John Bowman (born 28 July 1942) is an Irish historian and a long-standing broadcaster and presenter of current affairs and political programmes with

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

. He chaired the audience-participation political programme '' Questions and Answers'' on

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

for 21 years. He is the father of comedian and journalist Abie Philbin Bowman and the broadcaster and journalist Jonathan Philbin Bowman.

Life

Bowman was brought up in

Ballsbridge Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely situated north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the ...

in south

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. His father worked for

Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Ireland, Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Irelan ...

(later

CIÉ , or CIÉ, is a statutory corporation of Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for most public transport within the Republic of Ireland and jointly with its Northern Ireland counterpart, the Northern Ireland Transport Hold ...

) and his mother was a nurse, originally from

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...

. Bowman was educated at

Belvedere College Belvedere College Society of Jesus, S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a fee-paying voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. Formally established in 1832 at Hardwicke Street in north inner city Dublin, the school was ...

and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

where he received a bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1970 and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in political science in 1980. He joined Radio Éireann in 1962, later becoming the presenter and commentator on numerous current affairs programmes, as well as an analyst of political developments and interviewer of politicians on radio and later on television. In the 1980s, he presented the current affairs programme ''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' was an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced be ...

'', the precursor to ''

Prime Time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

''. Bowman has won two Jacob's Awards for his radio broadcasting, in 2016 and 2013 the latter for his presentation of the current affairs programme, ''Day by Day''. In April 2008, he commented on RTÉ television coverage of the state funeral of

Patrick Hillery Patrick John Hillery (; 2 May 1923 – 12 April 2008) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the sixth president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the European Commission and Europea ...

, a former

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

. Bowman chaired the audience-participation political programme '' Questions and Answers'' on

television for 21 years, the final edition airing on 29 June 2009. He is the presenter of
Bowman: Sunday: 8.30
' (previously ''Bowman Saturday'') on radio, a weekly compilation of material from broadcasting archives at home and abroad. In May 2011, he fronted RTÉ television coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland. Bowman wrote a history of RTÉ Television called ''Window and Mirror. RTÉ Television: 1961-2011''. It was launched by

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 201 ...

at the National Museum in Dublin on 23 November 2011. In January 2019 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Cork.

Activism

Bowman served a two-year term as president of The Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations from 1991 and of Comhar, an environmental pressure group, from 1999 until 200

Personal life

He is married to psychiatrist Eimer Philbin Bowman and they have had four children: Jonathan, Emma, Abie and Daniel. His eldest son Jonathan Philbin Bowman, a journalist, television and radio presenter, died in an accident in March 2000. His daughter Emma Philbin Bowman works in Dublin as a psychotherapist. His middle son Abie Philbin Bowman is a columnist for The Dubliner magazine and a stand-up comedian, while in 2005 his youngest son Daniel initiated ''Be Not Afraid''; a charity wristband campaign which raised over €80,000 in aid of ''Turning the Tide of Suicide'' and the Irish

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

and later set up a

youth marketing In the marketing and advertising industry, youth marketing consists of activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 11 to 35. More specifically, there is teen marketing, targeting people age 11 to 17; college mark ...

firm, Spark.http://www.sparkhq.ie

Publications

* ''De Valera and the Ulster question, 1917-1973'' (1983) – , – won the

Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize was created in 1977, in memory of Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British Ambassador to Ireland, who was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provi ...

* ''Portraits: Belvedere College, Dublin, 1832-1982'' (1982) – * ''Jonathan: Jonathan Philbin Bowman – memories, reflections, tributes'' (2002) – * ''The Election Book, Reminiscences of an on-the-run Psephologist'' (2007) –

References

External links

Bowman Saturday

Bowman: Sunday: 8.30

Questions and Answers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, John 1942 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish agnostics 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians Jacob's Award winners People from Ballsbridge Psephologists RTÉ newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio 1 presenters Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize recipients People educated at Belvedere College Writers from County Dublin Broadcasters from County Dublin