Michael Dean

Michael Dean (15 May 1933 – 5 October 2015) was a New Zealand-born television broadcaster from the 1960s to the 1980s, best known for his work for the BBC in the United Kingdom, but who worked in his native New Zealand and in Australia.

Biography Born in Palmerston North in 1933, Dean was the son of Mavis Eileen Dean (née Mason) and her husband, general practitioner Kenrick Holt Dean, a grandson of Robert Holt. He was educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School and joined the local newspaper as a cadet journalist. Aged 20, he became ill with tuberculosis and spent a period in a sanatorium. He spent a year in South Africa as a newspaper sports reporter in Cape Town, before returning to New Zealand to work for the New Zealand Broadcasting Service.

After a period in Sydney, Dean moved to the United Kingdom and was a presenter for eight years on the BBC2 discussion programme Late Night Line-Up. During the early 1970s he made television documentaries on such figures as George Formby, Noël Coward and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

In later life, Dean was afflicted by dementia. He died on 5 October 2015. His ex-wife Christine had died months earlier in February 2015; while his daughter Rachel had died of cancer in 2012. He was survived by his daughter Emily and two grandchildren through his daughter Rachel.