fate stepped in. In the afterglow of Prime Time, she had been auditioning unconsciously in front of people who were to shape her destiny. “ Some nights the Prime Time team and guests, would have a few drinks in the Green Room after the show and chatting and when I loosened up, I’d start asking people personal questions and details of their lives. Some of my friends became my bosses and said what about this other side of you that nobody sees outside of the Green Room. Saturday night with Miriam was featherweight television, when it began. The set was safe. The guests were safe. It was too brightly lit. It was too innocuous. In spite of the pundits, the show was an instant success with its audience and Miriam had arrrrived in showbiz. More recently her “Sunday Morning with Miriam” radio show has won her another substantial audience and when she sat in for John Murray for a couple of weeks, she instinctively hit the right note and sounded totally relaxed. Miriam famously has eight children, four boys and four girls, none of whom are showing any interest in following in the footsteps of mother. All they worry about is whether Miriam is tipsy enough to want to sing or not. “We were in a pub in Dingle and I heard the kids say “Oh no, Mom is going to sing! They have zero interest in my career. Funny things happen when I bring my eight ear old out with me. He can’t get his head around people talking to me. He’ll ask ‘how do you know that man Mom and of course I don’t.” Back at home, mother love flows from Miriam to both her family and the domestic environment they inhabit. She has the admiration of a lot of women in the way that she manages to juggle her working career and her domestic life in such balanced fashion. Being without ego is a good place to start from and Miriam’s lack of ego is a breath of fresh air. “When I’m home I do all the cooking, I clean the bathrooms…in fact I’m pretty good at cleaning bathrooms.” Several years ago, Miriam’s younger sister Anne died. It was heartbreaking for Miriam and she has divided her life into two segment, before Anne died and after Anne died. The loss of her sister still weighs heavily on her, to the point that she is going to try and remain stress-free as best she can. “I don’t take myself so seriously anymore. As long as you have your health and your family, everything is okay and I appreciate my life, every day. Miriam’s day entails everything from picking up the kids from sports to ballyragging Eamonn Gilmore on Prime Time, to preparing her briefs for her Sunday morning show. This kind of schedule could drive a saint to distraction, but apart from job satisfaction, the warmth of her own home is what pleases the tall, blonde Amazon of current affairs, the most. “I feel very happy at home, watching television and drinking a glass of red wine.”
Page 10 Senior Times May/June 2014
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