RADIO DJ AND TELEVISION PRESENTER AND WRITER

Mike Read was born in 1951 in Manchester and began his show business career singing and playing guitar in local pubs.

He moved South to Surrey and did Hospital Radio before commencing his professional broadcasting career on the Thames Valley Radio Station where he co-hosted a show with Steve Wright, then moved on to Radio Luxembourg.

He joined Radio 1 in November 1978 where he presented a Saturday evening show and the same year became one of the hosts of Top of the Pops, and he also hosted the Pop Quiz Saturday Superstore. He then presented the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, a five-year stint which lasted until 1986. Following the Breakfast Show, he took over a Sunday morning show, followed by a Sunday afternoon show playing classic tracks. From January 1989 to September 1990 he presented a Monday evening show entitled The Mike Read Collection.

After Mike left Radio 1 in 1991 he moved to Capital Gold presenting The Mike Read Collection, followed by the Weekday Drivetime show between 1992 and 1995.

Mike has written the music, lyrics and/or book, for 6 stage musicals including Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. He has had many songs recorded by major artists such as Cliff Richard, Don McLean and David Essex. In 2004 he presented on Magic Radio 999.

Mike is one of the founder editors of the “Guinness Book of British Hit Singles” which is probably one of the best-known UK chart reference books.

He is also the author of “Major to Minor: The Rise and Fall of the Songwriters”, and wrote “Read’s Musical Reciter” which is a collection of trivia from the music business.

In January 2004 Mike took part in the popular ITV reality jungle show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! with nine other UK celebrities including singers John Lydon and Peter Andre. He was first to be voted out of the charity money raising show after eight days in the Australian outback.

In January 2007 Mike stepped up his campaign to be the Conservative candidate for major in 2008 and said that he was seeking financial backers.

In April 2010, Mike appeared on “Heston’s Feasts” (C4), a series where Heston Blumenthal set out to show that food should be fun, discovering forgotten flavours and ingredients.

Mike appeared on “Celebrity Ghost Stories” (Bio. Channel UK) on 19th May 2011.

Mike presented the “Golden Hour” on Total Star FM weekdays between 10am and 11am (107.5FM).

Mike presented “Tin Pan Alley” (Showbiz TV) a TV series searching for new songwriters in October 2016.

Mike presented the afternoon show on BBC Radio Berkshire Monday to Friday, 1.00 to 4.00pm until March 2015.