Michael Crick

For over 25 years, truth terrier Michael Crick's been digging for stories and breaking them, quickly, in the media. After starting as a trainee at ITN he became a founder member of Channel 4 news before being made the programme's Washington correspondent in the late eighties. He then moved to the BBC in 1990, first on Panorama and then as a regular correspondent for Newsnight where he became political editor in 2007.

He has won two RTS awards, one for his coverage of the 1988 US election, and another for a Panorama special programme on the life of Jeffrey Archer. A best selling author. His books include Militant (1984), Scargill and the Miners (1985), Manchester United: The Betrayal of a Legend (1989), The Complete Manchester United Trivia Fact Book (1996), Michael Heseltine (1997), The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson (2002), and Michael Howard (2005).

An ardent football fan, Michael attends most Manchester United matches and was until recently an active member of the club's independent shareholders' organisation. After the success of his piece on political debating societies "Headstrong and Proud" for Whistledown he presented a follow up series exploring the culture and history of Arts Clubs in Britain which awakened an interest in sketching. One of the best known political journalists of his generation his access to information and contacts are second to none. He has recently presented Whistledown programmes on Dizzy Gillespie (Diz for Prez) and a moving Radio 4 archive hour on the Munich Air Crash.