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He returned to advertising for a year, combining this with part-time acting in minor roles. Mike <>Mike decided it was time to see more of the world. So he quit the agency and, together with three friends "bummed my way around Europe in an old taxi." One of the friends was Lionel Bart. The quartet had clubbed together and bought a cab for £12. They then shipped it across to Scandinavia and went on a tour around Europe.

Mike Pratt was an accomplished jazz musician, playing piano and guitar, and on their return to London in 1956, Lionel Bart introduced him to another friend at a party - a young sailor named Tommy Hicks. Tommy had a guitar and could sing, while Mike played the piano. They formed a group called The Cavemen, named after The Cave, the coffee bar under the arches near the Embankment where they used to play. They begin playing in pubs and coffee bars for ten shillings a night. In the summer of that year, Hicks and The Cavemen began playing in coffee bars in London's Soho. Tommy Hicks took the stage name Tommy Steele.

Tommy Steele, Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt put their first songs together in the atmosphere of the Yellow Door. The Yellow Door was in Bayliss Road, running parallel to Lower Marsh market, it joined Westminster Bridge Road and Waterloo Road. It was Soho's South London outpost, described a pre-hippie commune. Also hanging around there in 1958 was a seventeen year old folk-singer Davey Graham.

They were finding an audience, particularly at a coffee bar called The Two I's in Old Compton Street, Soho. It was here where Hicks and the Cavemen were discovered by a public relations man named John Kennedy. And Kennedy, in turn, convinced impressario Larry Parnes who re-christened Hicks "Tommy Steele". Decca signed Tommy Steele during the early autumn of 1956. For their recording debut, the trio cut an original song, "Rock With the Caveman" with help from some British jazz notables (including saxman Ronnie Scott), who got billed as The Steelmen. Tommy Steele made his television debut in October of 1956. "Rock With the Caveman" made the British top-20. The early songs were English variants on a rock 'n' roll sound.

In 1957 Tommy Steele's career took off and featured in a film based on his life "The Tommy Steele Story". Tommy Steele and his collaborators Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt - wrote 12 songs in only seven days. On May 3 1957 the film premiered in London. It took less than 2 months to produce. Two songs featured in the film, "A Handful of Songs" and "Water, Water," charted in the British top 5. The original soundtrack went to number 1 in the album chart. They were awarded the Ivor Novello Award for the Outstanding Song of The Year, Musically and Lyrically for "A Handful of Songs". Written by Lionel Bart, Mike Pratt and Tommy Steele. It was number 8 in the sheet music sales of September 1957.

In 1958 another Tommy Steele film was released, "The Duke Wore Jeans". This featured more songs written by Mike Pratt and Lionel Bart. The original soundtrack went to number 1 in the album charts.

In 1959, "Little White Bull", a song for Tommy Steele that featured in the film "Tommy The Toreador", received the 1959 Songwriters Guild Ivor Novello Award for best novelty song. It was number 4 in the sheet music sales of December 1959. The soundtrack for the film reached number four in the album chart.

Mike formed his own folk group, The Cotton Pickers. With Mike playing piano, and the washboard. The group played a number of clubs.

Mike's thoughts turned to writing and he went off to Spain to write a couple of plays, which have yet to see the light of day. He returned to the U.K. and he penned sketches and scripts for various reviews and television shows.

Mike gets married and they have a daughter (Karin Louise) and son (Guy Adam).

In 1963 he appeared in the film "This Is My Street". Mike played Sid, June Ritchie's husband. His pretty schoolteacher sister-in-law was played by a young Australian actress by the name of Annette Andre.

In 1964 Mike was a writer on the Dave King's sitcom's "Dave's Kingdom". A weekly half-hour show by ATV. Transmitted from 21st October - 9th December 1964.

Mike's first appearance as an actor was as Biff in "Death Of A Salesman" in Glasgow.

In 1965 Mike appeared in 4 episodes of Danger Man. The series was created by Ralph Smart, and it was produced by ITC Entertainment . In the US, the second and third seasons of the series were aired under the title Secret Agent. In one episode Mike punched the star Patrick McGoohan all over the place, and as a reward, was given more sympathetic roles in the series.

In the 1965 film Be My Guest a song was featured by The Nashville Teens, Gotta Get Away Now, music by John Barry with lyrics by Mike Pratt.

During 1966 Mike joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1966 he appeared in a production of the Polish dramatist Slawomir Mrozek's "Tango" at the Aldwych, directed by Trevor Nunn. Also appearing were Pauline Jameson, Michael Williams and Robert Eddison. In June he began rehearsals for the British Premiere of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's new comedy "The Meteor", directed by Clifford Williams. Playing Hugo Nyffenschwander, an artist. While appearing he shared a dressing room with Brian Badcoe and Morgan Sheppard. The press night was on the 28th of July 1966. Amongst those appearing in the play were Patience Collier, Robert Eddison and Patrick Magee. In October Mike appeared in a production of Dennis Cannan's "Us" at the Aldwych, directed by Peter Brook.

At the end of May 1968 filming began on the ITC series "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)".

This series propelled Mike Pratt to star status. In the U.S.A. it was known as "My Partner The Ghost", while in Peru it was "El Detective Fantasma".

A very private and shy man, Mike co-wrote, with Ian Wilson, the episode "A Disturbing Case" without telling Ken. During time off he would closet himself in his dressing room with his guitar. Many of the articles seen in Jeff Randall's apartment, are the personal belonging of Mike Pratt.

Harry 'Aitch' Fielder was the stand-in for Mike Pratt. They got on well together and became good friends. Harry would read the other actors' lines in the script to Mike so that he could learn his.

In the episode "The Ghost Talks" Mike really was laid up in a hospital bed with two broken legs. Mike was attempting to climb a drainpipe in a slightly inebriated state during his 38th birthday celebrations. He fell 20 feet into the basement area... he'd forgotten his keys, and saw the stand-in doing it - successfully - first. Mike being Mike, he thought, "I can do that" and had a go. Jeff's excuse was that he'd fallen from a balcony in a chase - a little more dignified. After 14 months of filming production finished in the late summer of 1969.

In 1970 he was cast in the role of Clem Mason in "The Psychobombs" - episode 12 of the first series of Gerry Anderson's "UFO". In May 1970 Mike began a six-month season of Shakespearean plays at London's Mermaid Theatre.

In 1971, he starred in the "Long Voyage Out Of War" as an army deserter Turk Godfray.

The programme also featured Anne Stallybrass. He was the only actor to appear in all three plays and he ages from twenty-one to fifty-six in the process. The trilogy, by Ian Curteis, shows the effect of war on Turk Godfray at three stages in his life. In the first play, "The Gentle Invasion" the time is the Battle of Britain, and Turk is an Army deserter hiding in his native hamlet on Kent's Romney Marsh. By the second programme, "Battle at Trematangi", Turk has become a merceneray in SE Asia who experiences the effects of an atomic bomb test in the Pacific. The final programme, "Last Enemy", set in 1975, finds Turk as a major campaigner for the poor, the homeless and the refugees of war.

In 1972 Mike appeared in a production of Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths" at the Aldwych, directed by David Jones . The press night was on the 29th of June 1972

In December 1972 Mike appeared in David Jones' RSC production of "The Island of the Mighty" at the Aldwych. He was cast as Garlon. The play was written by John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy and was an interpretation of the Arthurian legends. The press night was on the 5th of December 1972.

In 1973 he appeared in The Vault of Horror.

His last role came in 1976. He appeared in episodes of the BBC family saga "The Brothers". He played the character of Don Stacy, an alcoholic airline pilot. Mike had been ill for some time and was admitted to a hospital near Guildford in January 1976. On the 10th of July, Mike lost his battle against cancer. Mike was cremated on 15th July 1976 at Golders Green Cemetery. Mike's ashes were scattered in Section 3-Q.

Although his appearance in "The Brothers" was a brief one, it attracted a sizeable following. On the 8th of August 1976, the remaining cast of the series plus a number of other celebrities (including Glenda Jackson, John Le Mesurier and Kenneth Haigh, Fenella Fielding, Victor Spinetti, Annie Ross and Harry Corbett) staged a special show in his honour at London's Aldwych Theatre. The proceeds went to his family.