25 Facts About Michael Dobbs

Michael John Dobbs, Baron Dobbs was born on 14 November 1948 and is a British Conservative politician, media commentator and author, best known for his House of Cards trilogy.

Michael Dobbs is the recipient of many public awards and nominations, including being a five-time Emmy Awards nominee.

Michael Dobbs was born on 14 November 1948 in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, the son of nurseryman Eric and Eileen Dobbs.

Michael Dobbs attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1977 with an MA, MALD, and a PhD.

Michael Dobbs has been a Senior Visiting Professor of International Relations at The Fletcher School, and a Parliamentary Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford.

Michael Dobbs' writing career began in 1989 with the publication of House of Cards, the first in what would become a trilogy of political thrillers with Francis Urquhart as the central character; House of Cards was followed by To Play the King in 1992 and The Final Cut in 1994.

Michael Dobbs was an executive producer of the American series.

Michael Dobbs's novels are published in the United States, China and many other countries.

In 2009 Michael Dobbs' play, Turning Point, about the meeting between Winston Churchill and Soviet spy, Guy Burgess, was broadcast by Sky Arts TV, starring Matthew Marsh and Benedict Cumberbatch, and won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award.

Michael Dobbs has been a judge of the Whitbread Book of the Year Award.

Michael Dobbs presented the Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture in 2015 for the Royal Television Society and has lectured at dozens of literary and fundraising events around the world.

Michael Dobbs was the first person on election night in 1979 to inform Thatcher that she had won.

Michael Dobbs held many political posts in the ensuing years, many closely linked to Norman Tebbit: 1981 to 1983 special adviser in the Department of Employment; 1984 to 1986 special adviser in the Department of Trade and Industry; 1986 to 1987 Chief of Staff of the Conservative Party; and 1994 to 1995 Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Michael Dobbs was called "Westminster's baby-faced hit man", by The Guardian in 1987.

On 18 December 2010, Michael Dobbs was made a life peer, as Baron Michael Dobbs, of Wylye, in the County of Wiltshire, and sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative Peer.

Michael Dobbs is a member of the advisory board of the Parthenon Project, an organisation that aims "to reunify the Parthenon Sculptures currently on permanent display in the British Museum with the other remaining originals in their home city of Athens" in Greece.

Michael Dobbs has written for many newspapers, including The Boston Globe and he was a columnist for the Mail on Sunday.

Michael Dobbs hosted the current affairs programme Despatch Box on BBC Two.

Michael Dobbs has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4.

Michael Dobbs has written and presented documentaries about the school days of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, The Archers radio drama series and the Brighton Bomb.

Michael Dobbs has two sons from his first marriage and two stepsons with his second wife, Rachel.

Michael Dobbs has been the patron of the Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust, an eye charity that has treated more than 50 million patients in Pakistan.

Michael Dobbs has been the president of his local branch of the Royal British Legion.

Michael Dobbs is active in promoting better treatment of prostate cancer.

Michael Dobbs is on the advisory board of the Lake Nona Impact Forum, a health and well-being trust.