Wogan berates the BBC. Again.

In the tent/pissing metaphor, Terry Wogan is one of those guys who you might consider better off having inside the tent pissing out, rather than being outside pissing in, only to discover that he's actually still pissing in from inside.

Now that Michael Parkinson has retired, Wogan has the field of 'grumpy old sod undermining everyone he works with' to himself, and marks his 70th birthday by moaning about the BBC which gives him a job in the BBC's Radio Times magazine. Standards, it seems, are slipping:

"When I sent my first tape to the head of gramophone programmes at the BBC, I had made the fatal mistake of forgetting to rewind it to the start," he said.

"Yet that gentleman took the time to wind it all the way back, and once he'd listened to it, things went from there," Wogan added.

"I can tell you, if I was a young chap coming over from Ireland today, they probably wouldn't even listen to my tape, let alone rewind it.

"Somehow, that old-fashioned thoroughness and commitment have disappeared. I suppose no one has the time for it anymore."

So: the most important tape he ever sent off in his career, and he 'forgot' to rewind it - and yet Wogan complains nobody else has any old-fashioned thoroughness.

You have to enjoy his implication, though, that if the bloke hadn't taken the time to wind the tape back, there'd have been forever a deep hole at the heart of BBC schedules, rather than someone else equally able having got their chance instead.

He also takes the chance to bang on about Eurovision:

Wogan said he did not want to front Eurovision any more following the increase in political voting which saw Russia win in Serbia this year after gaining the votes of former Soviet states.

"I was considering giving up before Belgrade and now I have to say I'm very doubtful about ever wanting to do Eurovision again," he added. "I've had so much fun, but I think it's time for someone else to take over."

Yes, Terry. You're absolutely right here. Let's hope you're not expecting to see petitions and demands in parliament for you to keep the job.