Michael was born and educated in Edinburgh. Having initially trained as a teacher, he entered the world of publishing, working for William Collins in Glasgow. He then worked for a number of small publishing companies, before joining Octopus where he helped establish the Children's Division. Michael became a freelance writer in 1991 and to date is the author of over sixty (mainly non-fiction) books for children and adults. His fiction titles include the twelve-book Aliens series for Madcap (Andre Deutsch's one-time children's list) and My History News: In Space which was runner-up for the 2000 Aventis Prize for the best science book for children. Michael has also written two gift books for Contender/Hallmark, both of which appeared in the Sunday Times bestsellers list.