Michael Edgar Oliver (20 July 1937 – 1 December 2002) was a BBC broadcaster, writer and journalist on classical music. Born in Hammersmith, the son of a music-loving plumber, Oliver was educated at St Clement Danes Grammar School, then in North Kensington, at Isleworth Polytechnic and at the London School of Printing. As a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

, rather than perform

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

Oliver opted to work in a hospital, both in the mortuary and the kitchen. Later, as a member of CND, he was arrested during a demonstration, and for refusing to pay the fine spent some time in

Brixton Prison HM Prison Brixton is a Category C training establishment men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner- South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Before 2012, it was used as a loca ...

. Before becoming a broadcaster, he pursued, as he put it, "a dozen other trades and professions" during the 1950s and 60s including selling radiators, and working for the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

while spending as much time as possible attending concerts. His other occupation was librarianship. Oliver presented

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

's ''Music Weekly'' programme (1975–90), and also was a presenter of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

'' (1974–87).Author's biographical note ''Settling The Score'', Faber & Faber 1999 The author of several books, including biographies of

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

, he was also a regular contributor to '' The Gramophone'', '' Classic CD'', '' Classic Record Collector'' and ''

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original owner and publisher together with ...

''. He was also founding editor of ''International Opera Collector'', a subsidiary of ''The Gramophone'', started in 1996 but closed after only 13 issues, as a consequence of the sale of all the Gramophone magazines in July 1999.

Bibliography

* "Two Welsh Composers: Alun Hoddinott and William Mathias"; "Miscellany: Justin Connolly - Jonathan Harvey - Roger Smalley - Anthony Payne - Tristram Cary - Anthony Milner - Christopher Headington - Robin Holloway - David Ellis" in ''British Music Now: A Guide to the Work of Younger Composers'', ed. Lewis Foreman, 1975. London: Paul Elek. * ''Igor Stravinsky'', 1995. London: Phaidon * ''Benjamin Britten'', 1996. London: Phaidon * ''Settling the Score: A Journey through the Music of the 20th Century'', 1999. London: Faber & Faber

Notes

1937 births 2002 deaths Alumni of the London College of Printing People from Hammersmith Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham BBC Radio 3 presenters English music critics English biographers 20th-century British biographers Stravinsky scholars Britten scholars People educated at St. Clement Danes School {{BBC-radio-stub