Michael Billington (critic)

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Theatre critic Michael Billington was born on November 16, 1938 in Leamington Spa. He was educated at St Catherine's College, Oxford, and began working as a journalist in Liverpool. He worked as Public Liaison Officer and Director for Lincoln Theatre Company from 1962 to 1964. He began reviewing films, plays and television programs for The Times in 1965. He became film critic for the Birmingham Post and the Illustrated London News in 1968.

He has been the drama critic of The Guardian newspaper since 1971, is drama critic for Country Life magazine and has written frequently for the New York Times. He is a regular contributor to radio and television programmes and was a former presenter of the BBC Radio 4 arts programmes Kaleidoscope and Critics Forum'.

Michael Billington lives in London.

[edit] Publications

His books include biographies of the playwrights Tom Stoppard, Alan Ayckbourn and Harold Pinter.

One Night Stands: A Critic's View of Modern British Theatre is a collection of his reviews for The Guardian. He has also edited Stage and Screen Lives in 2001, which is a collection of biographies of personalities from the film and theatre worlds written for the Dictionary of National Biography.