Mike Bushell

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Mike Bushell
Born	(1965-12-11) 11 December 1965 (age 58) Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England
Education	Granby High School
Alma mater	King Alfred's College
Occupation	Sports presenter
Years active	1990–present
Employer	BBC
Notable work	BBC Breakfast
Spouses	Kim Payne ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2009)​ Emily Bond ​ (m. 2019)​
Children	3

Mike Bushell (born 11 December 1965)^[1] is an English sports presenter for the BBC. He presents sport on BBC Breakfast. Bushell has participated in many different sports on his Saturday morning slot on BBC One and on the BBC News Channel.

In 2019, he was a contestant in series 17 of the television dance show Strictly Come Dancing. He was the seventh contestant to be eliminated alongside his professional dance partner Katya Jones.

Bushell was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, he spent his teenage years in Yorkshire after growing up in northern Hertfordshire, attending school in Stevenage and Ashwell.^[2] When he was 8 he started his own newspaper, called the Daily Owl and sold it and delivered it to friends in the village for a penny. He once got into trouble for giving away his new Christmas present as a prize for a competition.^[3] He played chess for Hertfordshire and ran in the county cross country team.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 his family moved to Harrogate and he went to secondary school at Granby High School.^[4] He went on to join the National Youth Theatre.^{[citation needed]}

Bushell obtained a 2:1 degree in Drama & Television at King Alfred's College in Winchester,^{[citation needed]} now the University of Winchester. Once he left he appeared as a Roman Centurion and King Arthur on the streets of Winchester, for the tourist board, and in the National Youth Theatre production of Good Lads at Heart, working alongside Liza Tarbuck.^{[citation needed]} In order to pay his college debts he got a job on the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper in Winchester and was posted to the Eastleigh office.^{[citation needed]}

While training on the reporter's job, Bushell formed a band with other journalists and sang in many gigs in the East End of London, around Stratford.^{[citation needed]}

He later toured Europe as a vocalist for Don't Push the River, forming a musical partnership with Nigel Smith,^{[citation needed]} writer of the comedy series Teenage Kicks.

In 1982, he took part in It's A Knockout, representing Winchester in two games of a domestic heat, but his team finished bottom of three.^[5]

In 1990, after stints on the Derby Evening Telegraph and the Windsor and Slough Observer, he got his first broadcasting job at BBC Radio Solent as a trainee reporter. He then moved to television, as a news, sport and entertainment reporter–presenter for BBC South Today before joining the BBC News channel, and later BBC Breakfast.

Bushell presents the sport on BBC Breakfast on Fridays at the weekends, and sometimes on other weekdays. Bushell tries many different sports on his Saturday morning slot, on BBC One, in which he tries to "inspire people off the sofa", to "be more active" and "try a new activity". His features often include tips from sporting figures such as Serena Williams, Colin Montgomerie and Ben Ainslie.^{[citation needed]}

He has his own web page: Bushell's Best, on the pages of the BBC News website.^[6] For Sport Relief in 2012, he set the world record for travelling across water in a large inflatable ball.^{[citation needed]} He managed a mile in 1 hour and 57 minutes, during which time he needed 8 oxygen breaks. In June 2013, his first book Bushell's Best Bits was published.

He has been with the BBC News channel since its launch in 1997, and appeared on Celebrity Mastermind on 28 December 2013. He made his pantomime debut playing a sports reporter in Aladdin in Northampton in 2010 opposite Chesney Hawkes.^{[citation needed]}

On 11 April 2018, during a live broadcast at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Bushell accidentally fell into a swimming pool after not noticing a large drop from a step he was standing on whilst interviewing some of the English swimming team, including Adam Peaty. Due to water damage, his microphone eventually stopped working and coverage had to revert to the studios.^[7]

In January 2018, Bushell participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief.

Bushell was a contestant on series 17 of Strictly Come Dancing and was paired with Katya Jones. They were the seventh couple to be eliminated from the competition after losing out in a dance-off.^{[citation needed]}

Bushell has three daughters from his first marriage to Kim Payne, they divorced in 2009 after 16 years.^[6][8] In May 2019, he married Emily Bond at Oakley Hall, near Basingstoke, Hampshire,^[9] whom he met in a neighbouring village.^[3] He resides in Overton, Hampshire.^[10] He has a goddaughter called Freya.^[11]

Bushell plays football and is a runner with the Hash House Harriers. He is a fan of Leeds United.^{[citation needed]}

• Mike Bushell at IMDb
• Mike Bushell on Twitter