Sean Moncrieff

Sean Moncrieff has presented the afternoon show on Newstalk since May 2004. He was born in London to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. When he was twelve, his family moved to Ballinasloe, County Galway. After school he studied journalism in Dublin and later on did a degree in English and Philosophy in University College Dublin.

Sean has a wealth of experience in the media. He has devised and presented many hit television programmes: The End, Good Grief Moncrieff, Black Box and Don’t Feed The Gondolas, which was nominated for an IFTA Award. In the UK, Sean has worked for the television trade magazine Broadcast, a researcher for Channel 4 and as a scriptwriter and presenter for the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Sean has presented The Big 40, a celebration of forty years of Irish television, Ireland Undercover, HQ, The Holiday Quiz and is the voice of The Restaurant. He is much in demand as a voice-over artist and writes a weekly column for The Examiner newspaper.

His first novel, Dublin, was published in May 2001 by Doubleday and reached the bestseller lists in Ireland. A non-fiction book, Stark Raving Rulers: twenty minor despots of the twenty-first century, was published in October 2004, followed by God, A Users’ Guide in 2006. A second novel, The History of Things, was published in September 2007.

Q&A

What is the greatest invention of the last 100 years?
I am contractually obliged to answer…ah, you know, the thing noise comes out of…Radio!

What’s the best advice you have ever heard?
When Rupurt Murdoch put me on his knee in a completely non-threatening way and said ‘Sean, me old cobber, whenever you have some spare cash, invest it in radio’. I ignored this advice, thinking he was just chatting me up. I get that a lot.

What has been your worst moment on air to date?
When the management at Newstalk burst into the studio and said: ‘Sean, no one is listening. You are boring and irrelevant. Get out.’ OK, that hasn’t happened. Yet.

What would you call your autobiography?
I was thinking of ‘Time Added On’, to reflect my decades-long involvement with Rugby.

Which 3 guests would you invite to a dinner party (from past or present)?
Anyone prepared to utter the words “Fancy dinner? I’m paying’.

What 3 words sum up your radio programme?
Better than Dessie.