Some of us of "a certain age" can remember Sean O Ceallachain giving us the results of Gaelic football and hurling matches from all over the country back in the 1940s and '50s. He was followed immediately on his death by his son Sean Og and there are very few in this country now who do not recognise the phrase "Seo agaibh anois priomh toraidh and lae inniu".
Sean Sean started his GAA results programme in 1930 at a time when the GAA was in dire need of a profile in Irish life. Around that time, the first broadcasts of radio match commentaries were proposed by P S O'Hegarty, the then secretary of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs which controlled what was known as 2RN, later to be Radio Eireann and even later Radio Telefis Eireann. The former GAA correspondent of this newspaper, P D Mehigan, was the standard-bearer at the time.
As the GAA grew in influence throughout the country Sean Sean O Ceallachain started his radio results programme on Sunday evening and he was followed by Sean Og.
This programme became required listening for anyone interested in Gaelic games and Sean Og has kept the ball rolling ever since with his unique voice and presentation.
Not even the evil (for some of us at least) influence of television has budged Sean Og from his Sunday night slot. Nor will it. Nor should it. Far from being overtaken by new technology, his results programme now goes on the internet to North America, Canada, Mexico, Australia, parts of Asia and most of Europe.
Happily Sean Og (no longer of that vintage by the way) is as vibrant as ever and the publication of a collection of essays a week or so ago confirms this.
He is a man of many parts. A player of the top rank with St Vincent's and Eoghan Ruadh (an odd mixture for those who know Dublin GAA), he played football and hurling for Dublin, refereed at the top level including an All-Ireland final, was the first television commentator on All-Ireland finals in football and hurling in 1961 and was a writer on the game with the lamented Evening Press until its closure in 1995.
He was also a fine amateur actor and has written a number of radio plays in Irish and English and, he says, isn't finished yet in any of the fields in which he has made a mark.
His recently published book (his third) is called Tall Tales and Banter and is an affectionate and highly amusing look back on the people and places he has been. Mind you, some of the tales are a little too tall although many of them have become the stuff of legend.
Chief among them is the story about his colleague, Jimmy Magee (Ireland's resident memory man), and a hilarious visit to a restaurant in Mexico owned by man called Hiawatha. Visitors were informed that Hiawatha was able to answer all questions on the production of a $5 bill with the proviso that, should Hiawatha fail to answer the question the $5 would be returned and a prize of a further $5 be handed over.
Magee, always a man for a challenge and a laugh, approached Mr Hiawatha. He greeted the native American with a salute and a courteous "How" and posed the question "Who won the All-Ireland hurling final of 1947". He received the answer immediately - "Kilkenny" - from the feathered headdress. He surrendered his $5 with less than good grace.
Several years later Jimmy was back in Mexico and revisited the restaurant where Mr Hiawatha was still ensconced. Jimmy strode up to him and held up his hand whereupon Hiawatha replied "Terry Leahy with a point in the last minute".
I find it hard to believe, but neither Magee nor O Ceallachain will deny the story.
Sean Og's book is full of similar anecdotes and is a treasury of GAA lore. The author has earned the respect of all in the GAA for his 50 years in Irish broadcasting and claims to be the longest-serving broadcaster in Ireland, a record which he completes this year.
Sean Og is not averse to telling a story against himself. Like many other journalists before him, he has received telephone messages from public houses late at night seeking an answer to a question which is the subject of a bet. On one occasion in the RTE Sports Department a call came through and the question was where and when had Manchester United won the European Cup.
By a coincidence Sean always had a soft spot for United and answered "Wembley definitely, either 1967 or '68" The caller was less than pleased apparently but inquired "Is that Sean Og O Ceallachain?" He answered in the affirmative. There was a pause and then the caller said: "How the f*** would you know" and the line went dead.
I am personally pleased that he included an anecdote about Mick Holden, the Dublin corner back who won an All-Ireland medal in the controversial 1983 final against Galway, because Mick told me this tale himself. On the run-up to the game Dublin manager Kevin Heffernan was leaving nothing to chance. At the Saturday training run before the match Heffo asked the players to approach him personally if any of them had trouble sleeping the night before the match and that a sleeping tablet would be made available without any big fuss.
To Heffo's amazement the only player to approach him was Mick Holden. Anybody who knows Mick will know that he is the most laid-back man you could meet.
Heffernan was intrigued. "Mick," he said, "you are the last man I would have thought would have a problem in this area. Mick grinned and said: "Ah no Heffo. It's not for me. It's for me mother. She has terrible problems sleeping on the night before a big match".
Tall Tales and Banter by Sean Og O Ceallachain. Costar Associates Ltd, £9.95.