Eugene Lambert and his family are famous puppeteers based in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. The Lambert family were making children’s puppet programmes for RTÉ from the early days – and so Eugene Lambert was a natural choice for RTÉ when they were planning a new children’s TV series in 1968. The original idea was for a children’s programme that would travel the country, so some in RTÉ management thought that a set of bicycles would be a good idea!

Thankfully someone in RTÉ came up with the idea of a magical wagon so the bicycle idea was never used. If the original concept was a show travelling around the country, then by 1970 (when I started watching Wanderly Wagon) this idea had vanished and instead the three travellers journeyed through a fantasy world rescuing princesses and generally doing good – almost like a non frightening version of Dr. Who!

Money was always scarce for Wanderly Wagon. Maureen Simpson, who is WW writer Carolyn Swift’s daughter says:
“I am not sure exactly when RTÉ wiped the tapes – mostly I think they did it fairly shortly after transmission for ‘economic reasons’. I know that programmes were made on the tightest budget – everything, down the last penny, had to be questioned- things like electronic edits and outside broadcast filming (i.e. not recorded in studio), were major triumphs when the money people agreed! I really remember Mum getting excited when they agreed to these tiny bits of modern technology – things we take for granted now.”

Wanderly Wagon made extensive use of Chroma Key technology during its run. Sets could then be drawn and the actors superimposed onto the drawing. Bill Goulding left the show in 1974, and to this day remains a respected actor and voice over artist. The handle of Rory still sticks though. Certainly to my generation he will always be Rory even though it’s been over 25 years since he wore that fringed jacket!

During the summer months when it seemed the whole of RTÉ shut down, Eugene Lambert and his family would tour the country with his puppet shows and usually he would appear as O’Brien and bring Judge along too.

Wanderly Wagon stayed on the air until 1982 – no mean feat since RTÉ always seem like to finish any series (except the Late Late) after about three years but this wasn’t the last we heard from the Lamberts. Fortycoats &Co., a spin off from Wanderly Wagon featuring the occasional character Johnny Fortycoats and his flying sweetshop, lasted until 1990.

A Wanderly Wagon DVD is finally available from RTÉ at their online shop here.
Here’s a RealVideo sample of the end titles of Wanderly Wagon and don’t forget to sing along!
(article courtesy of irish-tv.com)

This is the famous Wagon itself. As far as I know it still exists perhaps in the grounds of RTE or out at the Lambert puppet museum in Dublin.  There used to be a great trivia question – “what was the name of the horse in Wanderly Wagon?”, I reckon it was Podge but could well be wrong.

Oh hello boys and girls” Eugene Lambert played the famous O’Brien. He was one of the Wagons main characters. A real good guy, always worried about Sneaky Snake and the state of the world in general. He also had a great liking for food and especially sweets. He used to love visits from Fortycoats who of course had the magical flying sweet shop.

Godmother was played by Nora O’Mahony. Of course she was the real boss and the sensible one. It was up to her to keep the wagon in order and put O’Brien or anyone else for that matter in their place. But she was also very kind and an absolute mother figure. O’Brien lived for her cooking.

Now here’s my favourite character. The famous and infamous Judge. he was a dog whose wisdom was way greater than his years. A real friendly old pooch who used to advise O’Brien on issues of the day. Judge is still around you know. He is now the face of safe surfing for the ebay.ie. Judge is characterised by that patch over his eye.

Mr. Crow used to live in the cuckoo clock and would pop out to announce the time. He was opinionated and would usually end up insulting one or more of the Wagon’s crew. If you remember his accent, he was definitely a bit camp. “cukoo cukoo”.

Rory played by Bill Goulding. Goulding was a real thespian amongst the crew and still is. He is also famous as the voice of the “old Mr. Brennan” radio commercials. He was the father figure on board the Wagon. Although he was missing from many series.

Here he is, that dastardly Sssssssneaky Sssssssnake. He was always plotting against the Wanderly’s and scheming against them with the Whirligig Witch. In other words he was a great character.

The Squirrels These little fellas lived in  barrel outside the Wagon. They were really good – never causing any trouble. Their role is a little fuzzy, they never really did much or said much but still they were cute.

Ciarán Mac Mathúna presented “Mo Cheol Thú” for the last time on 27 November 2005. This radio show had been going for 3 decades. As for the theme music -  I remember this beautiful piece of music on Sunday mornings in Clonlisk. We would all be up and polishing our shoes getting ready to go to mass out at the monastery and this would come on RTE radio 1. The theme for Mo Cheol Thú is called “The Lark In The Clear Air”, a traditional Irish air which is performed by Geraldine O’Grady.  Mo Cheol Thú has gone the way of the Gay Byrne Hour and The Frankie Byrne show (Jacobs hour), Harbour Hotel etc etc – It has been beaten by the ravages of time. The music will always bring me back to my childhood and those Sunday mornings in a kitchen in the early 1970’s.

Listen to a clip of his last show from 2005 here
See RTE page on this show here. 

Throughout my life, Gay Byrne was always there in some form or another. I remember the theme tune to his classic morning radio show. It reminds me of being sick and being kept off school and in bed. As a child it signalled comfort, it meant stay in bed, Mom is doing the house work and the radio is on to Ireland’s only radio station.
As an adult it meant that I was in good hands for the next couple of hours and that I would be entertained and interested.

And going right back to those childhood days of mine, here’s a clip of Gay presenting the radio show from 21 January 1977. That’s well over 30 years ago now. In 1977 we moved house around Easter time. I remember being around 10 or 11 and the year being pretty much dominated by that event and all the excitement and indeed upset that it brought. I remember exploring my new surrounds in the countryside, watching my sisters study for exams in the fields below our house and I seem to remember loads of sunshine. And in the mornings, if Dad wasn’t listening to Terry Wogan on a faint signal from across the water, this is what would have rang out in our house. Listen here

From RTE’s archive site – the following . . .
The hugely popular ‘Gay Byrne Show’ came to an end in December 1998. While presenting one of his last shows, Gay Byrne was surprised in studio by Mike Murphy who hosted a tribute from family, friends and colleagues in Studio One in the Radio Centre. Contributions came from musicians, celebrities and politicians, including from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the President, who all praised a unique broadcaster who had pioneered the concept of talk radio in Ireland.
The final programme of ‘The Gay Byrne Show’ was broadcast from outside Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street in Dublin’s city centre on Christmas Eve, 1998.

View an RTÉ News report on tribute to Gay Byrne here and listen to Mike Murphy interrupting Gay Byrne during his tribute show here.