Mike Read
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- This article is about the broadcaster. For those with an identical-sounding, but differently-spelled name, see Mike Reid.
Mike Read (1 March 1948) is a British broadcaster, writer and television presenter.
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[edit] Pre-Broadcasting
As a young boy Read took dancing and singing lessons with Julie Andrews' mother and aunt and appeared in many amateur stage productions from an early age. His grandfather bought him his first guitar and he got his first songs published at the age of sixteen. In between studying he played and sang in pubs and clubs in the Surrey area. At college he wrote a spoof operetta and his first book of poems.
[edit] Broadcasting
Read has won many broadcaster of the year awards including Sonys, Smash Hits and Carl Allan Awards. Read's professional broadcasting career began in March 1976 at Reading's Radio 210, where he co-hosted a show with Steve Wright, before joining Radio Luxembourg late in 1977.
He joined Radio One at the end of 1978 and was soon presenting the night time programme before John Peel's show, where he championed new groups and featured live sessions. He was one of the most popular Roadshow presenters during his time at the station and took over the Breakfast Show in January 1981.
Following on from his five year stint on Radio 1's Breakfast show, Read took over a Sunday morning show in 1986, from 10 a.m.-12.30 p.m.. In 1987, he moved to Saturday Mornings from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., & also a Sunday afternoon show from 1-3 p.m., where he played classic tracks. In addition to this, Mike also hosted 'Round Table and later went back to it as the re-named 'Singled Out on Friday evenings. This is where musicians and disc jockeys would review the new single releases.
Read's Saturday morning show ended in September 1988 & his Sunday afternoon oldies shows finished in December 1988. This was when Alan Freeman rejoined the station to host an oldies version of Pick of the Pops.
From January 1989 to September 1990, Read presented a weekly show called The Mike Read Collection which went out on Monday evenings, and still remained on the Friday panel show Singled Out (which had now reverted to its original name of Round Table). He remained on this slot, until 1991.
[edit] After Radio One
Read left Radio 1 in 1991 and moved to Capital Gold, (then a London-only station), presenting his Mike Read Collection, which went out on a Sunday Night, before taking on the Weekday Drivetime show in mid-1992, where he remained until he left the station in late 1995.
Also in 1992, Read was heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting special shows looking back at Cliff Richard's career and playing his music.
In addition to his Daily Show on Capital Gold, he joined Classic FM, where he presented a weekend show. In 1996, he presented the networked Breakfast ShowClassic Gold stations around the UK.
In September 1999, he presented the Breakfast Show on Jazz FM in the North of England, then in 2001 joined Spirit FM in the South of England, firstly presenting a Sunday morning show from 10am-1pm then moving to a weekday afternoon show from 2-3pm, playing music from various featured years.
In 2003, Read presented a Saturday Morning show on the Magic network around the UK, where he remained until 2004.
In May 2005, he became the weekday morning presenter on Big L 1395, a station modelled on the 1960s pirate radio station. He has also done occasional stints on Talksport. Big L also broadcasts across Europe on Sky 0190 and around the world on line at www.bigl.co.uk. Among the line up of presenters are former Radio One colleagues, David Hamilton, Emperor Rosko and Adrian John as well as former Capital colleague Randell Lee Rose.
Mike made a guest appearance on BBC Radio Berkshire Sunday 1st June 2008
[edit] Television
He combined his radio work with a second career as a TV presenter, hosting the popular Saturday morning programme Saturday Superstore, as well as the Saturday Night music game show Pop Quiz,which regularly got audiences of 10 million and featured rock and pop stars answering music trivia questions. The show spawned board game and computer game spin-offs. The penultimate episode of Pop Quiz in 1984 featured a face-off between New Romantic icons Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. During the 90s he hosted Sky Gold's Goldmaster and in 1994 returned to host a one-off special of the show for the anniversary of Top Of The Pops. Additionally, he presented Top of the Pops on many occasions between 1978 and 1989, and hosted Yorkshire Television's children's series Pop Quest from 1977 to 1979. In 2005 he returned to co-host the show when his single 'Grief Never Grows Old' reached #4 in the singles chart. He is a regular newspaper reviewer for Sky News.
[edit] I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here
In 2004, Read was one of the contestants recruited for the jungle-based ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! though his stay in the Australian outback was short-lived — he was the first celebrity to be evicted by the viewing public. He recorded a charity single off the back of the show when he lyrically re-worked Hank Mizell's Jungle Rock and as The Jungle Boys (with Neil 'Razor' Ruddock and (Lord) Charlie Brocket had a UK Top 30 hit single. The follow-up, which made the top 75 was a new version of Mungo Jerry's' In The Summertime.
[edit] Stalkers
Read is one of many celebrities who have had trouble with stalkers. Read famously had a stalker who has changed her name to Blue Tulip Rose Read and believes that she is married to him. Rose appeared in a 1996 Channel 4 documentary as part of a fame theme night.
[edit] Songwriting
Read has written songs for dozens of artists, including, Cliff Richard, Donovan, Leo Sayer, Don McLean, Steve Harley, David Essex, Colin Bliunstone, Jon Anderson, Gene Pitney, Alvin Stardust, Captain Sensible[citation needed], Annie Haslam, Matchbox, Kym Mazelle and Justin Hayward. He has also had his work recorded by The Kings College Choir, The Eton College Choir, The Rodolfus Choir and HM Band of the Royakl Marines. He and Simon May won the TV Them of the Year Award in 1992 for the theme from the TV series, Trainer, performed by Cliff Richard. He also provided the voice on the single for Slade's hit Radio Wall Of Sound as well as appearing in the video. A collection of his releases from the 70s and 80s was released with considerable success in Japan a couple of years ago.He has however never had a UK hit on his own. In 2005 his song 'Grief Never Grows Old' reached #4 in the Uk singles chart. The star-studded line up of artists performing it were Brian Wilson, Barry & Robin Gibb, Steve Winwood, Cliff Richard, Russell Watson, Boy George, America, Rick Wakeman, Bill Wyman, Kenney Jones, Gary Moore Selins Cherry and members of Brian wilson's group. The single, in aid of the Tsunami was written by Read and produced by Steve Levine. The single also featured versions by a Sri Lankan Choir and The Children's Orchestra of Great Britain.
[edit] Musicals
Read has had many musicals on stage, including Young Apollo, Oscar, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol,Cliff the Musical and Ricky Nelson...Teenage Idol. He took one of the lead roles in the Cliff Musical, touring with it and appearing for a three month run in the West End at the Price of Wales Theatre. His Betjeman show, based on his many collaborations with Sir John Betjeman form the basis of a show that has occasionally been staged for charities, including The Royal Marsden Hospital and Children With Lukaemia. Eminent actors appearing in his musicals andf shows have included Nyree Dawn Porter, Brian Glover , Colin Baker, Anton Rogers, jeremy Irons, Alvin Stardust and Bernard Cribbens.
However as in his radio career he is remembered for a disaster. His Oscar Wilde:the Musical closed after one night after thunderously bad reviews. The Daily Telegraph received it with "incredulous contempt" and referred to Read's "presumptuous mediocrity".[1]
[edit] Books & Poetry
He was one of the founder editors of the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, the best-known UK chart reference book, and also co-wrote many of the other Guinness music books. he and his fellow authors received a special award for the sales of the Guinness books, one of which topped the best-selling book chart. In his own right he is the author of 35 books, the most current being 'Forever England' a new biography of Rupert Brooke,'Major to Minor: The Rise and Fall of the Songwriter (2000) and, with Richard Havers, Read's Musical Reciter (2004), a collection of trivia from the music business. His poetry books include 'The Aldermoor Poems,' 'Elizabethan Dragonflies,A Room With Books' and the latest, "New Poems for Old Paintings."Also on the Poetry front he has edited and supplied biographies for the two best-selling poetry books '100 Favourite Poems' and '100 Favourite Humorous Poems' and contributed to many of the 'Poets' England' series. He has just completed his first crime novel and is currently working on a second.
[edit] The Rupert Brooke Society
In 1999 he founded the Rupert Brooke Society of which he was Chairman for a few years as well as editing the Society's twice-yearly magazine and creating a museum at The Orchard Grantchester with Robin Callan
[edit] Contemporary Art
In October 2007, Read embarked on a career in the world of contemporary art, with a gallery of works in the medium of confectionery entitled Choc Art. The work includes recreations of album sleeves by The Beatles, his own take on the iconic map of the London Underground, and works based on the paintings of L.S. Lowry [1]. By the beginning of 2008 he has created over 25 canvasses. Two galleries had exhibitions of his Choc Art at the latter end of 2007 in Surrey and Hampshire and another in Essex in January 2008. At Easter 2008 there was a successful exhibition at the Julie-Ann Gilburt Gallery in Brighton.
[edit] Politics
Having spoken three times at Conservative Party conferences, including in 2006 entertaining guests at a Tory conference dinner with a ten minute political rap[2], Read claims he was asked to run for the Conservative Party nomination for the London Mayoral elections in 2008.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "Wilde suffers again – thanks to Mike Read", Daily Telegraph, 21st October 2004.
- ^ "Mike Reads 10-minute rap", The Independent, 5th October 2006
- ^ "I'm Backing Boris", Guardian, 17th July 2007.
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| Preceded by Dave Lee Travis |
BBC Radio One Breakfast Show Presenter 1981-1986 |
Succeeded by Mike Smith |
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[edit] Audio sample
The Trainspotters - High Rise excerpt Image:Trainspotters - High Rise excerpt.ogg
