Such as the fact that he was the under-16 high-jump champion of Dublin. Or that he initially refused to present the current series of You're a Star because he was already busy on Saturday nights, getting down with contestants on Winning Streak. Or that his innocuous little nature programme on Radio 1 has roundly kicked ass among the heavyweights in Montrose by being one of the only shows to increase its listenership in the recent JNLR figures.

He's now drawing in a quarter of a million listeners. And he's presenting one of RTE's most popular TV shows. This makes Derek Mooney a big, old-fashioned success.

Which is very unfortunate for him. Because Mooney hates the limelight. He has no interest in speaking about himself. Dislikes any intrusion into his personal life. Cannot understand why anyone would want to know anything about him.

"I said last year that I wouldn't speak about myself again, " he says. "But this time I mean it. It's because of television.

No-one ever asked me about myself when I was just doing radio."

But whether or not he likes the side-effects, Mooney works well in front of the camera.

Winning Streak suits him down to the ground. He's always been more comfortable dealing with older people, and used to run an old folks' night at his local youth club. But he doesn't think his easy nature with the contestant contributes to the show's popularity. "I think people would watch Winning Streak if a corpse presented it, " he says.

"It's just that type of show."

This viewpoint doesn't prevent him from always carrying around a stash of scratch cards to give to fans who stop him on the street. "The problem is, they always want me to sign it, and I can't do that, " he says. "That would look funny coming out of the bucket on Saturday night."

After spending the last few weeks presenting You're a Star, he'll be straight back to Winning Streak after tonight's final.

He's a loyal person, he says.

And indeed, that's how Eanna Ni Lamhna . . . one of the panellists on Mooney Goes Wild . . .

describes him.

"Very loyal, " she says. "You know where you stand with him, because he never talks about people behind their backs. And he's the most generous person I know. He'll always pay for dinner, or remember birthdays. Never pinching pennies. There's not many you can say that about."

Ni Lamhna also talks about Mooney's talent in the radio studio. "I started out working with him, and he made everything seem so easy, " she says.

"It was only when I worked on other shows that I realised that not everyone was like that."

Radio is his love. Mooney Goes Wild is his passion. He says he has no ultimate ambition. That he is extremely happy with how the radio programme is going at the moment. But, of course, he says, it would be great to expand it.

"I think it could be on every day, and it would work, " he says. "It's general enough at this stage that it's appealing to a much wider audience, to people who know nothing about nature. But I have nothing to do with that. It's Richard Collins and Eanna Ni Lamhna, and more recently Terry Flanagan [regular contributors to the show], they're the people who should take a bow."

Despite his protestations, Mooney produces. Mooney presents. Mooney controls the buttons and the switches, and orchestrates the entire project. But then, this is all Mooney has ever wanted to do.

As a bright-eyed youngster living in Donnybrook, he went to school staring in the direction of the RTE studios. He has a vivid memory of watching the Late Late Toy Show, and thinking how great it would be to be on it. "I never thought it was going to happen. All the kids looked the same and sounded the same, and I just didn't think it would happen to me, " he says.

Nonetheless, he started knocking on doors and being unavoidably persistent. He joined RTE as an unwaged runner at the age of 14. Getting coffee, things like that. When he was 15, he persuaded an already well-established Pat Kenny to spare him a few minutes, and give him advice on succeeding in the business.

Whatever Pat said to him, it wasn't as good as the words of wisdom he got from RTE's acting head of young people's programming, Joe O'Donnell, who he says gave him the best advice of his life. "He said:

'Find a niche. It doesn't matter what it is, if you can do it better or different than anyone else.'" For Mooney, it had to be nature.

After doing his Leaving Cert he got a job as a sales rep for Puma. One year later he left the job to focus on his work in RTE. He was there for 12 years before he was finally given a contract.

He has also done some work for the BBC. At one stage, the station offered him a contract, but it clashed with an opportunity to present an RTE television programme called Wildtrack. Mooney says he is a naturally cautious person. He chose to stay put.

Now, Mooney Goes Wild is the most frequently visited RTE website and his audience figures are challenging Gerry Ryan and his old adviser, Pat Kenny. So where to from here?

Would he like to fulfil his little boy's dream, and make it on to The Late Late Show?

"Not in its current format, " he says. So what would he change? "Everything. I'd change everything. There's enough bad news in the world, and that's not what I'm interested in. I like light entertainment. I don't want to be probing into people's lives. The same way that I don't like talking to the press about myself.

I don't understand why people care."

It could be that that's just the nature of the business? There's a pregnant pause. No answer?

"Oh I have an answer, " he says.

"I just don't think I should say it." Cautious as ever.

Derek Mooney
Born: 4 March, 1967, Donnybrook, Dublin
Occupation: Presenter of 'Mooney Goes Wild' on Radio 1, and 'Winning Streak' on RTE One
In the News: Because he's presenting the final of 'You're a Star' tonight, having taken over the job from Ray D'Arcy