Michael Arnold Perry (8 March 1942 – 9 December 1996) was a Church of England clergyman and one of the leading British hymnodists of the 20th century.

[2] It was during his student days at Oak Hill in 1964 that Perry wrote his best-known hymn, the Calypso Carol, the first line of which is "See him lying on a bed of straw".

[3] He wrote this for a college concert, and it only became famous by accident when Cliff Richard substituted it for a missing recording in a radio show.

[4] After ordination in the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool, Perry ministered at St Helens, Merseyside.

His contemporary, hymn-writer Christopher Idle, paid tribute to Perry's compositions, his constructive criticism of others' works, and his business acumen in "sorting out what had been a copyright jungle" (referring to critics who expected songwriters to make no charge since their work was "for the Lord").