Contracted polio during WWII and was confined to a wheelchair.
In the 1950s he and Donald Swann had a very successful cabaret act. Michael
sang and Donald played the piano.
He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1964 Queen's New Year Honours List for services to the handicapped.
Was a student at Westminster School, London, where his classmates
included not only future stage partner and lifelong friend Donald Swann, but
also Peter Brook, Peter Ustinov, and Rudolf von Ribbentrop, the son of
Hitler's Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.
Since his death, his widow, Claudia, has become an ardent crusader for
proper accomodations for the physically handicapped in the UK.