About the Author

Robin Stewart sadly passed away in November 2015. RIP Although a lot of people remember me as Mike Abbott from the Bless this House with Sid James, my career started long before then-back in 1957 in fact! Soon after stints in the theatre and films in the US, I was offered the role of Mike Abbott - playing Sid James and Diana Copeland's son, in Bless This House. I had a wonderful six years on the series, which also allowed me to do other work, including working with Sir Alec Guinness, when he played Charles l and I played his son, Charles II in Cromwell. Tragically, Sid died of a heart attack on stage during one the Bless This House season breaks. With the TV series no longer in existence, I was suddenly offered an opportunity to go to New Zealand to compere their first telethon, which was for muscular dystrophy. After a bit of negotiation I moved to New Zealand to host the NZ version of Opportunity Knocks. Little did I know it would be only a few years before Australia would beckon in the unlikely form of an invitation from Derek Nimmo to go to the Melbourne Cup. I headed off for Melbourne, and was immediately asked to be on various talk shows, including the Peter Couchman Show and the Mike Walsh Show. That all led to a role on Young Doctors, and soon I was living permanently in Australia. I had the good fortune to be offered the part of Macarthur in the ABC mini-series, The Timeless Land. But it wasn't long before I had itchy feet again, and while I was on holiday on Magnetic Island in Far North Queensland, I was asked to join the Townsville radio station, 4RR, where I started my own production company, which in turn led to a stint in Cairns as producer for FNQ. I also toured Australia as the lead in Up and Under, a show that had just won the Sir Laurence Olivier Award for best comedy in England. During my years in Australia I had always made sure I had access to horses, and I owned several properties where I'd kept horses, but now I felt it was time to get back to the country, so I bought a rural property near Toowoomba and began to breed Arab horses for endurance. It was an even busier time than usual - I was producing a show called Midweek Live interviewing visiting actors and comedians, including people such as Ronnie Corbett. 1984/85 found me on the Sons & Daughters series for Channel 7 and providing many of the voices for Captain Kookaburra's Road to Discovery. At the same time a chance came up to be involved in a new venture on the Gold Coast, so I moved closer to New South Wales, and a year later was asked to play Polonius in the Australian Theatre Company production of Hamlet. At the end of this busy period I ended up on a property with my horses in Northern New South Wales, and for some time I concentrated on breeding, training and riding, as well as my writing. I created and promoted a local endurance ride - The Bonalbo Bash. I now live in England and writing has become my passion. My first book is called Being Mike Abbott, about the time I was in the UK TV series and now this wondrous story about the old man and his animals. Writing gives me great pleasure and I hope to have more books out as soon as I can put pen to paper, or text to the 'puter. It seems like a natural next step in my career.......