Mike is a sport presenter for the BBC primarily working on flagship morning show BBC Breakfast. He is the longest serving sport presenter in the programme’s history. Mike has also appeared on BBC World, BBC One’s Six and Ten o’ Clock news, BBC Radio 5 live, and Radio 2 alongside Chris Evans and Sara Cox. Mike commentated on Radio 2 as Vernon Kay completed his Children in Need 2023 challenge. He has also guest presented for Blue Peter and Saturday Mash up on CBBC. Mike holds the world record for trying out the highest number of different sports. He regularly participates in sports from around the country and the world on his Saturday slot on Breakfast, where he seeks to...
Mike is a sport presenter for the BBC primarily working on flagship morning show BBC Breakfast. He is the longest serving sport presenter in the programme’s history.
Mike has also appeared on BBC World, BBC One’s Six and Ten o’ Clock news, BBC Radio 5 live, and Radio 2 alongside Chris Evans and Sara Cox. Mike commentated on Radio 2 as Vernon Kay completed his Children in Need 2023 challenge. He has also guest presented for Blue Peter and Saturday Mash up on CBBC.
Mike holds the world record for trying out the highest number of different sports. He regularly participates in sports from around the country and the world on his Saturday slot on Breakfast, where he seeks to inspire the audience to be more active, regardless of their ability. The different sports have included everything from wing walking, backwards running, Kinball, Quidditch, worm charming and shin-kicking. In 2019 he ran in a 60 metres Grand Prix against top sprinters for a BBC Breakfast and UK athletics experiment. He came last with a time of 9.27 seconds. He has also sailed with Sir Ben Ainslie, played tennis against Novak Djokovic and had a round of golf with Luke Donald – among many more adventures. Mike has covered the Olympics, football and rugby and cricket World Cups. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he helped to save the iconic giant mechanical bull.
Mike is also famous for accidentally falling over in a swimming pool while broadcasting live from Australia’s Gold Coast and interviewing swimmers like Adam Peaty. The clip became an internet sensation and made the news all over the world and is one of the most watched sport bloopers of all time. It’s less well known that when training with the Olympic gold medallist Ben Maher, he fell from a show jumping horse!
Mike took part in the 2019 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering with Katya Jones finishing 7th out of 15 and defying all expectations. He then went on to dance on the Strictly live tour.
Mike has won Celebrity Mastermind; his specialist subject was Alan Partridge. He has also won Celebrity Catchpoint, Weakest Link, and Pointless and has appeared on Richard Osman’s House of Games, all on BBC, and has taken part in The Chase Celebrity Special on ITV. He also sang on BBC One’s “Hear My Voice” for Children in Need.
Mike began his career as a drama student, spending four years with the National Youth Theatre. He then moved on to journalism – first to newspapers and then to BBC local radio, presenting the news, before settling on television at BBC TV South Today. There he also hosted a 40-part history programme, South 2000 and an entertainment slot called What’s On.
He regularly plays in celebrity charity football and cricket matches for the Lord Taverners and basketball’s Hoops Aid. He’s also been part of celebrity cycling teams for Sport Relief at the London and Manchester velodromes. Long distance running is his specialty and has run the London marathon twice. In 1981 aged just 15 he ran 175 miles in 6 days as part of a challenge to raise money for the international year of disabled people.
Mike has hosted for cruises and at dozens of award nights and is known for his boundless energy and entertaining, unique, and accessible style. His trademark is his game of ‘Sport or Spoof’, a crowd warm-up tool in which audiences try to guess whether what Mike is describing is a real sport or an invention.
Mike is known for his down to earth, humorous, and self-deprecating style. He runs often, and plays padel tennis, pickleball, football and cricket. He has been in a couple of rock bands and likes to sing.
