Terry Wogan 'coolest Irish celeb' (From Crewe Guardian)

Terry Wogan 'coolest Irish celeb'

12:42am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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Terry Wogan has been voted the coolest Irish celebrity in a poll of the British public to mark St Patrick's Day.

The veteran television and radio show host beat competition for the top spot from Hollywood stars Pierce Brosnan and Colin Farrell with more than a fifth of the vote (22 per cent).

Long regarded as England's favourite Irishman, the 71-year-old Limerick man stood down from his BBC Radio 2 morning show last year to the disappointment of his eight million listeners.

James Bond star Brosnan (17 per cent), from Co Meath, was voted second coolest Irish celebrity followed by Dublin-born Farrell (13 per cent) best known for his hellraiser reputation and roles in Minority Report, Phone Booth and In Bruges.

Christine Bleakely, the Co Down-born presenter of the BBC's The One Show and girlfriend of footballer Frank Lampard, scored fourth place (six per cent) while actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers and singer Andrea Corr (four per cent) came in joint fifth.

They were followed in joint seventh place by music impresario Louis Walsh and Ireland rugby international Brian O'Driscoll (three per cent) while Derry's Nadine Coyle (two per cent), of Girls Aloud fame, and Louis' X-Factor proteges Jedward (one per cent) completed the top 10.

Pollsters YouGov surveyed 2,340 adults online last month in the study for Eulogy, an Irish-owned public relations agency in Britain.

The results revealed varying tastes across age groups, with one in five (21 per cent) 18 to 24-year-olds preferring Farrell, closely followed by Brosnan (20 per cent).

But nearly a third (30 per cent) of those aged 55 and over voted Wogan as the coolest Irish celebrity on the list.