Mike Bushell (born 11 December 1965) is an English sports presenter for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He presents sport on ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

''. Bushell has participated in many different sports on his Saturday morning slot on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and on the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

. In 2019, he was a contestant in series 17 of the television dance show ''Strictly Come Dancing''. He was the seventh contestant to be eliminated alongside his professional dance partner Katya Jones.

Early life, education and career

Bushell was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, he spent his teenage years in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

after growing up in northern

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, attending school in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

and Ashwell. He played chess for Hertfordshire and ran in the county cross country team. In 1977 his family moved to

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

and he went to

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

at Granby High School. He went on to join the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

. In 1982, he took part in the game show ''It's A Knockout'', representing Winchester in two games of a domestic heat, but his team finished bottom of three. In 1990, after stints on the '' Derby Evening Telegraph'' and the '' Windsor and Slough Observer'', he gained his first broadcasting job at BBC Radio Solent as a trainee reporter. He then moved to television, as a news, sport and entertainment reporter–presenter for '' BBC South Today'' before joining the BBC News channel, and later ''BBC Breakfast''.

Career

Bushell presents the sport on ''

'' on Fridays at the weekends, and sometimes on other weekdays. Bushell tries many different sports on his Saturday morning slot, on BBC One, in which he tries to "inspire people off the sofa", to "be more active" and "try a new activity". His features often include tips from sporting figures such as

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...

Colin Montgomerie Colin Stuart Montgomerie (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour PGA European Tour#Order of Merit winners, Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutive ones from 1993 to 1 ...

and

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British sailing (sport), competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at four ...

. He has his own web page: Bushell's Best, on the pages of the BBC News website.Mike Bushell Profile
BBC Breakfast website. Retrieved 28 September 2019. For

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...

in 2012, he set the world record for travelling across water in a large inflatable ball. In June 2013, his first book ''Bushell's Best Bits'' was published. He has been with the

BBC News channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

since its launch in 1997, and appeared on '' Celebrity Mastermind'' on 28 December 2013. On 11 April 2018, during a live broadcast at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Bushell accidentally fell into a swimming pool after not noticing a large drop from a step he was standing on whilst interviewing some of the English swimming team, including Adam Peaty. Due to water damage, his microphone eventually stopped working and coverage had to revert to the studios. In January 2018, Bushell participated in ''

And They're Off! ''And They're Off!'' (also known as ''And They're Off!... for Sport Relief'') is a British television programme hosted by Ore Oduba with commentary from Dave Lamb and demonstrations from Daryll Neita and is shown on BBC One, featuring contestants ...

'' in aid of

. Bushell was a contestant on series 17 of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' and was paired with Katya Jones. They were the seventh couple to be eliminated from the competition after losing out in a dance-off.

Personal life

Bushell has three daughters from his first marriage to Kim Payne; they divorced in 2009 after 16 years. He resides in Overton, Hampshire. Bushell plays football and is a runner with the Hash House Harriers. He is a fan of

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bushell, Mike Living people BBC World News Alumni of the University of Winchester National Youth Theatre members People from Ashwell, Hertfordshire BBC sports presenters and reporters 1965 births People from Hitchin