Michael Robertson (born 14 February 1946 in

Petworth Petworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex, Heat ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

) is a former presenter of the ITV

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

magazine programme ''

Magpie Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent c ...

''.

Early career

He attended

Midhurst Grammar School Midhurst Grammar School was a grammar school and later a comprehensive upper school in Midhurst, West Sussex. The school served pupils aged 11 to 18 who usually joined the school from one of the local intermediate schools. It was replaced in 2 ...

and trained as a teacher before working in a London play scheme. He then worked as a researcher for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

Children's TV

He co-presented ''

'' from 1972 to 1980, then went on to present an out of school activity programme called '' Freetime''. When ''Freetime'' was dropped by ITV in 1985, he helped to establish

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, Asia and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat satellite ...

, where he presented a show called ''Roustabout''. Since the 1980s he has produced television programmes for children, including the series '' Wise Up'' and ''Blunt'', and has won several

Children's BAFTA The British Academy Children's Awards were presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They were awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Academy ...

s. In 2007, he was awarded the Special Award Children's BAFTA for his work in television. Accepting his award he said

References

External links

* * 1946 births Living people People from Petworth English television presenters People educated at Midhurst Grammar School {{UK-tv-bio-stub