Biography

I’m a retired BBC journalist who spent more than 25 years with BBC Radio Manchester as a freelance and reporter, also working in general programming, promotion and PR, and regional television.

My earlier career covered news agencies, evening, regional and national newspapers. After taking early retirement from the BBC, I worked in the press office at Manchester City Council, and eventually became the dedicated press officer for the council’s ground-breaking anti-social behaviour team.

I’ve had a life-long interest in archery along with poetry. I’m also a Manchester United fan.

In middle-age I discovered that my real father was an American soldier and spent more than 25 years attempting to identify him. I succeeded in 2016, a story told in the Life Stories section. I now include my American family name of Edwards in all my writing.

While carrying out extensive family research on both sides of the Atlantic, I unveiled the relatively early death of my maternal great grandfather in a cotton mill fire in 1902. This led to a self-published book on the disaster (see under Life Stories.)

On the American side, my research led to the surprising discovery that the Edwards family from Michigan are descended from two Mayflower passengers, a story also related in the Life Stories section. As I am part of the same family, this means those Mayflower passengers are also my ancestors.

I still live in my home town of Stockport, UK, with my wife, Ann (pictured right.) We have a son and a daughter, Andrew and Claire, and two grandchildren, Olivia and Alfie.

David Edwards Hulme.