Michael Billington was born in 1939 and educated at Warwick School and St Catherine's College, Oxford where he read English.

He worked for The Times from 1965 to 1971 reviewing plays, films and
television. Since October 1971 he has been theatre critic of The Guardian,
making him the longest-serving contemporary London drama critic.
 He has also written several books: biographies of Harold Pinter (revised
in 2007) and Peggy Ashcroft, studies of playwrights Tom Stoppard and Alan
Ayckbourn and an analysis of comedian Ken Dodd. His reviews have been
collected under the title, One Night Stands, and was recently re-isued by
Nick Hern Books. His latest book, State of the Nation (Faber 2007) has
recently won the Theatre Book of the Year Award from the Society for
Theatre Rsearch.

Michael Billington broadcasts regularly on the arts. He teaches a course on London theatre to students from the University of Pennsylvania, is a Visiting Professor at King's College, London and an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford. He has also recently directed Harold Pinter's Party Time and Celebration for third-year LAMDA students.