Cathal O'Shannon (TV presenter)

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Cathal O'Shannon
Residence	Dublin
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Former TV presenter and journalist

Cathal O'Shannon (born 1928)^[1] is an Irish television presenter and journalist. He is a former journalist with The Irish Times newspaper and a former TV reporter and presenter for Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ).^[2] He probably best-known for presenting documentaries on Irish history, produced mainly for Irish TV viewers and broadcast by RTÉ. On 12 January 2007, after producing his most recent documentary, he stated that he has now fully retired.^[1]

[edit] Early life and private life

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Cathal O'Shannon grew up in Dublin. He joined the RAF near the end of the Second World War,^[3] when he was aged sixteen.^[4] He was stationed in Burma^[2] — but saw little action. His wife 'Patsy' died in 2006. They had been married for over 50 years.

[edit] Media career

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Cathal O' Shannon first became a journalist with The Irish Times in 1947. Later he joined RTÉ. In 1972 O' Shannon recorded one of his best remembered interviews - interviewing Muhammad Ali, the famous boxer, for Irish television.

In January 2007, his documentary 'Hidden History: Ireland's Nazis' was broadcast by RTÉ as a two-part series. The series explored how the Republic of Ireland gave safe haven to a small number of former Nazis and Nazi collaborators after the War had ended^[3] — probably the best known of whom was Otto Skorzeny, who lived for a period in County Kildare.