Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for music chart series Top of the Pops, children's programme Saturday Superstore and music panel game Pop Quiz. He is also a prolific author, having written over 50 books, including his autobiography, Seize the Day. Read currently hosts The Heritage Chart Show on Regency Radio and Talking Pictures TV. He also co-hosts The Footage Detectives on the latter channel. Early life Michael David Kenneth Read was born 1 March 1947 in Bury, north of Manchester, the only child of a publican. The family moved from Manchester to Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, when he was an infant. He attended Woking Grammar School followed by a sixth-form college. Later, Read worked as an estate agent, and recorded under various names, including Mickey Manchester. Broadcasting career Read's professional broadcasting career began in March 1976 at Reading's Radio 210, where he co-hosted a slot with Steve Wright – entitled Read and Wright – before joining Radio Luxembourg late in 1977. Read joined Radio 1 in November 1978 and was soon presenting the night-time programme before the slot fronted by John Peel; here, Read championed new groups and featured live sessions. On 5 January 1981, he took over Radio 1 Breakfast. On 11 January 1984, Read suddenly interrupted broadcasting the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song "Relax", halfway through playing the single, denouncing the lyrics as 'obscene'. Read has said this account of his intervention is a myth; the interruption of the record was solely for timing reasons, as he only had access in the studio to the longer 12" version. The BBC had already decided to ban the record from Top of the Pops, even though it subsequently reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart. Following on from his five-year stint on Radio 1's breakfast slot, Read took over a Sunday morning programme in 1986. A year later, he moved to Saturday mornings, and also to a Sunday afternoon series, where he played classic tracks. In addition, he hosted Round Table and later went back to it as the renamed Singled Out on Friday evenings, in which musicians and disc jockeys would review new single releases. Read's Saturday morning slot ended in September 1988, and his