Mike Osman (born August 1959) is an English radio presenter,

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and entertainer. He was born in

Millbrook, Southampton Millbrook is a suburb and former civil parish of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. As the area developed, several settlements grew within the parish, some of them becoming parishes in their own right, thus reducing the ...

as the fourth of seven brothers. After leaving Millbrook Community Secondary School at 16, he was briefly an apprentice metal-worker before joining the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

as a marine engineer and mechanic. He left the Navy in 1982 before joining the family roof tiling business. In his spare time, he started working in holiday camps and clubs as a semi-professional entertainer, before turning full-time in 1984.

Entertainment career

In 1985, he joined ITV's '' Copy Cats'' as an impressionist, working alongside

Gary Wilmot Harold Owen "Gary" Wilmot, MBE (born 8 May 1954) is a British actor who rose to fame as a contestant on ''New Faces''. As a television presenter, he is best known as the host of '' You and Me'', ''So You Want To Be Top'' and ''Showstoppers''. ...

and

Bobby Davro Robert Christopher Nankeville, known professionally as Bobby Davro (born 13 September 1958), is an English actor and comedian. He made his television debut in 1981 followed by breakthrough in ''Live from Her Majesty's'' (1983); this was follo ...

. Over the next few years he had roles in

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer from Northern Ireland. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regula ...

's ''Sunday Sunday'' show, ''

The Generation Game ''The Generation Game'' is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family, but different generations, compete to win prizes. The game There are eight competitors, hence the catchphrase "Let's me ...

'', ''

Noel's House Party ''Noel's House Party'' is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 20 March 1999 on BBC One and ...

'' and ''

Big Break ''Big Break'' is a British game show that aired on BBC1 from 30 April 1991 to 9 October 2002 and was hosted by Jim Davidson with John Virgo as referee. The programme focuses on teams consisting of a contestant and a professional snooker player ...

'', and also as a guest on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

. He also did summer tours with

Jim Davidson James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows '' Big Break'' and '' The Generation Game''. In 2014 he was the winner of the 13th series of ''Cel ...

and

Russ Abbot Russell Allan Abbot (born Russell Allan Roberts; 18 September 1947) is an English musician, actor and comedian. Born in Chester, he first came to public notice during the 1970s as the singer and drummer with British comedy showband the Black A ...

. In the early 1990s, Osman became an after-dinner speaker. At a boxing function at the

Hilton Hotel Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide. The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...

in Park Lane, London in 1996 he was invited by

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

programme controller Richard Park to do a Saturday football, music and comedy show on

Capital Gold The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and th ...

, called ''Home and Away with Mike and the Dugout Crew''. Within a few weeks, he was offered the 10am to 1pm weekday show. After 2 years at Capital Gold they replaced

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

on the prime breakfast show. After six years, Osman quit the show in 2002 as the early morning starts were taking their toll on his health. Since then he has had a variety of short-term roles in television. In 2005, he was one of the founding directors of

Sound TV Sound TV was a free-to-air television channel following the tradition of the variety show, which has not been popular in Britain since the 1980s. It aspired to give television exposure to acts (young and old) unable to acquire airtime on other chan ...

which was on air for only 10 months. In 2006-07, he was employed by

Southampton Football Club Southampton Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St M ...

to warm up the crowd before their matches at

St Mary's Stadium St Mary's Stadium is a seated but also safe-standing football stadium in Southampton, Hampshire, England, which has been the home stadium of club Southampton since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest footbal ...

. From then until summer 2009 he presented a Sunday morning show on

BBC Radio Solent BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, broadcasting on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a w ...

. In 2021, he launched Great British Radio with Kevin King, a radio station featuring presenters such as

Linda Lusardi Linda Frances Elide Lusardi (born 18 September 1958) is an English actress, television presenter and former glamour model. Early life Lusardi was born in Wood Green, London, to Lilian (née Glassman; 1932–2023) and Nello Lusardi (1930–201 ...

Personal life

He is married to Jill and they have a daughter Katie.

Discography

* Naughty But Nice, 2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osman, Mike 1959 births English impressionists (entertainers) English male comedians English radio presenters Living people Mass media people from Southampton Comedians from Hampshire