Bar the grey hair, the odd laughter line and the surgical removal of his eye-bags years ago (which he regrets), he still has the sparkle of the young presenter who first hit our screens with Ask Aspel back in 1968.
–
Mirror

Michael Aspel is a well known television presenter, mainly remembered for being the host of This is Your Life and The Antiques Roadshow. He was awarded an OBE in 1993.

A Young Aspel

Born on 12 January, 1933, in Battersea, London, Michael Aspel worked as a drain pipe layer, gardener and sold advertising space for Western Mail. He also took up jobs at publishing houses, before embarking upon National Service, which lasted from 1951 to 1953. In his words:

National Service was the catalyst that got me to Wales. Before that I was a teaboy in a William Collins publishers, in London, serving tea to all these famous authors like Peter Cheyney.

He then took up a job with the David Morgan soft furnishings store in the city of Cardiff, but this was short lived as he spent most of his time pursuing a job as a radio actor for a children's play on BBC Wales, before landing a job as newsreader for BBC Cardiff in 1957.

I only got into news broadcasting because Richard Baker had a cold one day and I was asked to pop up for that weekend and ended up staying for eight years, until 1968. But that was because it was such bloody good fun with such a wonderful team which made me so thoroughly happy.

At the BBC he was made aware of the importance of pronunciation and Lord Reith's values. He presented a number of different programmes such as Come Dancing a series covering dancing, Crackerjack a gameshow designed for children, Miss World, a beauty contest, that he covered fourteen times, Ask Aspel a programme where memorable bits from children's television programmes were re-played and Aspel and Company, which was shown on ITV and featured interviews with celebrities from around the world. The show came to an abrupt end however, when the celebrity Oliver Reed staggered on stage drunk and celebrities, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, hijacked the show in order to promote the opening of a Planet Hollywood restaurant in London.

Aspel on Divorce

Although Aspel has been successful in his career his domestic life has been in his words 'a failure'; for he has divorced three women, with whom he has had seven children, after feeling 'trapped' and 'claustrophobic'.

I can't shrug off divorce the way people seem to be able to these days. I'm surprised they don't now say, 'Will you be my first wife?', because it's kind of written into the constitution that it's not going to last. But I've always thought that marriage is an excellent thing, and I'm very disappointed in myself that it hasn't worked. I've always had a highly developed sense of guilt.

His first wife Dian Sessions remembers things slightly differently though saying: 'He was a lovely man but a hopeless hubby. He always had a roving eye. He is driven by sex and ambition.' He currently lives with Irene Clarke, whom he met while working on This Is Your Life, in Surrey. He is unable to be her husband though, as Lizzie Power, his third wife, refuses to divorce him.

This Is Your Life

Aspel took over presenting This is Your Life a year after its former presenter Eamonn Andrews had died in 1987. The show featured Aspel's life in 1980 and he went on to surprise celebrities such as former Archer Brian Aldridge and music judge Simon Cowell. He also managed to persuade Bill Oddie, a wildlife presenter and former Goodie, and Richard Gordon, an author, to take part in shows about their lives. After fifteen years of presenting the show, Aspel was keen to do something new and found Antiques Roadshow a calling.

Not Just a Straight Face

Although, Aspel can be seen as a straight talking gentleman he is also happy to take part in humourous programmes with the likes of Morecambe and Wise and The Goodies. One sketch that he did with the Goodies saw him being squashed by a giant cat's paw. This sketch remained memorable in many people’s minds including Australian radio presenters who interviewed him after work on filming Antiques Roadshow had finished in their country.

All they wanted to hear about was The Goodies. It was like going to Japan and having to discuss some esoteric thing.

He was also happy for BBC Three to run a spoof documentary on his love life called Sex, Lies And Michael Aspel in 2003. In his words:

The idea was that I'd had about 30 children by famous women like Jan Leeming, Valerie Singleton, Pamela Anderson and Angie Best. We didn't script it and there were clues that it was a spoof, but I got tons of hate mail.

Aspel and Cancer

In 2004, Aspel revealed that he had cancer, an illness that his son Greg died of in 1989. Aspel was undergoing a routine check-up, when his doctor diagnosed him with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He told the BBC: Without that check-up I may not have found out about it at all because there are no symptoms. However, after one dose of chemotherapy Aspel has refused to take drugs to combat the illness, I was worried that the treatment would be the thing that would make me feel ill. I have a horrible fascination with this disease I live with, but which has not, so far, actually made me feel sick.

Antiques Roadshow

In a pretty long and varied career, working on the Antiques Roadshow has been as good as it gets.

In his words, 'The Antiques Roadshow is literally a national treasure, It's a detective story, a game show and a history lesson.' In total, Aspel took part in 200 shows and marked his last, in 2008, with a look back over its highlights.

I've been in television for 50 years and have a very tidy mind, so it's great to finish on an anniversary and while I am feeling totally fulfilled. I have no immediate plans, but that doesn't mean I won't be back if an interesting project comes along..