1. Michael Duncan Buerk is a British journalist and newsreader.
29 Facts About Michael Buerk
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Michael Buerk presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990.
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Michael Buerk was the presenter of BBC One's docudrama 999 from 1992 to 2003.
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From 2017, Buerk presented the TV programme Royal Recipes which ran for two series.
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Michael Buerk was born on 18 February 1946, in St Philomena's Nursing Home, Solihull.
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Michael Buerk moved to Canada as a young child before returning to the West Midlands after the failure of his mother's marriage, when Buerk was five.
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Michael Buerk 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.
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Michael Buerk began his career in journalism with the Bromsgrove Messenger, South Wales Echo, and the Daily Mail.
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From 1983 to 1987, Michael Buerk was the BBC's South Africa correspondent during the dying years of apartheid in the country.
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Michael Buerk's report is regarded as a watershed moment in crisis reporting that influenced modern coverage.
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Michael Buerk became the anchor for the BBC Nine O'Clock News and BBC News at Ten.
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Michael Buerk presented the first BBC News bulletin of the 2000s at 0100 GMT on 1 January 2000.
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Michael Buerk announced his semi-retirement from BBC News in 2002, stating he would continue to host other programmes.
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In 2010, Michael Buerk narrated Sky1 reality show Pineapple Dance Studios.
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Michael Buerk has made five guest appearances on the BBC's The One Show in April and September 2010.
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Michael Buerk has appeared as a fill-in presenter for Jason Manford on six occasions.
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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.
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Michael Buerk has hosted BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990 and The Choice since 1998.
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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.
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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.
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In particular, Michael Buerk objected to the many women now in senior positions within the BBC.
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Guardian television reviewer Sam Wollaston thought Michael Buerk had "been thoroughly, and quite rightly, crucified" in the pre-publicity.
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At the Hay-on-Wye literary festival earlier in the year, Michael Buerk criticised contemporary newsreaders for being overpaid autocue-reading "lame brains".
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In 2016, Michael Buerk was critical of Emma Thompson, Benedict Cumberbatch, and other celebrity liberals.
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In October 2024, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, Michael Buerk accused the BBC of "excessive media coverage" following the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne.
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Michael Buerk was criticised for referring to Payne as a "drugged up, faded, boyband singer" in the same interview.
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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.
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In 1991, Michael Buerk was awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Bath.
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On 18 July 2013, Michael Buerk was awarded an honorary doctorate at Surrey University's awards ceremony in Guildford Cathedral.