Michael Parkinson

Sir Michael Parkinson KBE
Born	(1935-03-28) 28 March 1935 Cudworth, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England
Occupation(s)	Broadcaster and journalist
Spouse	Mary Heneghan

Sir Michael Parkinson KBE (born March 28 1935) is an English broadcaster and journalist. He is most famous for presenting his eponymous interview programme, Parkinson, which was broadcast from 1971 to 2007.

Early life

Parkinson, or "Parky" as he is familiarly known, was born in Cudworth near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The son of a miner, he was educated at Barnsley Grammar School and passed two O-Levels: in Art and English Language. He was an enthusiastic club cricketer, and both he and his opening partner at Barnsley Cricket Club, Dickie Bird, had trials for Yorkshire together with Geoffrey Boycott. Parkinson began as a journalist on local newspapers, and his carefully maintained Yorkshire background and accent remain an important part of his appeal. He then worked as a reporter on the Manchester Guardian and later on the Daily Express in London. He also did National Service as Britain's youngest army captain and was involved in the Suez Operation.

Career

Television

During the 1960s, Parkinson moved into television, working on current affairs programmes for both the BBC and Manchester-based Granada Television and then followed a long career. The British Film Institute has an extensive overview and filmography of Parkinson's work. Parkinson holds a prolific 451 credits as a presenter on his own and teamed with others.

From 1969, he presented Cinema, a late-night film review programme, before moving on in 1971 to become an interviewer and a household name in the United Kingdom.

Parkinson is best known for hosting his successful chat show, Parkinson, broadcast from 1971 until 1982 and then from 1998 until December 2007. It featured many of the most prominent celebrities, but generally avoided posing confrontational or controversial questions. By his own reckoning, Parkinson interviewed over 2,000 of the world's most famous people. He said that he only suffered from celebrity shock once: when he interviewed his childhood hero, Keith Miller on the show. In October 2003, Parkinson had a controversial interview with Meg Ryan on his talk show, whilst she was in the United Kingdom to promote In the Cut. He later commented that it was his most difficult television moment. His one professional regret was that he never interviewed Frank Sinatra. In its heyday, Parkinson was a flagship of the BBC's prime time schedule, attracting top names in the days before the chat show circuit was established as a part of the promotional mill. Parkinson interviewed the notoriously reticent Marlon Brando, he was able to sympathetically interview wartime variety stars while attracting (then) up-and-coming comedians such as Billy Connolly, and was not afraid to allow an interviewee time to be themselves, sometimes (as with Sir Paul McCartney) devoting an entire programme to a single guest.

He was one of the original line-up of TV-am, together with Angela Rippon, Anna Ford and Robert Kee, who were all eventually replaced with younger talent. He also took over as host of Thames Television's Give Us a Clue from Michael Aspel.

In 1992, Parkinson appeared as himself in the television drama Ghostwatch. He was the studio link during a fictional, apparently live, paranormal investigation. However, the cinéma vérité style in which it was shot led to many complaints from BBC viewers, who believed it had depicted real events. From 1995 to 1999, he hosted the popular BBC One daytime programme Going for a Song. He again played himself in Richard Curtis' 2003 romantic comedy, Love Actually, interviewing the character Billy Mack, who is played by Bill Nighy. From 31 January to 3 February 2007, Parkinson presented "Symphony at the Movies" at the Sydney Opera House, where he shared stories about his interviews with movie stars, and introduced music from some of his favourite films.

Parkinson announced his retirement on 26 June 2007:

After three enjoyable and productive years at ITV, and after 25 years of doing my talk show I have decided that this forthcoming series will be my last. I’m going to take next year off to write my autobiography and consider other television projects. My thanks go out to all those who have worked on the shows down the years and the viewers for their loyal support and occasional kind words.

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

On 24 November 2007, during the recording of the final regular edition of his ITV chat show, broadcast on 16 December, Parkinson fought back tears as he was given a standing ovation. The last artist to perform on his show was Jamie Cullum.

Radio

Parkinson took over BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 1985, after the death of its creator, Roy Plomley. He stayed for three years until handing over to Sue Lawley. Between 1994 and 1996 he hosted Parkinson on Sport on BBC Radio Five Live. Between 1996 and 2007, he presented a Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 2 called Parkinson's Sunday Supplement; it featured newspaper and entertainment summaries (with the help of various journalists) and a lengthy interview with a media personality. These were interspersed with music that demonstrated his penchant for jazz and big-band arrangements. In October 2007, a few months after announcing his retirement from his television series, Parkinson revealed that his radio show would also end. The last programme was broadcast on Sunday 2 December 2007. As an interim arrangement Clive Anderson presented the programme during December/January and Eammon Holmes during February and Fiona Bruce during March, until a suitable successor is found. It seems however that this arrangement of rotating presenters on a monthly basis may become a long term fixture for the show.

In the past Parkinson presented a mid-morning programme on London's LBC Newstalk 97.3FM. He was responsible for "discovering" jazz pianist Jamie Cullum, among others.

Writing

In 1967 The Sunday Times invited Parkinson to write a regular sports column, which became very popular, drawing especially on characters he'd come across in his own active days in cricket and soccer.

In the 1960s, Parkinson wrote a series of children's books called The Woofits about a family of anthropomorphic dog-like creatures who lived in the fictional Yorkshire coal-mining village of Grimeworth. The books led to a TV series, which he narrated.

He previously wrote a sports column for the Daily Telegraph and is currently President of the Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain.

Personal life

In 1959 he married Mary Heneghan. Mary Parkinson herself presented the long-running Thames TV daytime show Good Afternoon, and briefly presented Parkinson in the 1970s. They have three children, Andrew, Nick and Mike, and eight grandchildren, Laura, James, Emma, Georgina, Ben, Felix, Sofia and Honey. In the 1970s he campaigned in support of birth control. He is a keen cricket fan, and in 1990 hosted a World XI team against Yorkshire. Parkinson and his wife live in Bray, Berkshire, and met his friend Michel Roux when rowing down the River Thames on a Sunday to his then pub, the Waterside Inn.. He is also a keen bee-keeper.

Honours and awards

In 1999 he was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. He was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Prince Charles in November 2000 for "services to broadcasting". Parkinson was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2008 New Year's Honours List; he jokingly remarked that he thought that he was "not the type to get a knighthood" coming as he did "from Barnsley. They give it to anyone nowadays."

Parkinson was ranked 8th in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals. In April 2006, Parkinson was awarded the prestigious Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society (Trinity College, Dublin). He was also voted number 20 in ITV's "TV's 50 Greatest Stars".

On June 4, 2008 his knighthood was bestowed upon him by the Queen at Buckingham Palace - and Parkinson is now to be addressed as "Sir. Michael"

In popular culture

His presenting techniques were spoofed by Alistair McGowan on the show Big Impression and by Jon Culshaw on the comedy show Dead Ringers, in which Culshaw portrays Parkinson interviewing members of the general public at bus stops and other everyday locations. The Kenny Everett character Cupid Stunt was "interviewed" by a cardboard cut-out Michael Parkinson in all of "her" sketches. He is one of the figures on the cover of the Wings album Band on the Run. In 2005, Parkinson made a guest appearance with comedian Peter Kay on the music video of the re-released "Is This the Way to Amarillo" for Comic Relief, which subsequently became a No. 1 single. Parkinson was also featured in Irregular Webcomic! No. 1697.

External links

• Michael Parkinson and the MBC's Encyclopedia of Television
• Michael Parkinson on BBC Radio 2
• Michael Parkinson at IMDb