Michael Morpurgo

On ‘Profile’ this week - one of Britain’s most celebrated storytellers. Michael Morpurgo has written 180 books over the past half century. Over Christmas, he narrated a new BBC TV film adaptation of his 2014 children’s story ‘Mimi And The Mountain Dragon’. Morpurgo is best known for ‘War Horse’ - a book about a horse bought by the British army to serve in the First World War and its young owner’s attempts to bring it home to safety. Turned into a National Theatre play, then a Hollywood movie – it’s made him a household name. Mark Coles hears from Morpurgo’s wife, brother, biographer and close friends talk about what inspired his writing - the profound impact war had on him as a child and the father he didn’t know for years. We hear about his time in the army, the charity he set up to give city children experience of the countryside – and why now in his mid 70s, he’s taken up his love of singing again. Producer Smita Patel Editor Penny Murphy The programme contains music from the BBC TV Film, "Mimi & the Mountain Dragon", composed by Rachel Portman