the Northern Irish coastline
Bouncing around in the back of his carpet fitter dad’s van
His first trip abroad to Portugal
His love of Manchester
His love of Manchester United
Being unexpectedly fired
Getting much more work
Regional TV
Working for the BBC ‘Holiday’ programme
Hard work and low pay
Not getting a tan
Being homesick
Travel broadening the mind
How everyone in Northern Ireland should be prescribed two weeks abroad
Monument valley in Utah
His love of Westerns
John Wayne
Not being the best traveller
His love of coming home
His wish for a sea view
Driving in a bin lorry in Brighton
The ridiculously wealthy on TV show How the Other Half Live
Broadcasters salaries
Being sick abroad
Not having been in a plane crash
Storms on cruise ships
Liking comfortable travel
Travelling with Manchester United
The comfort of Old Trafford
Bonding with his kids over football
Voicing the BBC kids TV show Biggleton
Nellie the Elephant
Postman Pat
This Morning
GMTV
His show on talkRADIO
His 28 years of breakfast television
The effects of lack of sleep
Shift work
Rio Carnival
The Mardi Gras
The Northern Lights
Not wanting to go to Machu Picchu
The Calgary Stampede
Not liking airports
What travel is all about
Elvis Presley
Aloha from Hawaii
Quadrophonic sound
Giving us a few bars of his favourite Elvis song