Oliver pens a side-splitting memoir
Oliver pictured plotting another big business move. He forged a successful career as an entrepreneur in his adopted home of Castlebar.
Popular businessman Oliver Kelleher has launched his hugely entertaining memoir.
is the fascinating and side-spitting life story of the colourful Leitrim native who made his home in Castlebar.
“It took me two months to write it. I had it all in my head. Once I started it I couldn’t stop,” Oliver told the .
The book details his early life in Leitrim, his beginnings in the world of business, and his many adventures on his treks around the globe. Oliver's many travels have taken him on a quest to find Castro and a brief stint as an Australian celebrity!
The arresting title of the book and its eye-catching cover has a hilarious backstory.
“About 25 years ago I was on with Michael Commins on Midwest and I said to him, ‘One thing you don’t ask me because it’s like a red rag to a bull is how I did in my Leaving Cert.’ Of course, that was the very first thing he asked me!
“I did the Leaving Cert in 1966 and that September I was down digging a drain at home in Leitrim. There was water in my wellingtons, blisters on my hands and my back was killing me. I saw my father up on top of the hill and he had a brown envelope and he let a roar out that my Leaving Cert results had arrived. I asked him, ‘How did I do?’ His response was: 'Stay in the Drain!'"
Michael launched the book for Oliver in Johnny McHale’s pub in Castlebar on Thursday night.
Oliver tells of his accident-prone youth and there some mishaps in later life with Oliver delivering the immortal line in his book – “I thought most of my troubles were over until I got run over by a squad car….”
While his exam results might not have been stellar that did not deter Oliver from forging a hugely successful business career.
He learned valuable lessons when he began working for Pat Quinn, the Quinnsworth founder in Dublin.
“When I was 21 I was driving a Rolls Royce for Pat,” said Oliver who caused something of a stir when he brought the motor home to Leitrim.
“My car broke down before Christmas and Quinn told me to take the Rolls Royce. I went down to Mohill and drove around the place with my elbow out the window. A fella up the town said – 'Would you look at Kelleher? He’s two years working in Quinnsworth and he’s already driving a Rolls Royce!'"
It was Oliver’s late wife Mary convinced him to make the move to Mayo and Oliver set up home in Castlebar in 1976.
“I married a Mayo woman and she wouldn’t move to 50 acres in Leitrim so I had to move to half an acre in Mayo! I left a swamp in Leitrim and ended up buying a house in the middle of a swamp in Castlebar,” he joked.
Something of a gourmand, Oliver offers an entertaining insight into ‘my problems with drink, diet and weight’.
“I went into the doctor one time and he threw me up on the scales. I saw the numbers going up like they were a speeding Ferrari. The scales ended up at 18.5 stone. The doctor asked: “What was the heaviest you were?’ I told him I was 20 stone one time. Then he asked: ‘What was the lightest you were?’ Well, I told him I was seven pounds and 12 ounces when I came into this world!”
The straight-shooting entrepreneur has fashioned a book that encapsulates his gregarious character and lust for life.
is available at www.okcastlebar.ie and in local bookshops.
