The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

121 Welcome To The Clearing: Michael Fenton Stevens - "Only Fools & Horses" Actor, Comedian & Presenter of "My Time Capsule" Podcast

September 13, 2022 Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian
The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius
121 Welcome To The Clearing: Michael Fenton Stevens - "Only Fools & Horses" Actor, Comedian & Presenter of "My Time Capsule" Podcast
Show Notes

Ladies n' Genminminminmin (er, min...) please welcome the warm and wonderful silky-voiced beauty Michael Fenton Stevens to "The Good Listening To" Clearing!

Michael Fenton Stevens is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for being a founder member of The Hee Bee Gee Bees and the voice behind the Spitting Image 1986 number 1 hit "The Chicken Song":

"Hold a chicken in the air 

Stick a deckchair up your nose 

Buy a jumbo jet and then bury all your clothes 

Paint your left knee green then extract your wisdom teeth 

Form a string quartet and pretend your name is Keith"  

We've all done it...

Mike also has his own wonderful podcast called "My Time Capsule":

A podcast that asks guests, such as Stephen Fry, David Mitchell, Caroline Quentin, Ross Noble, Lee Mack, Arabella Weir & Rob Brydon, for five things which they’d like to put in a Time Capsule.

They can choose anything from an item, to a memory, a film or even a country. Four of them are things they want to preserve but one has to be something they’re happy to lock away and never have to think about again. 

And he's also been in the seminal BBC sit-com "Only Fools & Horses".

Like the Great Gatsby before him, Michael Fenton Stevens has always been proud to be an Oxford man - albeit more Brookes than Balliol. 

When, in his second year, Michael was introduced to fellow student, Mandy Fenton, it was love at first sight - at least as far as Michael was concerned. But, a bit like Doris Day, he kept his love a secret. When a subtle twist of fate revealed that Mandy Fenton also had feelings for Michael Stevens, they started on a path to becoming Mr and Mrs Fenton Stevens. They had children and now their children have children. 

First and foremost, Michael Fenton Stevens is a family man and his wife, Mandy Fenton Stevens, has a PhD in Bio Chemistry.  Michael remains her greatest fan to this day and acknowledges the profound personal transformation that he attributes primarily to her. 

Michael’s other greatest influencers were his own parents, both alas no longer with him. His father, Harry, was a good professional comic before becoming a full-time criminal defence lawyer, who still enjoyed singing old music-hall songs at weekends, often encouraging Michael to join him on stage. Originally also,  Michael followed in his father’s footsteps for a year or two, as a potential legal eagle - but all he ever really wanted to do was tread the boards himself, in his own right. 

Taking his father’s advice, Michael boldly asked all and sundry to help him get an Equity card. Bill Kenwright kindly obliged. Again as directed by his father, Michael modelled his voice on the dulcet tones of the film star, Robert Donat, rather than continuing with his sprawling suburban drawl, originally from Bermondsey, modified in Orpington. Yvonne Mitchell acted as his acting coach. Anthony Quayle took on th

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