The Craic with Seán Bán Breathnach
I am all excited as I am speaking to the person who invented ‘the craic’! Broadcaster Seán Bán Breathnach is credited with popularising the word and bringing it back into everyday use thanks to his catchphrase ‘Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn’ - which opened his popular Irish language chat show SBB ina Shuí, broadcast on RTÉ from 1976 to 1982.
" It is only a few years ago that someone rang me and told me I was responsible for the ‘craic’. Sure we used it all the time!”
The original SBB in a Shuí - a “simple mix of pop, rock and traditional music” took off in the seventies and lasted for eight years. Not only did he present the show unscripted, it also brought out the daredevil in him. He lay on a bed of nails holding a plank, while a motorcyclist drove over him and he motorcycled through a ring of fire, having never been on a bike before. His one regret was missing out on an opportunity to introduce the country to The Boomtown Rats.
“I was young and mad,” he says, “and had a few narrow escapes! I had a hole in my back for a long time! My one regret was the Boomtown Rats. We went to see them and didn’t think they were good enough! Next thing they were on the Late Late with Gaybo. I am not mad about them even now!”
Craicing Selfie with Seán Bán Breathnach
The native Irish speaker was encouraged back from London, where he was working as a DJ, for his first live and unscripted pop radio show in 1969 at the age of 20. “Radio is my first love,” he says, “and always will be.” Those who know Seán will not be surprised to learn he played ‘Je T’aime’ on the national airwaves at a time when it was banned in many countries.
For those too young to go back that far, Seán is best known for his sports broadcasting career, which has spanned the decades. He is a radio na gaeltachta stalwart who has brought sporting triumphs and failures into every home in Ireland. His raw emotion while commentating as Katie Taylor was crowned Olympic champion went viral.
“Sport is my passion,” he explains, “but I wouldn’t listen back to the Katie Taylor piece now. I don’t know why, did people really think I put it on? I have always had a passion for sport and I’d nearly do the same for a 5-a-side underage game at my own club! I’d probably be just as excited.”
While covering a different boxing event, he narrowly avoided a run in with outspoken world middleweight champion, Chris Eubank. Chris’ reign would come to an end at the hands of Irish boxer Steve Collins, but not until Collins gave a speech at a press conference ‘as gaeilge’, scripted by Seán Ban Breathnach. Eubank was highly offended at the use of the native tongue and promptly walked out.
“Steve asked me to write it for him,” explains Seán, “but Eubank felt he was being insulted by the language. I ended up in a lift with Eubank on the way down to the foyer! I did explain to him about the language, how it came about and how old it is and I’d like to think he felt a bit better about it all. It was a great scoop!”
Among his many highlights is his coverage of the Michelle Smith saga during the Atlanta Olympic games. Ireland’s most successful Olympian, the swimmer became a triple gold medallist before she was embroiled in a doping scandal. The allegations were never proven, however she received a ban for tampering with a urine sample, ending her career.
“I still believe to this day she is not guilty, she was never proven guilty and she kept her medals,” he says. “Jimmy McGee backs me up on this one. The Americans were lining up for her at the press conference and I just broke through, grabbed the mic, and spoke to her in Irish.”
Not one to miss an opportunity, he also sent home a fine piece of broadcasting when he recorded the announcements made at the Atlanta underground – known as Martha. “I thought it was so funny,” he says, “I deliberately went back and got it”.
‘You have reached Atlanta North Station. Thank you for riding Martha’.
