Michael Buerk

Michael Duncan Buerk (born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader.

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.

Buerk's hopes of a career in the Royal Air Force were dashed when he failed an eyesight test at the selection centre.

He briefly worked as a hod carrier.

Buerk began his career in journalism with the Bromsgrove Messenger, South Wales Echo (he shared a house with Sue Lawley in Cardiff), and the Daily Mail.

In 1970, he joined BBC Radio Bristol, where he was the first voice heard on air, before becoming a network reporter for BBC News in 1973.

He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990.

From 1983 to 1987, Buerk was the BBC's South Africa correspondent during the dying years of apartheid in South Africa.

Buerk's uncompromising reports on the brutalities of the regime resulted in the South African government expelling him from the country after four years in the post.

Buerk's reporting of the Ethiopian famine in October 1984 inspired the Band Aid charity record Do They Know Its Christmas?

and subsequently, the Live Aid concerts.

His report is regarded as a watershed moment in crisis reporting that influenced modern coverage.

He became the anchor for the BBC Nine O'Clock News and BBC News at Ten.

Buerk has hosted BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990 and The Choice since 1998.

He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama 999 from 1992 to 2003.

He presented the first BBC News bulletin of the noughties at 0100 GMT on 1 January 2000.

Buerk announced his semi-retirement from BBC News in 2002, stating he would continue to host other programmes.

Despite retirement, he continued to appear on BBC News as an occasional relief presenter until 2004.

In 2004, he dressed in leather to perform Duran Duran classics and in 2005, he sang Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

In August 2005, Buerk asserted in a Radio Times interview that the "shift in the balance of power between the sexes" has gone too far, we need to "admit the problem", and that men are now little more than "sperm donors".

In particular, Buerk objected to the many women now in senior positions within the BBC.

Former newsreader Anna Ford commented: "He's a dear old-fashioned chauvinist of the first order."

An article was published in anticipation of Buerk's 45-minute TV-essay, "Michael Buerk on What Are Men For?", which was part of a series on Channel Five, Don't Get Me Started! broadcast on Tuesday 23 August 2005.

Guardian television reviewer Sam Wollaston thought Buerk had "been thoroughly, and quite rightly, crucified" in the pre-publicity.

At the Hay-on-Wye literary festival earlier in the year, Buerk criticised contemporary newsreaders for being overpaid autocue-reading "lame brains".

On 28 July 2007, Buerk appeared on a celebrity version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Jennie Bond to raise money for NCH, the children's charity.

Between them they won £64,000.

He 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.

On the BBC's Children in Need, Buerk has performed several times along with an ensemble of BBC News presenters.

In 2010, Buerk narrated Sky1 reality show Pineapple Dance Studios.

Buerk has also made five guest appearances on the BBC's The One Show in April and September 2010.

He has also appeared as a fill-in presenter for Jason Manford on six occasions.

Since July 2012, 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.

On 6 October 2013, he began hosting Inside the National Trust, a new documentary series.

In 2013, 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.

On 22 October 2014, the BBC apologised for the language used in Buerk's early morning trail for that evening's Moral Maze in which he began: "Nobody comes out of the Ched Evans rape case with any credit – not the victim who'd drunk so much she could barely stand, nor the two footballers who had sex with her in the most sordid of circumstances."

Katie Russell, from Rape Crisis England and Wales, accused him of practising "victim-blaming."

She commented: "To infer that being drunk is in any way 'morally' comparable to committing the serious and violent crime of rape is deeply offensive."

Beginning on 16 November 2014, Buerk took part in the fourteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! On 3 December 2014, he was the third celebrity to be eliminated in the public vote.

From 2017, Buerk also presented the TV programme Royal Recipes which ran for two series.