Appointed Governor in 2011

Michael has a background of National and International Eventing. He was on the British Eventing board for six years until 2005, having previously been on the Horse Trials Committee from 1971 to 1986. During that period he was the first chairman of the events committee.

He served on the International Safety Inquiry for Eventing in 1999 and 2000, which provided the wide-ranging ‘Hartington Report’. From 1995 – 1999 he served on the international standing committee for eventing for the FEI (Fédération Equestre Intenationale).

Michael competed for 20 years on the international scene, including being in the British squad of six for the European Championships of 1975 and 1983 and was the non-travelling reserve for the 1976 Olympic Games. He completed Badminton on 12 occasions, including being second in 1983. He finished second at Burghley in 1969 and won the Tidworth Three Day event on two occasions.

He is well-known as a public address and TV commentator, having worked at most major agricultural and equestrian events for nearly 40 years, including the last four Olympics and five World Equestrian Games for BBC TV and more recently the European Dressage and Show Jumping Championships at Windsor. He was also lead equestrian commentator for Sky TV at Hickstead and Horse of the Year Show and was part of the very successful B.B.C show ‘Only Fools on Horses’.

Michael is a respected course designer. He started designing three-day events at Chatsworth, before taking on the course design of Bramham. He has designed internationally in Holland (Breda), Spain (Madrid), New Zealand (Pukekouee), Canada, (Bromont) and USA (Fairhill/Wyoming). He has designed at Burghley for the 1997 and 2001 Open European Championships. More recently, he designed all the X-country facilities for the Jerez World Equestrian Games in 2002.

From 1976 to 1992 (inclusive) Michael developed Tetbury Horse Trials to be one of the most respected events in the calendar. He was a Technical Delegate at the Barcelona Olympics and Cross-country Controller for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Michael has managed the 700-acre family farm for 30 years, which has featured a large pedigree herd (up to 250 cows) and a 300 acre arable enterprise.

He currently sits on the School of Agricultural Advisory Board.