Mike Harding is a British singer and
comedian.
Harding was born in Crumpsall, a suburb of the English
city of Manchester. He is known as "The Rochdale
Cowboy" after one of his hit records. He was a
broadcaster, stand up comic, photographer, traveller,
film maker, playwright, poet, travel writer and musician.
He was educated at St Anne's, Crumpsall, and St Bede's,
Manchester. After a varied career as a road digger,
dustbin man, steel erector, bus conductor, boiler scaler
and chemical factory worker, he took a degree in English
and Education at the University of Manchester. Following
this he became a folk singer and stand-up comic, in
which guise he made several series for the BBC and
appeared on numerous TV and Radio programmes, including
two series of travel films in Ireland and the Appalachian
Mountains of America.
He recently made a series of fourteen short films
on minority religions in England for the BBC's Heaven
and Earth show, and for the last five years has presented
the Radio 2 flagship folk and roots programme The Mike
Harding Show every Wednesday from 8 pm to 9 pm British
time. |