Charlie Bird facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charlie Bird
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Charles Bird in 2007
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| Born |
Charles Brown Bird
9 September 1949 Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland
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| Died | 11 March 2024 (aged 74) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Education | Sandymount High School |
| Occupation | Journalist |
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Notable credit(s)
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RTÉ News |
| Spouse(s) |
Mary O'Connor
(m. 1974; div. 1998)Claire Mould
(m. 2016) |
| Children | 2 |
Charles Brown Bird (born 9 September 1949 – died 11 March 2024) was a famous Irish journalist and TV presenter. He worked for RTÉ News for many years, first as their Chief News Correspondent and later as their Washington Correspondent. He retired from RTÉ in 2012.
Contents
Early Life and Interests
Charlie Bird was born in Sandymount, Dublin, on 9 September 1949. He went to school at Sandymount High School. When he was younger, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was interested in politics.
A Career in Journalism
Reporting on Big Stories (1990s)
In the 1990s, Charlie Bird was a very important journalist for RTÉ. He often reported on the peace process in Ireland, which was a big story at the time. He also travelled to many different countries to cover major international events. For example, he reported from the Gulf War and was in Syria when a writer named Brian Keenan was released in 1990. He also covered the start of the Somali Civil War and the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
In 1998, Charlie Bird and his colleague George Lee won "Journalist of the Year". They won this award for uncovering a big story about a bank called National Irish Bank.
Major Events and Challenges (2000s)
In the early 2000s, Charlie Bird continued to report on huge global events for RTÉ News. He covered the September 11 attacks in New York and the terrible 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
In 2002, he received a special award called an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin.
In 2006, while reporting on protests in Dublin, Charlie Bird was injured. He spoke about what happened on the news later that evening. In 2008, a person admitted to causing trouble and hurting him.
He also presented a popular TV series called Charlie Bird Explores between 2006 and 2008. In these shows, he travelled to amazing places like the Amazon, the Ganges river, and the Arctic.
In 2008, Charlie Bird became the Washington correspondent for RTÉ News. This meant he moved to the United States to report on American news.
Returning Home and Retirement (2010s)
In January 2010, Charlie Bird reported from the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Later that month, a two-part documentary about his first year in the United States was shown on RTÉ One. In the documentary, he talked about how challenging it was to move to Washington DC. At the end of the second show, he announced he would be leaving his job in Washington.
Charlie Bird returned to Ireland in June 2010 to become Chief News Correspondent for RTÉ again. He retired from RTÉ on 26 August 2012. His last broadcast was presenting The Marian Finucane Show on RTÉ Radio 1.
After retiring from RTÉ, he also presented Tonight with Vincent Browne on TV3 for a short time in 2016. In the same year, he published a book called A Day in May. Parts of this book were later used in a play with the same name in 2018.
Personal Life
Charlie Bird was married twice. In 1974, he married Mary O'Connor, and they had two daughters. They later divorced. In 2016, he married Claire Mould.
Illness and Legacy
On 27 October 2021, Charlie Bird shared that he had been diagnosed with Motor neurone disease, a condition that affects the voice and movement. After this, he started a special campaign called "Climb For Charlie". This campaign encouraged him and other famous people to climb Croagh Patrick to raise awareness and money for motor neurone disease and other charities. It became a huge success and showed how much people cared about him.
Charlie Bird passed away on 11 March 2024, at the age of 74. He is remembered as a brave and dedicated journalist who brought many important stories to the people of Ireland.
Images for kids
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Charles Bird in 2007
