- Born
- Birth nameMichael Terence Aspel
- Height5′ 8½″ (1.74 m)
- Born in Battersea, London, in 1933. During the war, he was evacuated to Chard in Somerset. Returning to London, he attended Emmanuel School in Wandsworth where he was a member of the rowing club eight. He dreamed of being a cartoonist or a film star, but ended up being the tea boy for Collins Publishers until he was called up for National Service, which he spent serving in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. After three and a half years in the army, he moved to Cardiff and joined an amateur drama group, getting work with a local radio repertory company, but his career with them was doomed as he didn't speak Welsh. He auditioned for the BBC on London and in 1957 became an announcer.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5
- SpousesElizabeth Power(July 23, 1977 - 1994) (separated, 2 children)Ann Reed(1962 - November 1971) (divorced, 2 children)Dian Sessions(1957 - 1961) (divorced, 2 children)
- Despite consistently high ratings, he became disillusioned with his chat show Aspel & Company (1984). After his producers forced him to interview Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone despite the fact that they would only talk about Planet Hollywood, he decided he had had enough.
- He succeeded Eamonn Andrews as the presenter of This Is Your Life (1955) in 1988.
- He served as a paratrooper in the British Army during his National Service days.
- He was duty continuity announcer on the night that Kenneth Horne died on-stage while presenting the Guild of Television Producers' and Directors' Awards at the Dorchester Hotel. When a recording of the programme was broadcast (as scheduled) later that evening, Aspel had to announce "Mr Horne was taken ill at this point and has since died" and then had to fill in for the rest of the programme.
- He became President of the charity Ability UK in 1984.
- [on Fiona Bruce, who succeeded him as presenter of Antiques Roadshow (1979)] People say she is too sexy for the show, and knows nothing about antiques. They said the same thing about me.
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