Michael Duncan Buerk was born on 18 February 1946 and is a British journalist and newsreader.
26 Facts About Michael Buerk
2.
Michael Buerk presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990.
3.
Michael Buerk was the presenter of BBC One's docudrama 999 from 1992 to 2003.
4.
From 2017, Buerk presented the TV programme Royal Recipes which ran for two series.
5.
Michael Buerk was born on 18 February 1946 in Solihull, Warwickshire, and attended Solihull School, an independent school in the West Midlands where he was a member of the Combined Cadet Force and represented the school on the sports field.
6.
Michael Buerk began his career in journalism with the Bromsgrove Messenger, South Wales Echo, and the Daily Mail.
7.
From 1983 to 1987, Michael Buerk was the BBC's South Africa correspondent during the dying years of apartheid in South Africa.
8.
Michael Buerk's reporting of the Ethiopian famine in October 1984 inspired the Band Aid charity record and, subsequently, the Live Aid concerts.
9.
Michael Buerk's report is regarded as a watershed moment in crisis reporting that influenced modern coverage.
10.
Michael Buerk later anchored the BBC Nine O'Clock News and BBC News at Ten.
11.
Michael Buerk read the bulletin at 0100 GMT on 1 January 2000, the first BBC News bulletin of the 2000s.
12.
Michael Buerk announced his retirement from BBC News in 2002, though he said he would continue to host other programmes.
13.
In 2010, Michael Buerk narrated Sky1 reality show Pineapple Dance Studios.
14.
Michael Buerk has made five guest appearances on the BBC's The One Show in April and September 2010.
15.
Michael Buerk has appeared as a fill-in presenter for Jason Manford on six occasions.
16.
Since July 2012, Michael Buerk has co-presented ITV's Britain's Secret Treasures with Bettany Hughes, looking at fifty of the most remarkable archaeological finds made by the British public.
17.
Michael Buerk has hosted BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990 and The Choice since 1998.
18.
In 2013, Michael Buerk voiced a Marmite advert in which spoof rescue teams rescue lost forgotten jars at the back of cupboards and fridges and despite receiving a number of complaints the advert still continues.
19.
Michael Buerk is a supporter of the British Red Cross and in October 2008 came out in support of an alternative reality game, Traces of Hope, which the charity developed.
20.
In particular, Michael Buerk objected to the many women now in senior positions within the BBC.
21.
Guardian television reviewer Sam Wollaston thought Michael Buerk had "been thoroughly, and quite rightly, crucified" in the pre-publicity.
22.
At the Hay-on-Wye literary festival earlier in the year, Michael Buerk criticised contemporary newsreaders for being overpaid autocue-reading "lame brains".
23.
In 2016, Michael Buerk was critical of Emma Thompson, Benedict Cumberbatch, and other celebrity liberals.
24.
Michael Buerk was awarded the Golden Nymph award at the Monte Carlo festival for his reports on the famine from Korem in Ethiopia, first broadcast on 23 October 1984.
25.
In 1991, Michael Buerk was awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Bath.
26.
On 18 July 2013, Michael Buerk was awarded an honorary "Doctor of the University" degree at Surrey University's awards ceremony in Guildford Cathedral.