Sir, – I was saddened to learn of the death of the former journalist, broadcaster, sportsman and politician Ted Nealon. Stephen Collins (Home News, January 29th) summed up this exceptional man's life well.
I was a trainee researcher with Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) in the late 1960s. In those pre-Google days it was often difficult to search for information, necessitating long, laborious hours perusing reference books and musty papers in the National Library. Early on I was advised that Ted was “the man to go to” if there was an urgent question that couldn’t be answered or needed to be verified.
He was always most helpful and agreeable, with an encyclopedic knowledge of Irish politics (and of many other subjects). It was not surprising that he eventually won a Dáil seat and was appointed a government minister by Garret Fitzgerald – the country could not afford to waste such a valuable fund of knowledge! Nealon's Guide to the Dáil and Seanad was, of course, legendary and a must-read for political anoraks; but he also wrote Tales from the Dáil Bar, an entertaining collection of anecdotes. Contained within it is the story of the lifeboat man who, in 1985, rescued the leader of the opposition, Charles Haughey, when his yacht sank off Mizen Head. The young man then asked the taoiseach for a State funeral because he reckoned his father would kill him when he found out he had rescued Haughey.
Ted Nealon will be missed. Ní fheicfimid a leithéid arís. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O’BYRNE,
Mount Argus Court,
Harold’s Cross,
Dublin 6W.