53 Facts About Michael Parkinson

Sir Michael Parkinson was an English television presenter, broadcaster, journalist and author.

Michael Parkinson presented his television talk show Parkinson from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the UK and abroad.

Michael Parkinson worked in radio and was described by The Guardian as "the great British talkshow host".

Michael Parkinson was born on 28 March 1935 in the village of Cudworth, in Barnsley.

Michael Parkinson was a club cricketer and both he and his opening partner at Barnsley Cricket Club, Dickie Bird, had trials for Yorkshire together with Geoffrey Boycott.

Michael Parkinson once kept Boycott out of the Barnsley Cricket Club team by scoring a century and 50 in two successive matches.

Michael Parkinson worked as a features writer for the Manchester Guardian, working alongside Michael Frayn and later on the Daily Express in London.

Michael Parkinson saw active service in Egypt in the Suez Crisis as a British Army press liaison officer.

Michael Parkinson was one of the presenters on the five-times-a-week news show Twenty-Four Hours on BBC1 from March 1966 until January 1968.

From 1969 he presented Granada's Cinema, a late-night film review programme, before in July 1971 presenting his BBC series Michael Parkinson, which ran until April 1982 and from January 1998 until December 2007, leaving the BBC for ITV1 midway through the second run, which concluded after 31 series.

Michael Parkinson was one of the original "Famous Five" line-up of TV-am's Good Morning, Britain in 1983, with Angela Rippon, Anna Ford, David Frost and Robert Kee.

Michael Parkinson presented the weekend edition of the programme until February 1984.

Michael Parkinson took over as host of Thames Television's Give Us a Clue from Michael Aspel from 1984, while in 1985, he stood in for Barry Norman as presenter of Film 85.

In 1987 and 1988, Michael Parkinson hosted fifteen episodes of Michael Parkinson One to One for Yorkshire Television, a series of interview programmes which continued in the style of his BBC talk show but with each episode dedicated to a single celebrity guest.

Michael Parkinson again appeared as himself in Richard Curtis's 2003 romantic comedy film, Love Actually, interviewing the character Billy Mack, played by Bill Nighy.

In October 2003, Michael Parkinson had a controversial interview with Meg Ryan while she was in the UK to promote In the Cut, which he called his most difficult television moment.

In 2007, Michael Parkinson appeared in the Australian soap Neighbours as himself.

On 24 November 2007, during recording of the final regular edition of his ITV chat show, broadcast on 16 December, Michael Parkinson fought back tears as he was given an ovation.

Michael Parkinson was a flagship of the BBC's prime-time schedule, attracting top names before the chat show circuit was part of the promotional mill.

Michael Parkinson was able to interview wartime variety stars while attracting up-and-coming comedians such as Billy Connolly.

Michael Parkinson was not afraid to allow an interviewee time to be themself, sometimes, as with Fred Astaire, Orson Welles, Alec Guinness, Paul McCartney, Muhammad Ali, George Michael, Madonna, John Cleese and Mel Gibson, devoting an entire programme to a guest who was considered especially noteworthy.

Michael Parkinson stated that the most remarkable man he ever interviewed was Muhammad Ali, and regretted never interviewing Frank Sinatra or Don Bradman.

Michael Parkinson returned to hosting television in November 2012 with his new show Michael Parkinson: Masterclass on Sky Arts.

Michael Parkinson took over BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs for the 1986 series after the 1985 death of its creator, Roy Plomley, whose widow was unhappy with Michael Parkinson replacing him.

Michael Parkinson claimed that the criticism was "a rearguard action by the establishment against the perceived desecration of an institution by an outsider".

Michael Parkinson stayed for two years until handing duties over to Sue Lawley.

In October 2007, a few months after announcing his retirement from his television series, Michael Parkinson said his radio show would end.

Michael Parkinson presented a mid-morning programme on London's LBC Newstalk 97.3FM.

Michael Parkinson was considered responsible for the promotion of jazz singers to a more mainstream audience during the run of his BBC radio show.

Michael Parkinson wrote a sports column for The Daily Telegraph and was president of the Sports Journalists' Association.

In 1971, Michael Parkinson was nominated as a candidate for the position of Rector of the University of Dundee.

The result was controversial, as it was alleged earlier results indicated Michael Parkinson had won and a further recount should have taken place to confirm the result.

Michael Parkinson is on the cover of the 1973 Paul McCartney and Wings album Band on the Run.

In 2005, Michael Parkinson appeared with comedian Peter Kay on the music video of the re-released "Is This the Way to Amarillo" for Comic Relief, which became a number one single.

On 29 September 2008, Michael Parkinson launched his website, which included online interviews.

Michael Parkinson gave the keynote address in Sydney on Australia Day 2011, the first non-Australian to do so.

Michael Parkinson used the publicity surrounding his Australia Day appearance to promote the abolition of the Australian monarchy.

Michael Parkinson was a critic of the apartheid system governing South Africa until the 1990s and wrote a monthly sports column for Anti-Apartheid News, the official newspaper of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, upon its launch in 1965.

Michael Parkinson opposed a planned South African tour of England in 1970, characterising the MCC's defence of the tour as "a rag-bag of cliche, red herring, zig-zagging, bobbing and weaving", and judging their justification of it as having "all the watertight qualities of a string bag".

Michael Parkinson went on to write the foreword to Colin Shindler's history of the campaign against the 1970 tour, Barbed Wire and Cucumber Sandwiches.

Michael Parkinson was a founding sponsor of the Anti-Nazi League in 1977.

In 2013, Michael Parkinson again criticised the course British television had taken, comparing series such as The One Show unfavourably with the broadcasting of the recently deceased Alan Whicker and David Frost, as well as stating the "cult of youth" had "distorted the standards".

Michael Parkinson spoke fondly of the time when "producers were unencumbered by such irksome obstacles as compliance, health and safety and frustrating commissioning procedures".

Michael Parkinson had declined to apologise to Helen Mirren over an interview he conducted in 1975, where he implied that serious actors could not have large breasts.

Michael Parkinson was a cricket fan and in 1990 hosted a World XI team against Yorkshire.

Michael Parkinson met his friend Michel Roux when rowing down the River Thames on a Sunday to The Waterside Inn, then owned by Roux.

Michael Parkinson acquired a Michelin-starred restaurant near his home in Berkshire in 2001.

In 2013, Michael Parkinson announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Michael Parkinson died at home on 16 August 2023 following a brief illness, aged 88.

Michael Parkinson was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles in November 2000 for services to broadcasting, awarded in the 2000 Birthday Honours.

Michael Parkinson was ranked eighth in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals.

Michael Parkinson was voted number 20 in ITV's "TV's 50 Greatest Stars".

Michael Parkinson had served as president of the Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain since 2005, the largest national organisation of sports journalists in the world.