28 Facts About Leonard Parkin

Leonard Parkin was an English television journalist and newsreader for the BBC and ITN.

Leonard Parkin began his career as a reporter for local newspapers in Yorkshire before moving to London to work for BBC Radio Newsreel and TV News.

Leonard Parkin took over as the main presenter of ITN's First Report lunchtime current affairs programme and was a regular newsreader on News at One from 1978 to 1987.

Leonard Parkin took early retirement from ITN in July 1987 and went on to create a series of documentaries for Yorkshire Television.

Leonard Parkin was born on 2 June 1929 in Thurnscoe, West Riding of Yorkshire.

Leonard Parkin's father was a coal miner near Pontefract and asked his son not to work in coal mining.

Leonard Parkin spent his national service in the British Army, rising to the rank of captain.

Leonard Parkin moved to London in 1954 and began working for the BBC as a reporter for the BBC Radio Newsreel and TV News after BBC Television expressed interest in recruiting him when television news was in its infancy.

Leonard Parkin covered events in Algeria, Australia, France and the Congo.

Leonard Parkin became the BBC's Canadian correspondent in 1960, before moving on to become the corporation's Washington correspondent three years later.

Leonard Parkin spent a long time in Dallas covering the trial of Jack Ruby, who shot Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

In 1965, Leonard Parkin returned to the United Kingdom from Washington and began working as a reporter for the BBC's current affairs programme Panorama.

Leonard Parkin spent his final year at the BBC working on the current affairs programme 24 Hours before leaving the corporation in 1967.

Leonard Parkin took over as the main presenter of ITN's First Report lunchtime current affairs programme from Robert Kee on 2 February 1976, after deputising for Kee on Fridays.

Leonard Parkin worked as a newsreader for the News at 5:45 bulletin from 1978 to 1982.

Leonard Parkin was the first ITN newsreader to appear on ITV after the network's strike ended on 24 October 1979.

At ITN, Leonard Parkin covered the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

Leonard Parkin reported from India and the Middle East and covered major political events such as the 1972 United States presidential election and the 1981 French presidential election.

Leonard Parkin was a political interviewer, reported on elections for ITN and anchored special programmes such as the Brighton hotel bombing.

Leonard Parkin was reporting from Clarence House for ITN's coverage of the Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981.

Leonard Parkin read bulletins filled with intentional errors for the ITV children's quiz show What's Happening in 1982.

Leonard Parkin took early retirement from ITN in July 1987 after ITV moved the News at One bulletin up by half an hour in an attempt to attract more viewers.

Leonard Parkin returned to Yorkshire, where he produced a series of annual documentaries about the county for Yorkshire Television, titled Pieces of Leonard Parkin, which was broadcast on Mondays.

Leonard Parkin was elected chair of the Welwyn Society in 1967, an organisation that encouraged young people in Welwyn to look beyond the village.

Leonard Parkin was a member of the Welwyn Film Record Society, the Marylebone Cricket Club, the Lord's Taverners and was president of both the Herts Fly Dressers' Guild and The Lytton Players Stevenage.

Leonard Parkin married his wife Barbara Anne Rowley on 4 June 1955; the couple separated in 1987.

In late 1992, Leonard Parkin was diagnosed with spine cancer and underwent chemotherapy while being cared for by his wife.

Leonard Parkin died from the disease in Scarborough on 20 September 1993.