Most of the younger generation know Michael Beatty for his work with the RSPCA but the older generation know him for the 40 years he spent as a television reporter.
While at the BBC he interviewed the cream of rock music before coming to Australia and working in current affairs, Beyond 2000 and Wild Live.
He did his first interview with guitar legend Jimi Hendrix for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and was promptly exiled to a CBC radio station in the Eastern Arctic.
After a period of learning Inuit and braving minus 40C temperatures, Michael returned to London to follow in the footsteps of his father, British screen royalty, Robert Beatty.
What followed was an illustrious, and at times, hazardous career that saw him interview stars from Cary Grant to the Rolling Stones, tackle North Queensland radio and crocs, take on the stories of the day and the stories no one wanted on Willesee, Today Tonight and Good Morning Australia, and report at two royal wedding that didn’t end well.
His list of interviews is a historical snapshot of the personalities that shaped a generation.
During his career he covered one war, two revolutions, two coups and two royal weddings. To put it mildly his career was never boring.
Michael Beatty will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Tewantin Noosa RSL on Tuesday 26 August at 10am following the release of part one of his memoirs, Off the Beatty Track.
