Michael Dean (15 May 1933 – 5 October 2015) was a New Zealand-born television broadcaster from the 1960s to the 1980s, best known for his work for the BBC in the United Kingdom, but who worked in his native New Zealand and in Australia.

Biography

Born in Palmerston North in 1933, Dean was the son of Mavis Eileen Dean (née Mason) and her husband, general practitioner Kenrick Holt Dean, a grandson of Robert Holt. He was educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School and joined the local newspaper as a cadet journalist. Aged 20, he became ill with tuberculosis and spent a period in a sanatorium. He spent a year in South Africa as a newspaper sports reporter in Cape Town, before returning to New Zealand to work for the

New Zealand Broadcasting Service Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

. After a period in Sydney, Dean moved to the United Kingdom and was a presenter for eight years on the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

discussion programme ''

Late Night Line-Up ''Late Night Line-Up'' was a pioneering British television discussion programme broadcast on BBC2 between 1964 and 1972. Background From its launch in April 1964, BBC2 began each evening's transmission with a programme called ''Line-Up'', a ten- ...

''. During the early 1970s he made television documentaries on such figures as George Formby,

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Following the cancellation of ''Late Night Line-Up'' in 1972, Dean returned to New Zealand where he hosted the eponymous television chat show ''Dean on Sunday'', before once again moving to Australia where he worked for the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

and anchored that broadcaster's

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

coverage. Subsequently, he returned to the BBC in Britain and was a reporter on programmes such as '' Man Alive'' and ''

40 Minutes ''40 Minutes'' was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, ''Forty Minutes On''. See also * Sixty Minutes (British TV prog ...

''. In 1968, Dean married Christine Collins, an actress, and they had two children, Rachel and Emily. In 2019, Emily published her memoir, ''Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog'', detailing her childhood experiences including her strained relationship with her father following his leaving the family and the deaths of her sister, father and mother. In later life, Dean was afflicted by dementia. He died on 5 October 2015. His ex-wife Christine had died months earlier in February 2015; while his daughter Rachel had died of cancer in 2012. He was survived by his daughter Emily and two grandchildren through his daughter Rachel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Michael 1933 births 2015 deaths People from Palmerston North People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School New Zealand television presenters British television presenters Australian television presenters