“The biggest social revolution in my life growing up in England was changing the role of women in society,” he said. “We didn’t have civil rights and Vietnam in England, but I think that one particular social revolution is the biggest thing and I missed it because I didn’t have enough women. And because I didn’t have enough women, I didn’t have enough choice about what options women had, who had careers, had families, and all those things. “
He continued, “If you look at everything from ‘Agatha’ to ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’, from ‘Nell’ and ‘Continental Divide’, they all have to do with the role of women in society and what women need to do to be a role in society or the choices women must make in order to stay in society or have a voice in society, both in simple and eccentric ways. I always care. And that, I think, comes from feeling like I missed something. “
Michael David Apted was born on February 10, 1941 in Aylesbury, Central England and grew up near London. His father, Ronald, worked for an insurance company, and his mother, Frances, was “some kind of die-hard socialist” who instilled a liberal attitude, as he told The Progressive in 2013.
From the age of ten he attended the renowned City of London School, commuted to the city by underground and then studied history and law at the University of Cambridge. His friends included fellow student John Cleese, who later joined the Monty Python Troupe, and he worked on theater productions with Trevor Nunn, Mike Newell and Stephen Frears, all of whom had prominent directorial careers. He took part in a trainee program in Granada and was soon working on “Seven Up!”.
When this film aired in May 1964, the reaction terrified him.
“The first,” he told The Times in 2019, “was extremely successful.” It was the truth of the class system from the mouths of babes, and the whole country was shocked – people were just blown away by the cracks in English society on celluloid. “