After Dinner Speakers: Michaela Strachan, Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Dunwoody

Michaela trained at the Arts Educational School specialising in musical theatre. She started her career in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers on national tour, in the West End and at the Alexandra Theatre, Toronto. Michaela then moved into television to begin a very successful presenting career. She fronted a number of children's programmes: The Wide Awake Club with Tommy Boyd, Wacaday with Timmy Mallett, Wac 90, Wac Extra and subsequently her own Saturday and Sunday morning programmes, Hey Hey It's Saturday and Michaela. Other children's shows include Cool Cube, But Can You Do It On TV?, Go Getters, Beetle Drive, I Want To Do That and for the Children's Channel Electric String Vest, Ratkan II, Michaela's Map and The Summer Crunch. Since 1990, Michaela has become more familiar to audiences for presenting wildlife programmes - Owl TV for HTV and Channel 4 (for four years), the award-winning Really Wild Show, The Really Wild Guide (two series), The Web and The Animal Zone, all for the BBC's Natural History Unit plus Wildlife Rescue II for Anglia. Michaela has also presented programmes in the BBC's Science Zone series including Postcards from the Wild, Big 5, and Little 5 with Chris Packham, with a yearly special, Adopt a Wild Animal. She has hosted programmes on the Animal Planet and Discovery Channels, five Disneytime programmes for the BBC, two series of the family show Can You Keep A Secret? on HTV and Club Vegetarian for Granada Cable. To older viewers, Michaela will be known for her four years as 'Her' in the late night music programme The Hitman And Her which she presented with Pete Waterman. Michaela's guest appearances are too numerous to list but do include Visions (a religious exploratory programme) and Naruhodo - The World, which she filmed in Japan as part of the Japanese season on Channel 4. She has both introduced and guest starred in the Children's Royal Variety Show. In 1997, Michaela co-hosted Wildscreen, the wildlife film festival awards which were screened on BBC2. Early in 1998, she co-presented The Fossil Roadshow with Peter Snow, also for BBC2 and presented Orang-utan Rescue, a moving and spectacular BBC1 wildlife special. In 1999, Michaela presented the Really Wild Show - Tiger Special, which was nominated for a BAFTA. A 50-minute documentary Shark Encounters was filmed in California and South Africa as part of the BBC Natural History Unit's Shark Season. She has recently become a regular on BBC1 Sunday magazine programme Countryfile as well as her in continued series of the Really Wild Show. Michaela regularly does pantomime and has appeared in Cinderella, Goldilocks, Aladdin and Jack & The Beanstalk. She has played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and has played Peter in Peter Pan several times. She has recorded two singles and contributed to various albums.