Struck gold after taking on Troubles

PERCHED on a high stool in a row of four, he was the skinny, blonde joker at the end of the line alongside Jeremy Beadle, Sarah Kennedy and Matthew Kelly in the hugely popular 80s TV entertainment show "Game For A Laugh", which saw the hosts sign off each episode with the catch phrase, "Watching us... watching you... watching us... watching you."

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However the Saturday night prank show, which attracted more than 15 million viewers, was a major career departure for Kelly, who had been a serious political journalist and radio broadcaster for The Irish Times and Radio 4 and had reported on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Game For A Laugh made the viewers and studio audience the stars and it led to Kelly hosting day-time quiz show "Going For Gold", which had a student cult following and ran for 10 series from 1987 to 1996. He was even made honorary president of one student union.