| On the 21st October 2006, we here at
Bemuddlement received some very sad news. A man who helped inspire much
of the content of this part of the website and helped give me the incentive to
explore other areas of writing, sadly passed away after a long battle
with illness, at a far too young an age of 59. As many of you know, Paul Walters was the producer of
the weekday breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 "Wake Up To Wogan", hosted
by Sir Terry
Wogan. I have been writing to the show, in various guises, since 1997,
most infamously as Helmut Wirklichnahmen, a "German" character
that writes into the show in best "Schoolboy Deutsche
Grammar".
Since that day in 1998 when I first heard Terry read
out "Guten Morgan Herr Togmeister", my life started to change
in many ways and none of that would've happened but for the fact that
Paul Walters decided that my Germanic ramblings were worthy of inclusion
in the show he produced.
Although Paul often claimed "I only print
them!", all of us TOGS
(Terry's Old Geysers and Gals) appreciated the supreme skill that he
exhibited in creating that perfect balance of music and bewildered
humour. A concoction that was then superbly executed by Sir Terry. Paul
seemed to know exactly what would work and what wouldn't. Paul was part
of the team that managed to co-engineer something very unique in British
radio and a phenenomia that is unlikely to be repeated.
It is strange, how someone whom has touched your life
in the briefest of fashions, can have so dramatically, altered the
course of that life. That is what Paul did for me, by just being himself
and just doing his job. Paul will never be forgotten by this budding
writer.
I count myself lucky to have met the man in 2002, at a
TOG convention in Reading, UK. It was an honour to shake his hand and say "Thank
You!"
As Helmut would probably say:
"Danke Schone, Doktor Pauly, fur alles spass
und lange muss sie essen Buzzard Balls und trinken gross
Liebfraumilch.und sprechen "Prost"..... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
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