Michael David Wood, OBE FSA born on 23 July 1948, is an English historian and broadcaster who has presented numerous well-known television documentary series from the late 1970s to the present day.

Michael Wood has also written a number of books on English history, including In Search of the Dark Ages, The Domesday Quest, The Story of England, and In Search of Shakespeare. He was appointed Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester in 2013.

Michael Wood was born in Mosside, Manchester, and attended Heald Place Elementary School in Lashorum. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Paulden Avenue in Wythenshawe. He attended Benchill Elementary School. It was at Manchester Grammar School that he became interested in theater, playing Grusha in the first British amateur production of Caucasian Chalk Circle and then Hamlet in Hamlet. He holds high school diplomas in English, French, and History.

Michael Wood studied history and English at Oriel College, Oxford, and during his senior year, he traveled to the United States for six weeks and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree second class. He then completed a postgraduate course in Anglo-Saxon history at Oriel College. After three years of his studies at DPhil, he retired to become a journalist for ITV.

In the 1970s Michael Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester where he first worked as a reporter and then as an assistant producer for current affairs programs before returning to his love of history with the BBC2 series In Search of the Dark Ages from 1979 to 1981. His blond appearance, deep voice, and habit of wearing skinny jeans and sheepskin jackets quickly made him popular among female viewers.

Michael Wood’s work is well known in the United States and is frequently broadcast on PBS and various cable television networks. The series Legacy (1992) is one of his most frequently aired documentaries on US television.

Since 1990, Michael Wood has been the director of the independent television production company Maya Vision International. In 2006 he took part in the British Archaeological School’s campaign in Iraq to train and encourage new Iraqi archaeologists and to give lectures on the subject. In 2013, Michael Wood joined the University of Manchester as a professor of public history.

Michael Wood was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society until 2007. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Sunderland in 2009. This was followed by an honorary doctorate from the University of Leicester in 2011 and a presidential medal from the British Academy in 2015. Previously, President of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, he assumed the post of Honorary Vice-President for life in 2017 for his work on the documentary series Michael Wood’s Story of England.

Michael Wood is currently President of the British Society for Understanding China, established in 1965 to promote understanding and friendship between the peoples of Britain and China. Michael Wood was elected a Fellow of the Antiquarian Association in 2008. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at the 2021 New Year Honors Awards for his contributions to public history and broadcasting.

Who are Michael Wood’s children?

Michael Wood is married to Rebecca Ysabel Dobbs and is blessed with two daughters, Minakshi and Jyoti but there is nothing known about them as they have been living a private life off the media.