Michael Bateman


Michael Bateman was a British journalist and author best known for his writing and editing on food. He was an award-winning author and was described as groundbreaking by a former chairwoman of the Guild of Food Writers.

Early life

The illegitimate son of a cabaret artiste he was brought up by his grandparents in Littlehampton, Sussex. After rejoining his mother he attended Abingdon School from 1944-1951, where he was an all round sportsman playing for the first X1 cricket and hockey teams, the athletics team and the first XV rugby team. In addition he was a Prefect and was the runner-up in the Van Wagenen Esssay Prize. Bateman did his national service before gaining an English scholarship at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Career

It was during his time in the army posted in Hong Kong that he gained an interest in food. After marrying Jane Deverson in 1963 they went to live in Alicante before he found work as a journalist with the Westminster Press, Oxford Mail and Durham Advertiser and then Fleet Street. In 1967 he began work for The Sunday Times and became editor for the Lifespan section. He specialised in writing about food and wrote Cooking People in 1966, which gained national attention.
In 1981 he became editor for the Express magazine as food editor and in 1982 wrote The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread which increased national wholemeal bread consumption by 5%. This turned into a book called The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread. He wrote several other books and continued to write newspaper articles becoming an eminent and admired food writer. He was the food writer for The Independent on Sunday from 1990 and won many awards including the Glenfiddich Food Writer of the Year in 2000.
He died in 2006, three years after a car accident outside his home in Norfolk, which had caused complications. His collection of international cookery books and papers regarding his career are held Leeds University Library's Cookery Collection.

Awards

Selected Books by Bateman