Mike Read
Encyclopedia
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947, Manchester) is an English
radio
disc jockey
, writer
, journalist
and television presenter.
, but the family moved from Manchester
to Walton-on-Thames
, Surrey
, when he was still an infant. He attended Woking
Grammar School followed by a sixth-form college. He was an estate agent for a while and recorded under various names including Mickey Manchester.
late in 1977.
He joined BBC 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 on Monday 5 January 1981, a spot notable for his on-air decision in 1984 not to play the Frankie Goes to Hollywood
single "Relax" due to supposedly obscene lyrics.
Following on from his five-year stint on Radio 1's Breakfast Show, Read took over a Sunday morning show in 1986, from 10am-12.30pm. In 1987, he moved to Saturday Mornings from 10am-1pm, and also to a Sunday afternoon show from 1-3pm, where he played classic tracks. In addition he hosted Round Table and later went back to it as the renamed Singled Out on Friday evenings, where musicians and disc jockey
s would review the new single releases.
Read's Saturday morning show ended in September 1988 and his Sunday afternoon oldies shows finished in January 1989, 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 by then gone back to its original name of Round Table). He remained in this slot until 1991.
Read currently (from 1st September 2011) presents a three-hour Saturday Breakfast Show on Covent Garden Radio where he shares his recent conversations with people in the world of entertainment and music, information about what's on in London generally and Covent Garden specifically, and his favourite music tracks.
, (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 he was heard on BBC Radio 2
presenting special shows looking back at Cliff Richard
's career and playing his music. In addition to a daily show on Capital Gold
, he joined Classic FM
, where he presented a weekend show. In 1996, he presented the networked Breakfast Show on Classic Gold
stations around the UK. From September 1999, he presented the Breakfast Show on Jazz FM
in the North of England, then in 2001 joined Spirit FM
in Chichester, initially presenting a Sunday show from 10am to 1pm before moving to a weekday afternoon show from 2 to 3pm, playing music from various featured years.
Between 2003 and 2004, Read presented a Saturday morning show on the Magic
network around the UK. 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
. In November 2008 he took time out from Big L to present the 3pm-7pm Drivetime show on Hull-based station KCFM for a week (10–14 November) as cover for Shaun Tilley. Mike became the third ex-Radio 1 DJ to broadcast on the station, along with Tony Blackburn
and Paul Burnett
. From 17 November 2008, he launched a 10am-2pm weekday programme slot on Star 107.5
covering Gloucestershire and the Malverns. Read recently presented a weekday show between 5am and 7am (Feb 09 - Sept 09) on internet radio station Wight FM
(this was voicetracked
). He also presented a regular slot called "Dancing Through The Decades" on Saturday evenings between 6 and 10pm on KCFM.
In October 2009 Read was reported to be part of a team of veteran DJs forming a new radio station One Gold to rival the BBC.
In November 2009 Mike began hosting a mid-morning show on the TotalStar
network in the west of England.
Read has won many 'broadcaster of the year' awards including Sonys
, Smash Hits
and Carl Alan Awards
.
From 1 November 2010, he returned to BigL with a daily show from 8am-12pm Mon-Fri.
From July 2011, He has hosted the Golden Hour on both More Radio (Swindon & Wiltshire) and More Star (Cheltenham & Gloucestershire), weekdays at 9am and repeated at 9pm
, 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 pop bands Spandau Ballet
and Duran Duran
, and in 1994 he returned to host a one-off special of the show for the anniversary of Top Of The Pops. The format was revived twice, firstly in 1994 by the BBC with Chris Tarrant as the host, and then in June 2008 a revamped Pop Quiz, filmed without a studio audience and in a pub (rather than a television studio) in which the participants were members of the public, aired on Red TV
. This was, again hosted by Read.
Additionally, he presented UK Gold's TV genre quiz Goldmaster in 1997, having also 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 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 Australia
n outback
was short-lived — he was the first celebrity to be evicted by the viewing public. He is a regular newspaper reviewer for Sky News.
Read wrote lyrics to Simon May
's TRIC Award
-winning Trainer
TV theme. The resulting UK Top 30
single, "More to Life", was performed by Cliff Richard
. Read provided a guest rap
on Slade
's 1991 UK Top 30 hit Radio Wall Of Sound.
After I'm a Celebrity..., Read recorded a charity single 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. In 2005, Read's song Grief Never Grows Old featured on a charity recording in aid of victims of the 2004 Tsunami
. Performed by an ensemble of artists named One World Project
, the single reached Number 4 in the UK singles chart
.
Read has written music to accompany many poems written by John Betjeman
. Thirty of these songs were recorded by artists including Cliff Richard, David Essex
, and Gene Pitney
for the 2006 various artists' album Words/Music, and subsequently re-released in 2008 as a double CD titled Sound of Poetry.
(which closed after three months) and Ricky Nelson...Teenage Idol. He took one of the lead roles in the Cliff Musical, touring with it and appearing for the three month run in the West End at The Prince 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 Leukaemia. Eminent actors appearing in his musicals and shows have included Nyree Dawn Porter, Brian Glover
, Colin Baker
, Anton Rogers, Jeremy Irons
, Alvin Stardust
and Bernard Cribbins
.
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.
, his own take on the iconic map of the London Underground, and works based on the paintings of L.S. Lowry http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7027828.stm. 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.
who had changed her name to Blue Tulip Rose Read
and believed that she was married to him. Rose appeared in a 1996 Channel 4
documentary as part of a fame theme night.
conferences, including in 2006 entertaining guests at a Tory conference dinner with a ten minute political rap, Read claims he was asked to run for the Conservative Party
nomination for the London Mayoral elections in 2008
. His article announcing that he was instead putting his energies behind Boris Johnson
's ultimately successful candidacy, published on The Guardian
's Comment is Free blog on 17 July 2007, attracted a then record 1,132 comments, most of them derisive.
of Wizzard
. The music video also featured Dave Hill
of Slade
, David Hamilton and Mr. Christmas The single failed to chart, and at its peak was the 80,397th most popular track on amazon.co.uk. It is unclear how much money the project raised for charity.
and expert John Cameron
search for antiques and collectibles at musician and DJ Mike Read's home in the Cotswolds
. The items they find will be used to raise funds for a memorial to Britain's Bomber Command of the Second World War, and include Charlie Drake
memorabilia and artwork made of chocolate and candy.
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...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and television presenter.
Early life
Read is the only child of a publicanPublican
In antiquity, publicans were public contractors, in which role they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects...
, but the family moved from 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...
to Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, when he was still an infant. He attended Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
Grammar School followed by a sixth-form college. He was an estate agent for a while and recorded under various names including Mickey Manchester.
Broadcasting career
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 LuxembourgRadio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
late in 1977.
He joined BBC 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 on Monday 5 January 1981, a spot notable for his on-air decision in 1984 not to play the Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...
single "Relax" due to supposedly obscene lyrics.
Following on from his five-year stint on Radio 1's Breakfast Show, Read took over a Sunday morning show in 1986, from 10am-12.30pm. In 1987, he moved to Saturday Mornings from 10am-1pm, and also to a Sunday afternoon show from 1-3pm, where he played classic tracks. In addition he hosted Round Table and later went back to it as the renamed Singled Out on Friday evenings, where musicians and disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s would review the new single releases.
Read's Saturday morning show ended in September 1988 and his Sunday afternoon oldies shows finished in January 1989, when Alan Freeman
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie "Fluff" Freeman, MBE was a British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years.-Career:...
rejoined the station to host an oldies version of Pick of the Pops
Pick of the Pops
Pick of the Pops is a BBC Radio programme, originally based on the Top 20 UK singles chart and first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1955. It transferred to BBC Radio 1 from 1967...
. 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 by then gone back to its original name of Round Table). He remained in this slot until 1991.
Read currently (from 1st September 2011) presents a three-hour Saturday Breakfast Show on Covent Garden Radio where he shares his recent conversations with people in the world of entertainment and music, information about what's on in London generally and Covent Garden specifically, and his favourite music tracks.
After Radio One
Read left Radio 1 in 1991 and moved to Capital GoldCapital Gold
Gold is a network of oldies radio stations which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold Network in August 2007...
, (then a 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...
-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 he was heard on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
presenting special shows looking back at Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
's career and playing his music. In addition to a daily show on Capital Gold
Capital Gold
Gold is a network of oldies radio stations which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold Network in August 2007...
, he joined Classic FM
Classic FM (UK)
Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
, where he presented a weekend show. In 1996, he presented the networked Breakfast Show on Classic Gold
Classic Gold Digital Network
Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189.-History:...
stations around the UK. From September 1999, he presented the Breakfast Show on Jazz FM
Jazz FM
Jazz FM may refer to:*Jazz FM , a digital jazz radio station in the United Kingdom.*102.2 Jazz FM, a defunct radio station based in London, England.*100.4 Jazz FM, a defunct radio station based in Manchester, England....
in the North of England, then in 2001 joined Spirit FM
Spirit FM
Spirit FM broadcasts to West Sussex from studios in Dukes Court, Chichester - the place it has been since its launch more than 10 years ago. It was previously only available in the South West of the County but gained complete coverage through a transmitter near Midhurst.- History :Spirit FM began...
in Chichester, initially presenting a Sunday show from 10am to 1pm before moving to a weekday afternoon show from 2 to 3pm, playing music from various featured years.
Between 2003 and 2004, Read presented a Saturday morning show on the Magic
Magic Radio
Magic is a music radio and a TV brand in the United Kingdom, run by the German publishing company Bauer.-Magic Radio in United Kingdom:...
network around the UK. In May 2005, he became the weekday morning presenter on Big L 1395
Big L 1395
Big L is the name of a broadcasting company registered by the British licensing authority Ofcom from for a satellite radio service known as Big L. The license states that the station "… will provide an eclectic mix of rock and pop, both modern and classic. News and weather will be broadcast hourly...
, a station modelled on the 1960s pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
station. He has also done occasional stints on Talksport
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
. In November 2008 he took time out from Big L to present the 3pm-7pm Drivetime show on Hull-based station KCFM for a week (10–14 November) as cover for Shaun Tilley. Mike became the third ex-Radio 1 DJ to broadcast on the station, along with Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....
and Paul Burnett
Paul Burnett
Paul Burnett is an English radio disc jockey, who began his radio career while in the Royal Air Force in the Persian Gulf in 1964. In 1966 he joined offshore radio station, Radio 270, broadcasting off Scarborough, North Yorkshire...
. From 17 November 2008, he launched a 10am-2pm weekday programme slot on Star 107.5
Star 107.5
Total Star Gloucestershire is a UK radio station based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in England....
covering Gloucestershire and the Malverns. Read recently presented a weekday show between 5am and 7am (Feb 09 - Sept 09) on internet radio station Wight FM
Wight FM
Wight FM was an internet radio service based on the Isle of Wight which closed in December 2009. It was first launched on 1 February 2009 and initially included high-profile radio DJs such as David Hamilton, Paul Burnett, Mike Read and Howard Pearce among others. Its main sponsorship and form of...
(this was voicetracked
Voice-tracking
Voice-tracking, also called cyber jocking and referred to sometimes colloquially as a robojock, is a technique employed by some radio stations in radio broadcasting to produce the illusion of a live disc jockey or announcer sitting in the radio studios of the station when one is not actually...
). He also presented a regular slot called "Dancing Through The Decades" on Saturday evenings between 6 and 10pm on KCFM.
In October 2009 Read was reported to be part of a team of veteran DJs forming a new radio station One Gold to rival the BBC.
In November 2009 Mike began hosting a mid-morning show on the TotalStar
TotalStar
Total Star is the brand name of a radio station based in Cheltenham broadcasting in Gloucestershire owned by Storm Radio Ltd. It is the licence holder for the Cheltenham and Tewkesbury licence issued by Ofcom...
network in the west of England.
Read has won many 'broadcaster of the year' awards including Sonys
Sony Radio Academy Awards
The Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy...
, Smash Hits
Smash Hits Poll Winners Party
The Smash Hits Poll Winners Party was an awards ceremony which ran from 1988 to 2005. Each award winner was voted by readers of the Smash Hits magazine. It ended with the closure of the magazine in February 2006....
and Carl Alan Awards
Carl Alan Awards
The Carl Alan Awards is an awards event held annually in the United Kingdom and honouring people who have made a significant contribution to the dance and theatre industry, such as teachers, performers and choreographers...
.
From 1 November 2010, he returned to BigL with a daily show from 8am-12pm Mon-Fri.
From July 2011, He has hosted the Golden Hour on both More Radio (Swindon & Wiltshire) and More Star (Cheltenham & Gloucestershire), weekdays at 9am and repeated at 9pm
Television
He combined his radio work with a second career as a TV presenter, hosting the popular 1980s Saturday morning programme Saturday SuperstoreSaturday Superstore
Saturday Superstore was a children's television series, broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 until 1987. It was shown on Saturday mornings with presenters including Mike Read, Sarah Greene, Keith Chegwin and John Craven. The show was very similar to its predecessor Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.A regular spot on...
, 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
Trivia
The trivia are the three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, rhetoric and logic. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education, of interest only to undergraduates...
questions. The show spawned board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
and computer game spin-offs. The penultimate episode of Pop Quiz in 1984 featured a face-off between pop bands Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
and Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, and in 1994 he returned to host a one-off special of the show for the anniversary of Top Of The Pops. The format was revived twice, firstly in 1994 by the BBC with Chris Tarrant as the host, and then in June 2008 a revamped Pop Quiz, filmed without a studio audience and in a pub (rather than a television studio) in which the participants were members of the public, aired on Red TV
RED TV
RED TV may refer to:*Red TV, a UK-based television channel*Red Televisión, a Chilean television channel...
. This was, again hosted by Read.
Additionally, he presented UK Gold's TV genre quiz Goldmaster in 1997, having also presented Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
on many occasions between 1978 and 1989, and hosted Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
's children's series Pop Quest from 1977 to 1979.
In 2004, Read was one of the contestants recruited for the jungle-based ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! though his stay in the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n outback
Outback
The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
was short-lived — he was the first celebrity to be evicted by the viewing public. He is a regular newspaper reviewer for Sky News.
Songwriting
Read wrote and performed the pop-punk song "High Rise" (based on his Radio One intro jingle) in 1979 under the guise of "The Trainspotters".Read wrote lyrics to Simon May
Simon May
Simon May is a British musician and composer, best known for composing some of British television's best known theme tunes, including EastEnders and Howards' Way, and for composing the music for the 1988 film The Dawning....
's TRIC Award
Television and Radio Industries Club
The Television and Radio Industries Club is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries"...
-winning Trainer
Trainer (TV series)
Trainer is a British television series transmitted by the BBC between 1991 and 1992.Filmed in and around the village of Compton near Newbury, the series is set in the world of horse racing. It starred Mark Greenstreet as Mike Hardy, an aspiring horse trainer keen to set up his own stables...
TV theme. The resulting UK Top 30
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
single, "More to Life", was performed by Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
. Read provided a guest rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
on Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
's 1991 UK Top 30 hit Radio Wall Of Sound.
After I'm a Celebrity..., Read recorded a charity single when he lyrically re-worked Hank Mizell's Jungle Rock and as The Jungle Boys (with Neil 'Razor' Ruddock
Neil Ruddock
Neil "Razor" Ruddock is a retired English footballer, who played as a central defender.He made his debut at Millwall , and he had a long career playing for Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton, Liverpool, West Ham, Crystal Palace, and finally a short-lived spell as a player/coach at Swindon Town Neil...
and Lord Charlie Brocket
Charles Nall-Cain, 3rd Baron Brocket
Charles Ronald George Nall-Cain, 3rd Baron Brocket , also known as Charlie Brocket, is a peer, former prisoner and television presenter in the United Kingdom....
had a UK Top 30 hit single. The follow-up, which made the top 75 was a new version of Mungo Jerry's
Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry is an English rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted by Ray Dorset. They are remembered above all for their hit "In the Summertime". It remains their most successful and most...
In The Summertime. In 2005, Read's song Grief Never Grows Old featured on a charity recording in aid of victims of the 2004 Tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
. Performed by an ensemble of artists named One World Project
One World Project
One World Project was a musical supergroup which recorded a song for the 2004 Asian Tsunami relief effort. It featured Russell Watson, Boy George, Steve Winwood, Barry Gibb, Brian Wilson, Cliff Richard, Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Robin Gibb on vocals with Jeffrey Foskett and Randell Kirsch...
, the single reached Number 4 in the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Read has written music to accompany many poems written by John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
. Thirty of these songs were recorded by artists including Cliff Richard, David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...
, and Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
for the 2006 various artists' album Words/Music, and subsequently re-released in 2008 as a double CD titled Sound of Poetry.
Musicals
Read has had many musicals on stage, including Young Apollo, Oscar, (which closed after one performance), Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Cliff - The MusicalCliff - The Musical
Cliff - The Musical was a musical based on the life of Sir Cliff Richard which was staged at The Prince of Wales Theatre, London from 17 March 2003 to June 2003. The show was written by Mike Read and Trevor Payne, with Payne directing...
(which closed after three months) and Ricky Nelson...Teenage Idol. He took one of the lead roles in the Cliff Musical, touring with it and appearing for the three month run in the West End at The Prince 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 Leukaemia. Eminent actors appearing in his musicals and shows have included Nyree Dawn Porter, Brian Glover
Brian Glover
Brian Glover was an English character actor, writer and wrestler. Glover was a professional wrestler, teacher, and finally a film, television and stage actor. He once said, "You play to your strengths in this game. My strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman".-Early life:Glover was...
, Colin Baker
Colin Baker
Colin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
, Anton Rogers, Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
, Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...
and Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Cribbins, OBE is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active...
.
Books and 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.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.
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 BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, his own take on the iconic map of the London Underground, and works based on the paintings of L.S. Lowry http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7027828.stm. 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.
Stalkers
Read had a stalkerStalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
who had changed her name to Blue Tulip Rose Read
Blue Tulip Rose Read
Blue Tulip Rose Read was the infamous stalker of British TV and radio personality Mike Read. She was featured in a film made by Jaine Green for Channel Four in 1996 entitled "I'm Your Number One Fan." The film was run as part of Channel Four's "Fame Factor" season, which examined the dark side of...
and believed that she was married to him. Rose appeared in a 1996 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary as part of a fame theme night.
Politics
Having spoken three times at Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
conferences, including in 2006 entertaining guests at a Tory conference dinner with a ten minute political rap, Read claims he was asked to run for the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
nomination for the London Mayoral elections in 2008
London mayoral election, 2008
The London mayoral election, 2008 for the office of Mayor of London was held on 1 May 2008 and was won by Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson....
. His article announcing that he was instead putting his energies behind Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
's ultimately successful candidacy, published on The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's Comment is Free blog on 17 July 2007, attracted a then record 1,132 comments, most of them derisive.
The Rupert Brooke Society
In 1999, Read 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.2009 Christmas Charity Single
Mike Read promoted a Christmas Charity Single - released on 6 December 2009 called "My Christmas Card To You". Proceeds were promised to 'The Shooting Star Children's Hospice'. The single was written by Mike Read, Elliott Frisby and Roy WoodRoy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...
of Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
. The music video also featured Dave Hill
Dave Hill
Dave Hill is an English musician, who is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist in the English glam rock group, Slade. The music journalist, Stuart Maconie, commented "he usually wore a jumpsuit made of the foil that you baste your turkeys in and platforms of oil-rig-derrick height...
of Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
, David Hamilton and Mr. Christmas The single failed to chart, and at its peak was the 80,397th most popular track on amazon.co.uk. It is unclear how much money the project raised for charity.
Cash in the Celebrity Attic
In 2011, Read featured in Cash in the Celebrity Attic with Lorne SpicerLorne Spicer
Lorne Spicer is an English television presenter best known for presenting reality shows on the BBC's current daytime output....
and expert John Cameron
John Cameron
-Life and academic career:Cameron was born at Glasgow and received his early education in his native city. After having taught Greek in the university for twelve months, he removed to Bordeaux, where he was soon appointed a regent in the college of Bergerac. He did not remain long at Bordeaux, but...
search for antiques and collectibles at musician and DJ Mike Read's home in the Cotswolds
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
. The items they find will be used to raise funds for a memorial to Britain's Bomber Command of the Second World War, and include Charlie Drake
Charlie Drake
Charlie Drake was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.With his small stature , curly red hair and liking for slapstick he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally-known for his "Hello, my darlings" catchphrase...
memorabilia and artwork made of chocolate and candy.