Michael Bear

Michael John Bear, born at Brentwood, Essex on 23 February 1934 and died at Torquay, Devon on 7 April 2000, played first-class cricket as a left-handed batsman for Essex between 1954 and 1968. As a player, he was generally referred to as "Micky" or "Mickey" Bear.

Cricket style

Bear was a pugnacious left-handed batsman who enjoyed his best cricket years as an opening batsman for Essex, though for the first half of his cricket career he batted further down the order. He was also known as an exceptional fielder: he was, his obituary in Wisden noted, "a pioneer of modern fielding techniques". It went on: "In an era when great athletes were still rare in English cricket, he was a stunningly good outfielder, able to move fast and throw flat, hard returns on the full from the furthest boundaries."

Cricket career

Having played for Essex's second eleven from 1951 and appeared in minor matches for the Royal Air Force while on National Service, Bear made his first-class debut in 1954 against Derbyshire, scoring just one run in an Essex victory in a rain-affected match. He played a few more matches that season and the next for Essex's first team, and then appeared in more than half the side's matches in the 1956 season, making 98 in the match against Kent, but averaging only 17 runs per innings for the season as a whole. Wisden noted in its 1957 edition that Bear's "splendid fielding did much to help Essex reach a high standard in this department".

Michael Bear (Lord Mayor)

Sir Michael David Bear (born 21 January 1953, Kenya) was the 683rd Lord Mayor of London, whose one-year term began on 12 November 2010 and ended 11 November 2011. He is the Alderman of the Ward of Portsoken and previously represented that Ward as Common Councilman and Deputy. In 2007 he was elected as Aldermanic Sheriff of London (for a one-year term).

A liveryman of the Paviors' Company, he subsequently joined the Chartered Surveyors' and Engineers' Companies. Bear was a key figure in the redevelopment of Spitalfields Market, situated just to the northeast of the City in Tower Hamlets.

As Lord Mayor, Bear served in an ambassadorial role not just for the Square Mile, but for the whole of the UK-wide financial and professional services industry. He was also ex-officio Chancellor of City University London during his Lord Mayoral term (2010-11).

Early life and education

Sir Michael was born in Nairobi, in Kenya, and grew up in Cyprus. Later he went to school at Clifton College in Bristol, before studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and Cranfield University in the UK.