Michael Bateman (25 March 1932 – 26 March 2006) was a British journalist and author best known for his writing and editing on food. He was an award-winning author and was described as groundbreaking by a former chairwoman of the Guild of Food Writers.
Early life
The illegitimate son of a cabaret artiste Barbara Lunnon and Geoffrey Bateman, he was brought up by his grandparents in Littlehampton, Sussex.
After rejoining his mother he attended
Abingdon School
Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...
from 1944 to 1951, where he was an all round sportsman playing for the first X1 cricket and hockey teams, the athletics team and the first XV rugby team. In addition he was a Prefect and was the runner-up in the Van Wagenen Esssay Prize. Bateman did his national service before gaining an English scholarship at
Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...
.
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Career
It was during his time in the army posted in Hong Kong that he gained an interest in food. After marrying Jane Deverson in 1963 they went to live in Alicante before he found work as a journalist with the Westminster Press, Oxford Mail and Durham Advertiser and then Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
. In 1967 he began work for The Sunday Times and became editor for the Lifespan section. He specialised in writing about food and wrote Cooking People in 1966, which gained national attention.[
In 1981 he became editor for the Express magazine as food editor and in 1982 wrote The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread which increased national wholemeal bread consumption by 5%.][ This turned into a book called The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread. He wrote several other books and continued to write newspaper articles becoming an eminent and admired food writer. He was the food writer for The Independent on Sunday from 1990 and won many awards including the Glenfiddich Food Writer of the Year in 2000.][
He died in 2006, three years after a car accident outside his home in Norfolk, which had caused complications. His collection of international cookery books and papers regarding his career are held Leeds University Library's Cookery Collection.]
Awards
2000 Food Writer of the Year
Selected Books by Bateman
* Funny Way to Earn a Living, 1966 (pre ISBN)
* Cooking People, 1966 (pre ISBN)
* The World's Best Food, 1981
* The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread, 1982
* Round the World in Recipes, 1993
* Street Cafe Brazil, 1999
* The World of Spice, 2003
See also
* List of Old Abingdonians
Old Abingdonians are former pupils of Abingdon School or, in some cases, Honorary Old Abingdonians who have been awarded the status based on service to the School. The Old Abingdonians also run the Old Abingdonian Club (OA club) which is an organ ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bateman, Michael
1932 births
2006 deaths
Bateman, Michael
People educated at Abingdon School
Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford