Michael John Bailey (27 October 194920 June 2021) was an Australian television and radio weather presenter, journalism educator, political aspirant and football club chairman.

Early life

Bailey was raised in the Sydney suburb of Sefton and educated at De La Salle College, Bankstown (1959–1965) and later De La Salle College, Ashfield (1966–1967).

Television and radio career

He was the longtime presenter of the weekday

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the t ...

segment of the ABC

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountai ...

edition of the 7:00 p.m.

news bulletin Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...

, which is also relayed to major parts of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He also spent 13 years presenting the weather and, on occasions, the news for Sydney's Channel 7. Bailey was also a lecturer in radio journalism at Macleay College in Sydney, and a noted MC and guest speaker. Before entering politics, Bailey discussed the weather on weekday afternoons with Richard Glover on ABC Radio Sydney 702. He mentioned that one of his jobs as a young man was "Savings Sam", spruiking, among other things, ladies' underwear outside a Sydney department store.

Political candidate

On 22 May 2007, it was announced that Bailey had been approached to stand for

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms th ...

preselection for the seat of North Sydney to challenge the sitting member,

Joe Hockey Joseph Benedict Hockey (born 2 August 1965) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for North Sydney from 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Abbott Government from 18 September 20 ...

, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, in the upcoming Australian federal election. He subsequently resigned from the ABC. Bailey received an 8.4 percent primary and 4.7 percent two-party swing, but fell significantly short.

Later career

Bailey later presented the weather for '' Nine News Sydney'' on Fridays and Saturdays and '' Nine News Afternoon Edition'' weather on Fridays. When he went on holiday in early 2009, he was told not to return. Having been a lifelong supporter of the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly ...

, Bailey became the Chairman of the Wests Tigers NRL Club (Wests Ashfield Leagues) in 2011, as appointed by the Wests Group stakeholders in the joint venture club.

Personal life and death

Bailey was married from 1986 to his passing to Helena Bailey, a former television presenter between 1978 and 1987 of the localised version of children's television program ''

Romper Room ''Romper Room'' is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers (children five years of age or younger), and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his ...

'', where she was billed as 'Miss Helena'. They had one son, Michael. Bailey died on 20 June 2021, aged 71, from a stroke after three weeks in a coma.

Footnotes

External links

Storm over Bailey's cushy job
''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 30 March 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Mike 1949 births 2021 deaths ABC News (Australia) presenters Seven News presenters Nine News presenters Australian television journalists People from New South Wales Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia