Background
Hook grew up in Cork and attended Presentation Brothers College, a rugby union stronghold.
Hook grew up in Cork and attended Presentation Brothers College, a rugby union stronghold.
Subsequently he attended Rathmines College of Commerce.
He hosts The Right Hook on the Irish radio station Newstalk. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He has also made other television appearances, such as judging on Jigs & Reels and coaching on Celebrity Bainisteoir.
Hook has had a number of jobs, beginning as a temporary clerk for CIÉ, and later becoming a travelling salesman for the Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys).
He also ran a catering business for over twenty years. He coached London Irish and Connacht as well as the United States national team in the 1987 Rugby World Cup.
The Right Hook, Hook"s radio show on Newstalk, is a popular late afternoon to early evening drive-time programme. Hook appears as a rugby pundit on RTÉ on a regular basis and appeared as a judge on RTÉ celebrity dancing show Jigs & Reels.
He has also been parodied in The State of United States
In 2005, he published an autobiography, "Time Added On". The book described his years involved in business and the failure of this career pathological In 2009, he visited Haiti where he organised a recruitment drive to get volunteers to go there on a house building week.
The next day a vicious earthquake struck Haiti.
After the earthquake Hook was heard to say: "lieutenant is a godforsaken place. God has literally forsaken lieutenant" Following the January 2010 earthquake.
Hook urged his radio listeners to donate money. The charity provides homes in the community for adults with disabilities who grew up in institutions and orphanages
On January 26, 2014, Hook announced that he would retire from Newstalk in 2016 and television punditry after the 2015 Rugby World Cup but RTÉ lost the right for Irish broadcasting to TV3.
On February 13, 2015, Hook reverse his decision to retire from television punditry.
However, on March 17 the same year, Hook announced that he would retire from television punditry saying he would never watch the Raidió Teilifís Éireann rugby panel again.
Politically, Hook is a longtime supporter of Fine Gael, frequently identifying himself on The Right Hook as being "an old Blueshirt".