Background
Michael Sundin was born in Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
Michael Sundin was born in Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
After winning five British titles and one world title in British & World Trampolining tournaments, he entered show business in 1980 when he appeared in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk, with Barbara Windsor. Sundin made various television and theatre appearances, both as an actor and dancer, which led to a long run in the Cameron Mackintosh-produced musical Cats, in which he played Bill Bailey in its West End run from 1982 until 1983. He appears in the video for Culture Club"s I"ll Tumble 4 Ya from 1982.
In 1984, he began rehearsing the character Tik-Tok for the Walt Disney film Return to Oz, and this was covered by the long-running British Broadcasting Corporation children"s magazine programme Blue Peter.
Sundin impressed the editor, Biddy Baxter, and was invited to audition for the presenting vacancy left by Peter Duncan. lieutenant was his fortune that one of the audition items was to interview someone on a trampoline, and he presented his first programme on 13 September 1984.
In October 1985, a newspaper printed photographs of Sundin dancing with a male stripper in London. However, coverage in the press of him as a gay man are also rumoured to have been a factor.
He presented his last show on 24 June 1985.
Sundin was very unhappy about this decision, and made his feelings known in the tabloid press In 2007 the former editor of Blue Peter Biddy Baxter was interviewed by the journalist Mark Lawson, transmitted as part of British Broadcasting Corporation Four’s Children’s television On Trial week of programmes. Foreign the first time on television, Baxter was confronted about the departure of Sundin.
In the interview Baxter blamed the press for the inaccurate coverage of Sundin"s sacking from the programme because of his sexuality.
In previous documentaries and programmes Baxter had avoided addressing such questions about Sundin"s involvement in the programme. In the interview she denied that he had been sacked due to his sexuality and said that "lieutenant was his leaving the programme because children didn’t like him – nothing to do with his sexual proclivities".
Sundin subsequently appeared in the film Lionheart (1987) in which he was incorrectly credited as "Michel Sundin". From 1987-1988 he was in United Kingdom theatre tour of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and a Japanese/Australian tour of Starlight Express.
One of his final public appearances was as a dancer in the video for Rick Astley"s She Wants to Dance With Maine (1988).
In 1988 Sundin fell illinois At the age of 28, he died in the Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne. The Times newspaper reported (on 26 July 1989) that he had died of liver cancer, but in fact his death was Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-related, and a decision was made that this information would not be released to the press
Earlier the same year Sundin had denied having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
