Liam Ó Murchú

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Liam Ó Murchú
Born	1929 Cork, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Education	Literature at University College Cork
Occupation	Writer and broadcaster

Liam Ó Murchú (born 1929) is a former Irish television broadcaster, who worked with the national station Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). He is perhaps best known for coining the Irish language phrase "Bualadh Bos" which means to clap.

Liam Ó Murchú was born in Blarney Street Cork in 1929. He was educated in the nearby Christian Brothers school and won a scholarship to secondary school in the North Mon. He subsequently attended University College Cork where he studied literature. Ó Murchú left UCC after a year to become a clerical officer. He later turned to writing, and his works were published in the United States, Britain and at home.It was in these early writings that he first coined the phrase "bualadh bos". Ó Murchú was later appointed law adviser to the Minister for Health, Seán MacEntee and later Charles Haughey. At the February 1982 general election he stood for election to Dáil Éireann in the Cork North Central constituency, but polled considerably less than expected with about 4.5% of the vote, losing his deposit.^[1]

He joined RTÉ in 1964 in the role of Editor of Irish language programmes and later went on to become Assistant Controller of Programmes and Assistant Director General. He also turned his hand to broadcasting, presenting such shows as Trom agus Éadrom, for which he won a Jacob's Award in 1976, and Up for the Final. He was renowned for using the Irish language phrase "Bualadh Bos" on this show when asking the audience to clap.

Ó Murchú left RTÉ in 1988 to set up his own production company, however, he returned to the small screen on a number of occasions. In 2002 he received an honorary degree from University College Cork. He writes an article every month for the weekly magazine Ireland's Own.

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