Terry Keane - 'The Queen of Gossip'
She's back!
I have just received news that the ledgend that is Terry Keane is to return to journalism after a long hiatus. She will join Social & Personal magazine exclusively, as their Travel Correspondent and Restaurant Critic.
For those of you who don't know who Terry is - for shame!
Terry Keane was the original gossip columnist many years ago, writing for the Sunday Independent. I remember avidly reading her column from the young age of 12, facinated by this golden circle of Irish society. Despite the fact that I had little or no idea of who these fabulous people were, I still looked forward to absorbing her weekly slate, The Keane Edge.
Terry never really held back when it came to dishing the dirt, and her cutting edge remarks often ruffled the feathers of the upper echelons of society. Towards her latter years in the SIndo, she took a step back and had a team of snoops infiltrating the party network, digging the dirt for her. I recently met one of her former contributors who regaled me with a few juicy stories and spoke of her time there with much fondness.
Personally, I credit Terry Keane for inspiring me to go into journalism, and in particular to be a social diarist. While I have never written in the oft scathing style favoured by her, I do love it and believe it to be one of the best jobs in the world.
I could ramble on about this great dame, and believe me there is much to write about, but lest to say Terry Keane has had many pretenders, many indeed worthy, but most poor substitutes.