Michael David Bishop, Baron Glendonbrook (born 10 February 1942) is a British-Australian businessman and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

who rose to prominence as owner of the airline BMI. He sold his stake in the airline to

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

on 1 July 2009 and () had an estimated personal fortune of £280

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

. He was one of the UK's first openly gay senior executives.

Early life

Michael Bishop was born in Bowdon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. The son of a factory boss, he was given a pleasure flight at the age of six. In 1949 his parents took him on an

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

flight to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in search of chocolate, a rarity during post-war

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

. Educated at the independent Mill Hill School in north

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he enjoyed flying and as a result took a series of school holiday jobs with an aerial photographer.

British Midland

In 1963, Bishop joined the ground handling operation of Manchester-based Mercury Airlines, a schedule and charter airline, which was taken over by British Midland Airways (later re-branded as BMI) in October 1964. Bishop joined British Midland, and rose to become General Manager of the airline in 1969 and managing director in 1972. In 1978, the London-based Minster Assets investment group, which owned British Midland, decided to sell its stake. With the help of an entrepreneurial

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

n dentist, Bishop raised £2.5 million to lead a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

, and was subsequently appointed chairman. He later said: "I had to borrow the money from an American citizen. Most venture capitalists want a return of 40% to make up for all their other failures, and they want an exit strategy." From 1969 he was the key driving force behind the steady growth of the airline, which held 11% of the landing and take-off slots at

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingd ...

, second only to

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

, and had a route network spanning Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Bishop formerly held a controlling 50% + 1 share stake of BMI, with German airline

holding 30% minus 1 share, and SAS Airlines a further 20%. In October 2008, under a deal agreed in 1999 as part of the package for BMI to join the

Star Alliance Star Alliance is an airline alliance headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. Founded on 14 May 1997, it was the world's first global airline alliance. Star Alliance has 25 member airlines that operate a combined fleet of over 5,000 aircraft, servi ...

, Bishop agreed to sell his 50% stake to Lufthansa for an undisclosed sum, though reports suggested it was about £318m. BDLH (Lufthansa's holding vehicle) acquired Bishop's share on 1 July 2009, assuming full control of the company.

Honours and appointments

Between 1991 and 1993, Bishop was deputy chairman of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television, becoming chairman from 1993 to 1997. He was also a board member at Sir Nigel Rudd's Williams plc., and deputy chairman at Airtours. In 1986, he was appointed CBE, and in 1991 he was knighted. The

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

awarded him an honorary

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(LL.D) degree on 12 July 2007. In an annual survey by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' of the UK's most influential gay men and women, Bishop was ranked as number 5 in 2005 and number 6 in 2006. In February 2011, Bishop was created a

as Baron Glendonbrook, of Bowdon in the County of

, and was introduced in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

the next month, where he sits as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

. Bishop was appointed Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to the not-for-profit sector through philanthropic support".

Arms

Personal life

Bishop is openly gay and, since 2008, has spoken out publicly about gay rights and success in the workplace. He is often referred to as "dapper" by the press, to note his keen sense of elegance. He has been a member of the Conservative Party since the age of 17. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company due to his personal financial sponsorship. Bishop lives in London and at Bruern Abbey, West Oxfordshire. Since purchasing the 18th-century country house on the Bruern site in 2013, he has completely refurbished it, installing a "large and impressive

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

stone staircase and twenty-five kilometres of data cabling" and an underground car park. Bishop is a member of the Lord Lyon Society.

References

* British Independent Airlines since 1946, Merseyside Aviation Society, Liverpool, 1976, {{DEFAULTSORT:Glendonbrook, Michael Bishop, Baron 1942 births Living people People educated at Mill Hill School Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Businesspeople in aviation English LGBTQ businesspeople People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Order of Australia Knights Bachelor British Midland International Conservative Party (UK) life peers Gay businessmen English gay politicians LGBTQ life peers Chairmen of Channel 4 Life peers created by Elizabeth II