Michael Collins is a British author, journalist and television presenter. Collins was born in Walworth, south east London. He attended Archbishop Michael Ramsey comprehensive school in Camberwell. In 1977, as part of the Great Education Debate, the school was the subject of the Thames Television documentary "Our School and Hard Times".That same year, aged 16, he left school and trained as a bespoke tailor. Throughout the 1990s he worked in television production as a scriptwriter and producer. During this time he wrote the Channel Four documentaries "The Battersea Bardot" and "The National Alf". He has written on television, film, new media, politics and history for numerous publications, including the Observer, Guardian, Independent, TLS, Sunday Telegraph, Prospect, New Statesman, Literary Review, Wallpaper, French Vogue and Sunday Times. His book The Likes Of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class won the George Orwell Prize in 2005. The book was serialized in The Guardian and became the Channel Four documentary 'The British Working Class', which was written and presented by the author. 

February 12th, 1961 in Walworth (Age 63)