Broadcaster Cliff Michelmore dies at 96

Cliff Michelmore, who was one of BBC television and radio's leading figures for decades, has died aged 96.
Cliff Michelmore has died aged 96.Cliff Michelmore has died aged 96.
Cliff Michelmore has died aged 96.

The prolific presenter, who anchored coverage of the Apollo moon landings and several general elections, was best known as the long-running presenter of BBC magazine programme Tonight.

BBC director-general Tony Hall led tributes to the “outstanding broadcaster”, who was likeable to audiences yet possessed the skill to carry out hard-hitting interviews and hold his nerve while covering events of great historical importance.

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Michelmore, whose broadcasting career began in the Second World War, was made a CBE in 1969.

Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe outside Broadcasting House in London after the announcement of their engagement.Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe outside Broadcasting House in London after the announcement of their engagement.
Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe outside Broadcasting House in London after the announcement of their engagement.

He died at Petersfield Hospital in Hampshire after being admitted last week, his son told the BBC.

Lord Hall said the former RAF squadron leader was “a national figure at a time when there were just two channels”.

He added: “I still remember as a boy watching Cliff Michelmore presenting Tonight live five times a week in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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“He was natural, warm, engaging - he was utterly himself and showed he was one of us. His personal approach recast the role of the TV presenter at the BBC and he was loved by audiences for it.”

Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe outside Broadcasting House in London after the announcement of their engagement.Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe outside Broadcasting House in London after the announcement of their engagement.
Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe outside Broadcasting House in London after the announcement of their engagement.

In a 2013 interview, Sir Michael Parkinson ranked Michelmore with broadcasting greats Sir David Frost and Alan Whicker and hailed the standards their generation set in broadcasting.

ITV news anchor Alastair Stewart described Michelmore as a “truly great presenter and a delightful man”.

He tweeted: “So sad to learn of the death of #CliffMichelmore - #TwoWayFamilyFavourites in my childhood & a co-worker in the late 70s at SouthernITV.#RIP”

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Arthur Clifford Michelmore was born at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, on December 11 1919. He attended Cowes High School, Loughborough College and Leicester College of Technology.

During the Second World War he served as a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force. It was during this period that he started broadcasting on British Forces Network radio. After that, he began working for BBC radio and television as a freelance sports commentator, then as a news reporter and subsequently as a producer of children’s programmes, including one called All Your Own.

From 1955 to 1957 he presented the BBC TV programme Highlight, a current affairs show with a reputation for robust interviews.

As a natural development, on February 18 1957 he was made anchorman on the topical magazine show Tonight, which was broadcast on weekday evenings.

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It ran for eight years and at its peak attracted eight million viewers. He and the programme were so successful that in 1958, Michelmore was named Television Personality of the Year by the Guild of Television Producers.

When Tonight finished in 1965, Michelmore hosted a BBC One series called Twenty-Four Hours until 1968, and in 1967 he presented Our World, an ambitious worldwide programme which for the first time made extensive use of satellite communication in an attempt “to connect the whole world by television”.

The programme once featured a performance by The Beatles of All You Need is Love.

Michelmore used to claim that the song was, at least in part, inspired by the Our World logo, a chain of figures holding hands around the world.

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After leaving full-time TV work, Michelmore headed EMI’s video division, as well as being a regular presenter on the BBC One Holiday programme from 1969 to 1986.

He made a surprise return to the BBC on November 18 2007, to introduce a programme on BBC Parliament recalling the 1967 devaluation of the pound.

Michelmore was awarded the CBE in 1969.

In 1950, he married BBC announcer Jean Metcalfe. She died in 2000 aged 76. There were two children from the marriage.