Michael Crick is a freelance journalist and prolific author who began his career as an ITN trainee in 1980. In 1982 he was a founder member of Channel 4 News and in 1988 became the programme's correspondent in Washington.

He moved to the BBC in 1990, first on Panorama, and since 1992, working part-time for Newsnight, where he specialises in politics. One of his best known projects was a programme on Jeffrey Archer for Panorama.

Mr Crick is also a best-selling author. His books include Militant (1984), Scargill and the Miners (1985), Manchester United: The Betrayal of a Legend (1989), The Complete Manchester United Trivia Fact Book (1996) and Michael Heseltine (1997).