Michael Portillo

Life: a game of two halves.

It took Michael Portillo little more than 10 years to get a seat in the Commons and then rise in power and esteem to a point where he was a favoured leader of his party and possible future PM. That track record suggests to many a privileged friend of the rich and famous.

But since leaving the House a decade ago Michael has endeared himself to a wider audience with his obvious respect for solid workmanship and creative energy, as found in great Victorian Railways, and the daily toil of the working man. An historian at heart, he has used 19th-century railway travel guides to take millions of viewers on a voyage of discovery throughout the UK, Ireland, continental Europe and the USA. Listen to his extraordinary story, told with a light almost “stand up” touch, and then feel free to question him about it.