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 the role of professional mentor and pub lunch companion.
Michael has worked with many of the most famous names in the business, including Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Angus Deayton. Michael also has a number one novelty song to his credit for Spitting Image - the Chicken Song topped the charts in 1986!
In the last two years Michael has created well over 200 "My Time-Capsule" podcasts, starting with Stephen Fry, no less!
A former smoker, Michael is also just completing a one million step exercise to raise awareness of Type 2 Diabetes.
Michael finds contentment sitting quietly beside the sea at Cooden Beach, throwing pebbles at a groyne. He has the rhyming skill of William McGonagall and the surreal humour of Man U star Eric Cantonar. In fact, Michael Fenton Stevens has a lot of wise words to say - and he says them all so beautifully. Please sit back and listen now. Thank you and enjoy!