'˜He was a nice and funny man... he'll be missed'

Sir Terry Wogan at Children in Need on 2011 with, from left, Tess Daly, Alesha Dixon and Fearne Cotton

Scores of fans took to The News Facebook page to share their memories of him.

Sonja Keenan said she met him in Commercial Road in the 1980s.

She said: ‘He was a lovely man. Grew up with his broadcasting, whether it was Radio 2, Eurovision, Blankety Blank or Children in Need. Very sad news.’

Russell Lowley said: ‘Terry – king of the airways, massive loss. Great bloke all round. RIP.’

Jeanne Bartram said: ‘Terry used to make me laugh and really cheer me up so it always seemed his programme ended far too soon.

‘No other radio programme had that effect on me of feeling sad that it was over for another day.’

Joy Curtis said: ‘So sad. He was such a nice and funny man.

‘He will be sadly missed.

‘RIP Sir Terry, make all the angels laugh as you made us all laugh.’

Alison Reijman said she met Sir Terry at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard when he visited to broadcast Wake Up To Wogan.

She said: ‘It was a joyous occasion. The great man was in top form and a pleasure to work with.

‘The show started at the top of Semaphore Tower in the naval base, after which he paid a visit to the Royal Naval Museum, then to the Mary Rose Ship Hall and then he had breakfast in the captain’s cabin on board HMS Victory.

‘It was his birthday the following day so we presented him with a card signed by everybody in the yard and a personalised Royal Navy sweatshirt.’

BBC Radio Solent tweeted: ‘We’re very sad to hear of Sir Terry Wogan’s passing.’

The veteran broadcaster had millions of fans drawn to his velvety voice, humour and kind heart.

He is best remembered as the TV presenter of Children in Need, Wogan, Eurovision and Blankety Blank as well as for his work on the BBC’s Radio 2.

Sir Terry – who was granted joint British and Irish citizenship in 2005 – saw his audience pass the eight million mark in 2005.

On hearing the news, he joked: ‘Hang on, there’s 60 million people in the country – what are the other 52 million listening to?’

In 1997 he was awarded an honorary OBE and was knighted in 2005.

He was married with two sons and a daughter.