Muriel Gray
Author, broadcaster and businesswoman. Born in East Kilbride, the daughter of a merchant seaman. Educated at the Glasgow School of Art, Muriel went on to become Assistant Head of Design in the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh. She also followed a secondary career as a member of the rock group The Von Trapp Family and it was this which led to her appearing as a presenter on the Channel 4 television series The Tube.
With her trademark bleached hair, sharp wit and opinionated comment, Muriel became familar as the post-punk presenter of a range of television programmes, including The Media Show (1987-9). She started her own television production company, Gallus Besom in 1989, and this was responsible for her shows Art is dead, Long Live TV (1991) which engendered a popularist view of modern art and The Munro Show (1991) which saw her climbing the mountains of Scotland. Her company Ideal World is now the biggest TV production company in Scotland. Known for her strongly held views, she writes regularly for various newspapers and became the first female Rector of the University of Edinburgh (1988-91).
By the late 1990s, Muriel had re-invented herself as a mother and successful horror-writer, with books including The Tickster (1995), Furnace (1997) and The Ancient (2001). A mother of three, her middle child suffered severe brain-damage following a drowning accident in a neighbour's pond while in the care of a nanny. Thereafter, she has devoted herself to full-time motherhood, followed by part-time writing once the children are in bed!
