In one fell swoop Liam O Murchu celebrates the publication of not one, not two but three books. Friends and family meet to applaud the simultaneous release of Hindsights from Gill & Macmillan and Black Cat's Tales from The Collins Press. The coming together of two publishers is "unprecedented", according to Michael Gill. But there's even more.
The Cork man is now going global, practically. As more converge on Buswell's Hotel in Dublin to hear about the broadcaster's prowess, he whispers that his best-selling autobiographical novel of last year, Black Cat in the Window, is to be published by Methuen in London and New York.
Tim Pat Coogan notes O Murchu's "native Corkonian courtliness" and how he managed to convince Dubliners "that Cork people are not essentially threatening". Micheal Martin TD, the Minister for Health and Children, says the stories in Black Cat's Tales "evoke many memories of my own childhood", his most favourite being holiday train trips to Youghal where egg and tomato sandwiches were central to the whole experience.
Others spotted at the launch are broadcaster Eamon de Buitlear and his wife Lailli, sculpting couple Chris Ryan and his wife Elizabeth Keenan-Ryan; Joe Barry, former director general of RTE and a host of Liam O Murchu and his wife, Mairead's family - such as daughters Veronica O'Reilly (mother of five sons); Noelle Gallagher, and Dr Eadaoin Lysaght, whose seven-week-old son Patrick is the youngest attendee. The oldest is possibly Sean O Casaide, father of the musical dynasty, who looks hale and hearty at 93 years.