Gary O'Donoghue

speaker

1,144 appearances 20 recordings 4 series first heard Jan 2025 last heard 7 Sep

Gary O'Donoghue’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 3.

Appearances

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Desert Island Discs · Gary O'Donoghue, journalist · 14 Jun 2026 podcast

It was enormous fun.

Fantastic.

I can't tell you how much fun.

We were called, for some random reason, Shogun.

We had nothing to do with Japan.

I think it was on the telly at the time.

We would sit up all night trying to make up names for the band and just collapse into hysterics for hours on end, finally rejecting Iron Fist for Shogun.

So in the band, we used to do a lot of cover versions and from that sort of era, I got introduced to ZZ Top.

So this song is from a live album they did and it's just a fantastic kind of lazy but energetic blues song and I just love the title and it's Jesus Just Left Chicago.

My parents were beside themselves.

I mean, they weren't very expressive, but they were chuffed beyond belief.

And they had no idea, you know, what was involved, I don't think.

And the first day we went up

My dad said to me, do you mind if we, is it all right if we turn up in a van?

I said, Dad, it's fine.

A van is fine.

And those Braille books won't fit in anything.

So he was sort of unsure, but also completely delighted.

It was a bit of a shock.

I mean, I was made to feel very welcome, absolutely.

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