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Engineering strongman makes a TV comeback

There's no substitute for experience … and when Sky wanted to make the most of their new show Gladiators they called on the original television warriors to give it some muscle.

Viewing figures shot up for a show pitting the Legends against the New Gladiators and now some members of the original ‘class of ’93 – ‘94’ will be appearing in a new series.

Among them is Bullit, known to his colleagues as Mike Harvey, engineering chargehand at Brixton.

Standing 6ft 2in and weighing in at 18st 7lb, Mike is as fit as a fiddle and maintains a fitness regime that has hardly diminished since he was a marine in the Royal Navy.

Trained as underwater warfare specialist, he ran and boxed for the Royal Navy and appeared in a competition for field gun crews at the Royal Tournament.

Mike has also worked at the House of Commons as a researcher for the Amateur Athletic Association and Colin Moynihan MP – now Lord Moynihan and chairman of the British Olympic Association.

As part of that work he was involved in writing a training syllabus for the AAA and highlighted the dangers of drugs in sport.

And there’s more! Mike reckons he’s a pretty gentle chap, but he appeared in the gangster movie ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and there weren’t too many pussycats in that.

He is a presenter and ‘bodyguard’ in television’s Guilty and has appeared in other films, ‘Nightbreed the Movie’ and ‘Ghost in the Darkness’ to name just two.

A man of many talents, Mike has been in the bus industry for eight years and said he enjoys engineering.

“You can’t rely on film and television, it’s very selective and I’ve always wanted to keep real,” said Mike. “It’s good to be back in Gladiators as Bullit, but I’m basically a practical and level-headed guy who enjoys keeping fit and has a flare for practical work.

“I enjoy engineering, it keeps the grey matter active and I like sorting out the challenges you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis in the garage.”

Published: Mon 30 Mar 2009Modified: Tue 31 Mar 2009Archived: Mon 27 Apr 2009

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