Mike Read | |
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 Read in 2013 | |
| Born | Michael David Kenneth Read (1947-03-01)1 March 1947 (age 78) Bury, Lancashire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1976 – present |
| Known for | Saturday Superstore;BBC Radio 1;Top of the Pops;Pop Quiz |
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radiodisc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.
Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ withBBC Radio 1, and television host for music chart seriesTop of the Pops, children's programmeSaturday Superstore and music panel gamePop Quiz. He is also a prolific author, having written over 50 books, including hisautobiography,Seize the Day.[1] Read currently hostsThe Heritage Chart Show on various radio stations andTalking Pictures TV. He also co-hostsThe Footage Detectives with Talking Pictures TV founder Noel Cronin.
Michael David Kenneth Read was born 1 March 1947 inBury, north ofManchester, the only child of a publican.[2][3] The family moved from Manchester toWalton-on-Thames,Surrey, when he was an infant. He attended Woking Grammar School followed by a sixth-form college. Later, Read worked as anestate agent, and recorded under various names, including Mickey Manchester.[2]
Read's professional broadcasting career began in March 1976 atReading'sRadio 210, where he co-hosted a slot withSteve Wright – entitledRead and Wright – before joiningRadio Luxembourg late in 1977. Read joined Radio 1 in November 1978 and was soon presenting the night-time programme before the slot fronted byJohn Peel; here, Read championed new groups and featured live sessions.[4] On 5 January 1981, he took overRadio 1 Breakfast.
On 11 January 1984, Read suddenly interrupted broadcasting theFrankie Goes to Hollywood song "Relax", halfway through playing the single, denouncing the lyrics as 'obscene'.[5] Read has said this account of his intervention is a myth; the interruption of the record was solely for timing reasons, as he only had access in the studio to the longer 12" version.[6] The BBC had already decided to ban the record fromTop of the Pops, even though it subsequently reached No. 1 in theUK singles chart.[7]
Following on from his five-year stint on Radio 1's breakfast slot, Read took over a Sunday morning programme in 1986. A year later, he moved to Saturday mornings, and also to a Sunday afternoon series, where he played classic tracks. In addition, he hostedRound Table and later went back to it as the renamedSingled Out on Friday evenings, in which musicians and disc jockeys would review new single releases.
Read's Saturday morning slot ended in September 1988, and his Sunday afternoon oldies series finished in January 1989, whenAlan Freeman re-joined the station to host an oldies version ofPick of the Pops, which Read covered in November that year when Freeman was ill. From January 1989 to September 1990, Read presented a weekly series,The Mike Read Collection, (which was broadcast on Monday evenings) and remained on the Friday panel showSingled Out (which by then had gone back to its original name ofRound Table); he remained in this slot until 1991.
Read left Radio 1 in 1991 and moved to Capital Gold in London, presenting hisMike Read Collection, which went out on a Sunday night, before taking on the weekday 'drive-time' show in mid-1992, where he remained until he left the station in late 1995. Read was heard onBBC Radio 2 in 1992 presenting special shows looking back at the career ofCliff Richard and playing his music. Read then joinedClassic FM, where he presented a weekend series, and had a stint as weekday breakfast presenter starting in March 1996. The following year, he presented the networked 'breakfast show' onClassic Gold stations around the UK.
From September 1999, Read presented the breakfast show onJazz FM in the north of England; then, in 2001, he joinedSpirit FM inChichester, initially presenting a Sunday slot from 10 am to 1 pm before moving to a weekday afternoon slot from 2 pm to 3 pm, playing music from various featured years.
Between 2003 and 2004, Read presented a Saturday morning slot on theMagic network around the UK. In May 2005, he became the weekday morning presenter onBig L 1395, a station modelled on the 1960s pirate radio station; he has also done occasional stints onTalksport. In November 2008, he took time out from Big L to present the 3 pm – 7 pm 'drive-time' show onKCFM (based inHull) for a week (10–14 November), as cover forShaun Tilley. Read became the third former Radio 1 disc jockey to broadcast on the station, along withTony Blackburn andPaul Burnett.
In November 2009, Read began hosting a mid-morning slot onTotalStar in theWest of England.[8] Exactly a year later, Read had returned to Big L with a daily slot from 8 am to 12 pm, Monday-Friday. From July 2011, he hosted the Golden Hour onMore Radio (Swindon andWiltshire), formerly Total Star Wiltshire. Read was heard onMagic 1548 in the north of England, where he presented their weekend breakfast series, on Saturdays and Sundays from 7 am – 10 am, starting in April 2012. He also presented the afternoon slot on Monday to Friday onBBC Radio Berkshire between 1:00/3:00 pm and 4 pm until March 2015, and continued to host programmes for the station, including a Saturday afternoon slot during the summer of 2015.
In April 2018, Read was the first voice heard on the new internet radio station United DJs, where he hosted the station's breakfast slot on weekdays from 7-9am. He also hosted an additional weekly series for the station, entitledI Write the Songs.[citation needed] From November 2019, he hosted the weekday breakfast slot, from 7-10am, on London and south-east DAB station Vintage Music Radio for several months,[9] but still presented occasional shows on United DJs and returned to the breakfast show there the following spring, staying until November 2020. Read left to join the new line-up ofNation Radio UK from 4 January 2021, and was replaced byNeil Fox in April.[citation needed]
Since 15 November 2020, Read has hostedThe Heritage Chart on Sunday afternoons on the Nation Radio network in the UK. The programme was on originally on United DJs Radio from July 26 to 8 November 2020. Dr Fox (Neil Fox) replaced Read on the United DJs version of the show after Read joined Nation Radio.
The Heritage Chart Show is syndicated on other selected radio stations across the UK and around the world. One such example is Enjoy Radio, an online station based in Greater Manchester who started carryingThe Heritage Chart Show in early 2022. In January 2023, Regency Radio, anOFCOM-licensed station on the south coast broadcasting on DAB in theBrighton area, as well on app, online and on smart speaker took the Chart Show on Sunday nights from 5-7pm, the traditional time of theBBC Radio 1 andILR chart shows.
The Heritage Chart Show expanded from a weekly chart show to a full-time radio service,[10][11] with presenters including formerYell![12] singerDaniel James, who has a show calledBangers and Chat, and rockabilly guitaristDarrel Higham. The station also picked up the radio broadcasts of Rewind TV'sStereo Underground programme,[13] a show Richard Latto[14] used to present on various BBC Local Radio stations[15] and hiredDave Lee Travis for weekly Sunday morning show, due to start in March 2025.[16]
On 12 April 2021, Read started hosting the breakfast show on Downforce Radio, broadcasting from 7-10am.[17]
In 2022, Read started presenting hisAfternoon Delight show on theSussex station V2 Radio.[18]
From 1 August 2022, Read continued his breakfast show, but also with an audience from Sunshine Radio Online, with a dual broadcast-type arrangement.
From 22 April 2024, Read started presenting the breakfast show on Regency Radio.[19]
Read combined his radio work with a second career as a television presenter. He hosted theYorkshire Television children's seriesPop Quest from 1977 to 1979;[20] then, onBBC1, Read presented or co-presented 65 editions of the music chart seriesTop of the Pops from 9 November 1978 to 28 December 1989.[21][22]
From 1982 to 1987, Read presented the BBC's Saturday morning children's programmeSaturday Superstore,[23] as well as the Saturday night music game showPop Quiz, which regularly got audiences of 10 million and featured rock and pop stars answering musictrivia questions; the series spawnedboard game and computer game spin-offs. The penultimate episode ofPop Quiz, in 1984, featured a face-off between pop bandsSpandau Ballet andDuran Duran. The format was revived twice: firstly in 1994 by the BBC withChris Tarrant as the host; and then in June 2008, a revampedPop Quiz recorded without a studio audience and in a pub (rather than a television studio) in which the participants were members of the public, aired onRed TV; this was again hosted by Read. In 1994, he returned toTop of the Pops to host a one-off special for its anniversary. Later, in 1997, he presented theUK Gold television genre quizGoldmaster in 1997.
In 2004, Read was one of the contestants recruited for the jungle-basedITV reality seriesI'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, though his stay in the Australian outback was short-lived, as he was the first celebrity to be evicted by the viewing public.[24] Read was among 10 former presenters who returned as guest co-presenters for the final edition ofTop of the Pops, broadcast 30 July 2006 onBBC Two.[25]
Read has also appeared as a regular newspaper reviewer forSky News. In 2014, he appeared as himself inBBC Four spoof docudramaThe Life of Rock with Brian Pern.[26]
In 2021, he joinedTalking Pictures TV founder Noel Cronin on the channel's archive programmeThe Footage Detectives, a series which discusses forgotten films and lost TV shows such asThe Barnstormers from 1964.[27][28]
As of 2022[update],The Heritage Chart Show with Mike Read is broadcast on Sundays, first by theLocal TV network of channels at 7pm, and then by Talking Pictures TV as a late-night repeat. The programme is a pop music countdown of videos and live performances from veteran acts, such asChesney Hawkes andTight Fit, based on the chart broadcast on a number of community radio stations in the UK and abroad.[29][30][31][32]
In 1979, Read wrote and performed the pop-punk song "High Rise" (upon which his Radio 1 intro jingle was subsequently based) under the guise of The Trainspotters, following this in 1980 with "My Town", by his next studio group, The Ghosts. Read then wrote lyrics to the theme (composed bySimon May) for theTRIC Award-winningTrainer; the resultingUK Top 30 single, "More to Life", was performed byCliff Richard. In 1991, Read also provided a guestrap on "Radio Wall of Sound", UK Top 30 hit forSlade.
After his appearance onI'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, Read recorded a charity single when he lyrically re-worked theHank Mizell hit "Jungle Rock" and – as the Jungle Boys (with fellowI'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! contestantsNeil 'Razor' Ruddock andLord Brocket) – had a UK Top 30 hit single. The follow-up, which made the Top 75, was a new version ofMungo Jerry classic "In the Summertime". In 2005, Read's song "Grief Never Grows Old" featured on a charity recording in aid of victims of the2004 tsunami. Performed by an ensemble of artists namedOne World Project, the single reached No. 4 in the UK singles chart.
Read has written music to accompany many poems written byJohn Betjeman. Thirty of these songs were recorded by artists including Cliff Richard,David Essex,Gene Pitney andMarc Almond for the 2006 various artists' albumWords/Music, and subsequently re-released in 2008 as a double CD titledSound of Poetry.[citation needed]
On 19 October 2011, Read was presented with aBASCA Gold Badge Award in recognition of his contribution to music.[33]
In 2014, Read wrote and recorded "UKIP Calypso" in support of theUK Independence Party (UKIP). It was criticized for being racist; Read subsequently apologised and withdrew it from sale.[34][35]
Read has staged a number of musicals, including[36]Young Apollo (a musical about the life ofRupert Brooke);Oscar (a 2004 production aboutOscar Wilde, which was derided by critics and closed after one performance);[37][38]Great Expectations;A Christmas Carol;Cliff - The Musical (which closed after three months) andRicky Nelson...Teenage Idol. Read took one of the lead roles in theCliff musical, touring with it and appearing for a three-month run in theWest End at thePrince of Wales Theatre. His productionBetjeman (based on his musical settings of poems by SirJohn Betjeman) has occasionally been staged for charities, including theRoyal Marsden Hospital andChildren With Leukaemia. Actors appearing in his musicals and shows have includedNyree Dawn Porter,Brian Glover,Colin Baker,Anton Rogers,Jeremy Irons,Alvin Stardust andBernard Cribbins.[36]
Read was one of the founder editors of the UK chart reference seriesGuinness Book of British Hit Singles, and also co-wrote otherGuinness music books.[39]
Read's poetry books includeThe Aldermoor Poems,Elizabethan Dragonflies,A Room With Books and the latest,New Poems for Old Paintings. He has edited and supplied biographies for the two best-selling poetry books,100 Favourite Poems and100 Favourite Humorous Poems, and contributed to many of the titles in the seriesPoets' England. He has also written two crime novels.[40] In 1997, he publishedForever England: The Life ofRupert Brooke.
In October 2007, Read started to produce contemporary art, with a gallery of works in the medium of confectionery entitledChoc Art. The work includes recreations of album sleeves bythe Beatles, his own take on the famous map of theLondon Underground, and works based on the paintings ofL.S. Lowry.[41]
Read had astalker who had changed her name to Blue Tulip Rose Read and believed that she was married to him. Rose was from Welwyn Garden City and her original name was Carol Ballard. She was featured in a 1996 film made byJaine Green forChannel 4, entitledI'm Your Number One Fan. The film formed part of Channel 4's "Fame Factor" season, which examined the dark side of fame.[42] Rose was one of the most candid interviewees in the film. She was filmed as she travelled to the offices of Classic FM, and as she wrote "love letters" to Read.[43] The film stated that Rose had been writing obscene and threatening letters to Read for many years.
Having spoken three times atConservative Party conferences, including entertaining guests at a Tory conference dinner in 2006 with a ten-minute political rap,[44] Read said that he was asked to run for theConservative Party nomination for theLondon Mayoral elections in 2008.[45] He subsequently announced that he was instead putting his energies behind the ultimately successful candidateBoris Johnson.
On 21 July 2012, Read spoke at theUK Independence Party's South East regional Conference inFrimley, where he was also announced as a member of the party.[46] Read has since spoken at the UKIP 2012 Annual Conference atBirmingham Town Hall on 21 September.
Read wrote and recorded a song in support of the party, "UKIP Calypso", which was released in October 2014 as a single credited to The Independents.[47][34] An online petition was filed by former Labour borough councillor Richard McKenzie in which he called Read's song 'racist and offensive'.[48] Party leaderNigel Farage endorsed it and called for the party's supporters to download the song. Read adopted a faux-Jamaican accent, but said that it was 'not remotely racist' to do so, saying: 'It's a satire and a bit of fun. It's not terribly serious. It wouldn't have sounded very good sung in a Surrey accent.'[47] Debate over the single featured onNewsnight, with UKIP spokesmanWinston McKenzie, himself of Caribbean origin, praising the song and likening it to adaptations of predominantly black musical styles byElvis Presley andThe Beatles, although theBBC Asian Network'sNihal was critical of it.[49] Read withdrew the song from sale on 22 October 2014 and apologised 'unreservedly' for the fact that it had 'unintentionally caused offence'.[34] On 26 October 2014, the song reached number 44 on theUK Singles Chart.[50][51]
In 1999, Read founded the Rupert Brooke Society[52] of which he was chairman for a few years, as well as editing the society's twice-yearly magazine and creating a museum atThe Orchard tea room inGrantchester.
In 2013, Read and three friends formed the British Plaque Trust, a charity established to commemorate deceased achievers in show business, sport and the general arts by unveilingblue plaques on buildings with which they were associated.[citation needed] The organisation aimed to act alongside the work in London ofEnglish Heritage who stated that they were "restructuring" their plaque scheme.[citation needed]
In the same year, he was one of the event presenters atConcert at the Kings in All Cannings, Wiltshire.[citation needed]
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| Preceded by | BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show Presenter 1981–1986 | Succeeded by |
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