Early life

Bird grew up in Warrington

Warrington

Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and was schooled at King's School, Macclesfield. In 1985 Bird gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature at Newcastle University.

Career

Bird first started his career in broadcasting as one of Timmy Mallett

Timmy Mallett

Timmy Mallett is a TV presenter and broadcaster in the UK. He achieved cult status on BBC Radio Oxford and Manchester's Piccadilly Radio and later on TV-am...

's helpers on Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

's Piccadilly Radio. He later produced the breakfast show. He later moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 working for Richard Branson

Richard Branson

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....

's Virgin

Virgin Group

Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...

 Broadcasting Company, working on their music television channel Music Box

Music Box (TV)

Music Box Ltd. was a television production company that developed from a pioneering pan-European 24-hour cable and satellite channel that ran from March 1984 to 30 January 1987, originally one of three channels along with PREM1ERE and The Children's Channel, that formed Thorn EMI's venture into...

 and satellite radio station 'Radio Radio'. Next was British Satellite Broadcasting

British Satellite Broadcasting

British Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...

's The Power Station channel. Bird joined Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

 in 1994 as senior vice president and general manager of Turner Entertainment

Turner Entertainment

Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...

 Networks Limited. In 2000 he became president of TBS International in 2000, being responsible for all TBS

Turner Broadcasting System

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...

 broadcasting outside of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Disney career

In 2004 Bird joined The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

 and has since overseen the acquisition of Hungama TV

Hungama TV

Hungama TV is a TV channel for kids in India based in Mumbai. Originally a subsidiary of UTV Software Communications launched in 2004, the channel was sold to Disney in 2006. The channel retained its own identity and is helping to increase Disney's presence in India...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and investment in India's UTV. He also localizes content and has reorganized Disney's international structure and leadership ranks.