Paddy Feeny

Biography

After working in theatre, Feeny's broadcasting career began at the age of 26, when he began working for the BBC radio Home Service (Midlands) in Birmingham. He moved to the World Service in the late 1950s, and began presenting Saturday Special in 1959.

The Saturday Special feature began with a duration of an hour during the summer months. Slowly its scope expanded, and with football playing an ever bigger role in British life, it became possible to have long editions in winter months also. The program would run for 2+ hours, sometimes as long as 3 hours 15 minutes, with only two 15-minute breaks for the news on the hour.

The programmes closest to his heart drew attention to humanitarian movements and initiatives. In this capacity, and when covering the Olympic and Commonwealth Games he travelled widely and met and related to people in all capacities of life. One of his programmes led to a book he wrote, The Fight Against Leprosy. He presented other BBC programmes, including Write On..., a selection of reader's letters, and was one of the presenters of Top of the Form on BBC radio and television. It is for the latter that he is probably best known, and for the BBC Science contest Young Scientists of the Year.

Later years

Feeny retired not long after the death of his wife Patricia Brewer in 1994, and he presented his last edition of Sportsworld in June 1995. He is a supporter of Liverpool Football Club, but the sport nearest to his heart remains cricket.

Family

He has two daughters, Cathy Feeny and Sarah Welch, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He married his second wife Dee in April 2003.