Michael Barratt (television Presenter)
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Michael Fieldhouse Barratt (3 January 1928 – 10 July 2022) was an English television presenter and journalist. He was best known for his period as the main presenter of '' Nationwide'' from 1969 to 1977.


Early life

Michael Barratt was born in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
,
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
. His father, Wallace Barratt, was a tax inspector, while Doris, his mother died of tuberculosis when Michael was aged six. Barratt was educated at
Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania ...
, an independent boys' school near
Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, and at
Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. The school is recognised as one of Scotland ...
in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. After leaving school and learning shorthand, he joined
Kemsley Newspapers James Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, GBE (7 May 1883 – 6 February 1968) was a Welsh colliery owner and newspaper publisher. Background Berry was born the son of John Mathias and Mary Ann (née Rowe) Berry, of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. He wa ...
in Glasgow, beginning as a tea boy and horoscope writer on the '' Sunday Mail''. By 18, he was chief sub-editor on the sports pages of the '' Daily Record''. Moving south, in 1952 he became sports editor on the ''Loughborough Monitor'' in Leicestershire, where he met Joan Warner, who would become his first wife. In 1956, he moved to
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
for a year having been appointed as the assistant editor of the ''Nigerian Citizen'' in
Zaria Zaria is a List of Nigerian cities by population, metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna State, Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau, Zazzau Emirate ...
. Barratt also worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service beginning a discussion programme on politics. Following his return to the UK, he worked as a production journalist on several English regional newspapers including a period at the '' Wolverhampton Express & Star''. At the same time, he contributed regularly to the BBC World Service and began a freelance television reporting career, initially on the Midlands regional current affairs magazine ''Scan'' which had begun by 1961. and then as a freelance reporter on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
current affairs programme ''
Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is produ ...
''.


Career from 1963

Barratt joined '' Panorama'' in 1963 as a reporter and was much influenced, he said, by its lead presenter
Richard Dimbleby Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster, who became the BBC's first war correspondent, and then its leading TV news commentator. As host of the long-running current affairs ...
. He was sent to cover international stories, which included an interview with
Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schweit ...
. After two years on ''Panorama'', he was asked to help establish '' 24 Hours''. He was a '' Nationwide'' presenter from 1969 to 1977. Its creator, editor of television news Derrick Amoore, recognised the regional news programmes could help maintain an audience which had previously fallen away. ''Nationwide'' reached an of 11 million each evening at its height. "A lot of people at the BBC thought ''Nationwide'' was a scatty idea,” he once said. “It was live television taking in all 11 regions of the country, which was unheard of at the time... things went drastically wrong technically. For the first three months we had egg on our faces every night. We were close to being a laughing stock." He was chairman of
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''
Gardeners' Question Time ''Gardeners' Question Time'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts. History The first programme was broadcast in the North and Northern Ireland Home Service of the BBC at 2 ...
'' from 1973 to 1977. He was also a presenter of '' Songs of Praise''. Later, he worked on
Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...
's ''Reporting London'' in the 1980s. He appeared, as himself, in the film '' The Magic Christian''. He regulalrly appeared on ''
The Goodies The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940–12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their eponymous television com ...
,'' playing himself as a serious newsreader. In one episode, which was dedicated to punk rock, Barratt was depicted reading the news with a large safety-pin through his nose. In 1972, he was elected
Rector of the University of Aberdeen The Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen is the students' representative and chairman in the University Court of the University of Aberdeen. The position is rarely known by its full title and most often referred to simply as "Rector". The r ...
. Barratt wrote several books including ''Michael Barratt's Complete Gardening Guide'', ''Michael Barratt'', ''Making the Most of the Media'', and ''Making the Most of Retirement''. His autobiography, ''Mr. Nationwide'', was published in 2012.


Personal life

He married twice and had nine children: # Joan Warner (3 sons and 3 daughters); marriage dissolved. # ''Nationwide'' presenter Dilys Morgan on 7 August 1977. (2 sons and 1 daughter). Barratt died in the Thames Hospice in Berkshire on 10 July 2022, aged 94.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barratt, Michael 1928 births 2022 deaths BBC people British reporters and correspondents English television presenters Panorama (British TV programme) People educated at Rossall School People educated at Paisley Grammar School People from Leeds Rectors of the University of Aberdeen British expatriates in Nigeria Television personalities from Yorkshire