Harding was born in Crumpsall, a suburb of Manchester. His father, who came from Devon, was an RAF pilot who was killed during World War II. Mike is of Irish descent on his mother's side. He is known as "The Rochdale Cowboy" after one of his hit records. He has been a broadcaster, stand-up comic, photographer, traveller, filmmaker, playwright, poet, author and musician.
He was educated at St Anne's, Crumpsall, and St Bede's, Manchester. After a varied career as a road digger, dustbin man, school teacher, steel erector, bus conductor, boiler scaler and chemical factory worker, he took a degree in English and Education at the University of Manchester. Following this he became a folk singer and stand-up comic, in which guise he made several series for the BBC and appeared on numerous TV and radio programmes, including two series of travel films in Ireland and the Appalachian mountains of America. He also played Rock and Roll with his band, The Stylos, with the Lowe Brothers. He has had many albums and singles released. Singles include "The Rochdale Cowboy" and the "Man 'nited Song". As well as comedy, he has released albums of serious songs, most notably Bombers Moon. The title track tells of his father's death. The album also contains "The Accrington Pals" and cover versions of Bruce Springsteen's "Factory" and Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda".
Harding composed the music scores for DangerMouse, Count Duckula (he also sang the main and end titles with Doreen Edwards), The Reluctant Dragon and The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship for Cosgrove Hall.
As well as being an acclaimed musician and comedian, he wrote The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac, a humorous A-Z book; two collections of anecdotes, jokes and songs entitled The Unluckiest Man in the World and The 14½ Pound Budgie; and a comedy/thriller/fantasy, Killer Budgies. His other books include a series covering aspects of his interest in British folklore and history—The Little Book of the Green Man, The Little Book of Stained Glass, The Little Book of Gargoyles, and The Little Book of Misericords—and the loosely-factual autobiography, You Can See the Angel's Bum, Miss Worswick!
He recently made a series of fourteen short films on minority religions in England for the BBC's Heaven and Earth show, and since 1999 has presented the BBC Radio 2 flagship folk and roots programme, The Mike Harding Show, every Wednesday from 7pm to 8pm.
Harding is a dedicated hillwalker and a former president of the Ramblers' Association. He writes a regular column for hiking magazine The Great Outdoors and campaigned for "Right to Roam" legislation in the UK, He lives with his wife Genevieve Tudor
