Michael Aspel

Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television presenter, radio host and journalist whose career spanned more than six decades. Born in Battersea, London, England, he spent part of his childhood evacuated to Chard, Somerset during the Second World War and later attended Emanuel School after passing his eleven‑plus in 1944. After completing national service with the King's Royal Rifle Corps (1951‑1953), Aspel worked a series of modest jobs – from drain‑pipe‑laying and gardening to selling advertising for the Western Mail and a teaboy stint at William Collins – before breaking into broadcasting as a newsreader for the BBC in Cardiff in 1957. By the early 1960s he had become one of the four regular national newsreaders on BBC television, sharing the desk with Richard Baker, Robert Dougall and Corbet Woodall, and began fronting popular programmes such as Come Dancing, Crackerjack! and Ask Aspel. He also narrated the iconic colour‑television installation film for BBC2 and the Oscar‑winning documentary The War Game, cementing his reputation as a versatile voice of the nation.