Matt Tennyson

House

Living Our Best Years with Matt and Michelle

Matt Tennyson and Michelle Human bringing you Updates on Health, Welfare and just plain good living in our senior years.

According to Matt Tennyson
his ‘happy place’ is behind a microphone. Which is probably not a bad thing seeing as how he spends six days of the week behind a microphone.

Matt was born and raised in the village of Gary Owen, County Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. When he
was 13 his family had moved to South Africa where he completed his last two years of schooling.

After finishing is matric he received his call-up papers instructing him to report for compulsory military
training. Shortly after he had completed his basic training he ended up joining the permanent force, becoming a full-time soldier.

“I didn’t understand Afrikaans that well,” says Matt. “I thought I was signing on to go on an officer’s course, and
not signing on to become a full-time member of the Defence Force.”

He would go on to spend eight years as a soldier before deciding that he wanted to do something else with his life.

From an early age Matt had developed a love for reading and writing. He interviewed for a position as a journalist with a well-known newspaper and
was surprised to get the job.
He soon discovered that he disliked the job.“It was all about reporting on news,” says Matt. “I’m not a reporter, I’m more of a story teller.”

He then joined a magazine where he would spend the next three years, going on to become the editor.

Matt then made the decision to become a freelance journalist. He moved to Europe and soon found himself being drawn into conflict journalism. “There were always wars and conflicts going on somewhere. Most avoided going to these places in order to get a story,” says Matt. “So we would get well paid to do it for them.”

For the next three decades Matt would travel from story to story.

Between conflict assignments Matt would often cover other stories. These included major sporting events, travel stories, and interviews with a wide
range of people ranging from politicians to celebrities, musicians to less savoury characters.

“People would always tell me how lucky I was to travel all over the world,” says Matt. “But most of the places I went to were not tourist attractions. Over the years I was shot twice, stabbed once, burnt with napalm, and ended with so much shrapnel in my body that I would set off the metal detectors at airports. I’ve been locked up in 27 countries, deported from 18 and declared a prohibited immigrant in three. Remind me again how lucky I was.”

Matt’s involvement with radio came about by accident. When visiting Ireland he heard that a local radio station was looking for someone to write news for them. “I reported to the studio on a Saturday and at 11.45 learnt, for the first time, that I had been hired to do the show from 12.00 to 15.00. I had no idea what I was doing.”

Matt fell in love with radio and over the years he would work for a number of radio stations. In mid April 2025 he joined Radio Today. Currently he
presents “Living Our Best Years”, also known as LOBY from Monday to Friday between 10.30 and 12.00.
On Monday’s, Thursday’s and Friday’s he is joined by Michelle Human.

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