Blankety Blank - Wogan's Wand

Wogan's Wand

When he was host, Terry Wogan had an unusual stick-like microphone. It was modelled on the Sony ECM-51, Gene Rayburn's microphone from the 1973–1982 American version but was, in fact, an ECM-50 mounted on a car radio aerial. He always referred to it as "Wogan's Wand". On one memorable occasion, Kenny Everett bent it in half (with Wogan, obviously not expecting this, carrying on valiantly through the show with the wand at a 45-degree angle). This led to a running gag on Everett's subsequent appearances on the show, when he would come up with new ways of damaging the wand, such as attempting to cut it in half with shears. (This instance at least was visibly planned, as Wogan deliberately bent forward for him to grab it, and when the wand refused to break, Everett quipped "It worked in rehearsals".) In his very first show when he took over from Wogan, Les Dawson broke Wogan's Wand in half across his knee, muttering "Been wanting to do that for years.". Wogan himself destroyed the wand on a Children in Need one-off special in the 2000s.