Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He 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 internationally. He has also worked in radio. He has been described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as "the great British talkshow host".

Early life

Parkinson was born on 28 March 1935 in the village of Cudworth, near Barnsley, then in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(since 1974 included in the new metropolitan county of South Yorkshire). The son of a miner, he was educated at Barnsley Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus and in 1951 passed two

O-Levels The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

: in art and English language. He was a club cricketer, and both he and his opening partner at Barnsley Cricket Club,

Dickie Bird Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird, (born 19 April 1933), is an English retired international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a much-loved figure among players and viewing public, due to his excellence as an umpire, but al ...

, had trials for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

together with

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

. He once kept Boycott out of the Barnsley Cricket Club team by scoring a century and 50 in two successive matches. A Michael Parkinson World XI played at the Scarborough Festival between 1988 and 1990. Parkinson began as a journalist on local newspapers straight after leaving school. He worked as a features writer for the '' Manchester Guardian'', working alongside

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...

, and later on the '' Daily Express'' in London. In the course of his two years'

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

, which began in July 1955, he received a commission as an officer in the

Royal Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before t ...

, becoming the youngest captain in the British Army at the time. He saw active service in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

in the Suez Crisis as a British Army press liaison officer.

Career

Television

During the 1960s, Parkinson moved into television, working on current affairs programmes for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Radio

Parkinson stayed for three years until handing duties 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 morning show on BBC Radio 2 called ''Parkinson's Sunday Supplement''; it featured newspaper and entertainment summaries with the help of journalists and a lengthy interview with a media personality. These were interspersed with music that demonstrated his penchant for jazz and big-band. In October 2007, a few months after announcing his retirement from his television series, Parkinson said his radio show would also end. The last programme was broadcast on Sunday 2 December 2007. As an interim Clive Anderson presented the programme during December/January and Eamonn Holmes during February and Fiona Bruce during March. Michael Ball replaced him until Terry Wogan moved to Sunday mornings to present Weekend Wogan. Parkinson presented a mid-morning programme on London's LBC Newstalk 97.3FM. He was considered responsible for promotion of jazz singers to a more mainstream audience during the run of his BBC radio show.

Writing

Parkinson's first article for the ''Sunday Times'' Colour Section, 'Living in a Museum' (about the Suffolk village of Lavenham) appeared on 8 July 1962. In 1965 ''The Sunday Times'' invited Parkinson to write a regular sports column, drawing on characters in his days in cricket and association football, football. These ''Sunday Times'' and, his articles for ''Punch (magazine), Punch'' magazine later formed the basis for two books, ''Cricket Mad'' and ''Football Daft''. In the 1980s, Parkinson wrote a series of children's literature, children's books called ''The Woofits'' about a family of anthropomorphic dog-like creatures in the fictional Yorkshire coal-mining village of Grimeworth. The books led to a TV series, which he narrated. He wrote a sports column for the ''Daily Telegraph'' and is president of the Sports Journalists' Association. His book ''Parky: My Autobiography'' was published on 2 October 2008. In April 2009, Parkinson wrote about the recently deceased Jade Goody in the ''Radio Times''. He described Goody as "barely educated, ignorant and puerile," adding, "When we clear the media smokescreen from around her death, what we're left with is a woman who came to represent all that's paltry and wretched about Britain today." Bishop Jonathan Blake, who had presided over Goody's wedding, took exception to Parkinson's comments.

Other work

In 1971, Parkinson was nominated as a candidate for the position of Rector of the University of Dundee. In one of the closest-ever contests for that position, he was very narrowly defeated by incumbent Peter Ustinov after two recounts. The result was controversial, as it was alleged earlier results indicated Parkinson had won, and a further recount should have taken place to confirm the result. As a result, pressure grew for the poll to be rerun. While the university decreed that the original result was to stand, a new poll was organised by the Students' Association, which also featured the candidature of a goat. However, this time Ustinov won a decisive victory over Parkinson, the goat, and Paul Foot (journalist), Paul Foot. On 29 September 2008, Parkinson launched his website, which included online interviews with Nelson Mandela and British comedian Rory Bremner. The site also includes a blog, giving Parkinson's views on news events as well as information about his compilation album, ''Michael Parkinson: My Life In Music'', featuring favourite songs performed by Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, Dionne Warwick and others. Parkinson gave the keynote address in Sydney on Australia Day 2011, the first non-Australian to do so. Parkinson used the publicity surrounding his Australia Day appearance to promote the abolition of the Monarchy of Australia, Australian monarchy. Since finishing his talk show, Parkinson has appeared in commercials for SunLife Guaranteed Over 50 Plan life insurance, stating that he likes "its no-nonsense approach to business". His role in advertising the scheme was criticised by financial journalist Martin Lewis (financial journalist), Martin Lewis, who argued in 2012 that the plan was poor value for customers. In August 2014, Parkinson was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

'' expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's 2014 Scottish independence referendum, referendum on that issue.

Views

In May 2009, Parkinson bemoaned the state of TV generally, saying he was "fed up with the rise of celebrities hosting shows, ridiculously titled documentaries and property shows", saying "In my television paradise there would be no more property programmes, no more police-chasing-yobbos-in-cars programmes and, most of all and please God, no more so-called documentary shows with titles like ''My 20-Ton Tumour'', ''My Big Fat Head'', ''Wolf Girl'', ''Embarrassing Illnesses'' and ''The Fastest Man on No Legs''." On 11 October 2010, Parkinson appeared on Richard Bacon (TV presenter), Richard Bacon's Radio 5 Live show where he was particularly critical of comedian and actor Russell Brand, saying: "I don't see the point of him." In 2013, 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". Parkinson spoke fondly of the time when "producers were unencumbered by such irksome obstacles as compliance, health and safety and frustrating commissioning procedures". Alex Jones (Welsh presenter), Alex Jones, presenter of ''The One Show'', rejected Parkinson's criticism. Parkinson has declined to apologise to Helen Mirren over an interview he conducted in 1975, where he implied that serious actors could not have large breasts. Mirren later described him as a "sexist old fart". On ''Piers Morgan's Life Stories'', Morgan suggested the comments were sexist. Parkinson replied: "Well, maybe. But nobody got hurt, nobody died."

Personal life

On 22 August 1959, he married Mary Agnes Heneghan, who was from Doncaster. Under her new name, Mary Parkinson was one of the presenters of the Thames TV daytime show ''Good Afternoon'' and briefly presented ''Parkinson'' in the 1970s. They have three children. In the 1970s, Parkinson campaigned in support of birth control, having had a vasectomy in 1972 to allow his wife to stop taking the Pill.Bennett, Stephanie ''A Present for Mrs Parkinson'', Cosmopolitan (UK) issue 1, March 1972 He is a cricket fan, and in 1990 hosted a World XI team against Yorkshire. Parkinson and his wife live in Bray, Berkshire. He met his friend Michel Roux when rowing down the River Thames on a Sunday to his then pub, the Waterside Inn. Parkinson formerly owned a Michelin Guide, Michelin Star restaurant near his home in Berkshire. In an interview with Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne on the RTÉ religious programme ''The Meaning of Life'', he stated that he was an agnostic atheist.

Honours and awards

In 1999, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lincoln and he also received an honour from the University of Huddersfield in 2008. He was invested as a Order of the British Empire, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Charles in November 2000 for services to broadcasting, having been honoured in the 2000 Birthday Honours.United Kingdom: Parkinson was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2008 New Year Honours, 2008 New Year's Honours List; he remarked 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 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. In April 2006, Parkinson was awarded honorary patronage of the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin. He was voted number 20 in ITV (TV network), ITV's "TV's 50 Greatest Stars". On 4 June 2008 he was knighthood, knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. On 11 November 2008, he became the first Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University; the role includes representing the university and conferring degrees at graduation ceremonies. Upon receiving the honour he said, "I am honoured to be offered the chancellorship at Nottingham Trent University. In television I have always worked with young, ambitious people and I am keen to be involved in this university which helps to realise the aspirations of the young. It will also give me an opportunity to see what I missed!". Parkinson has served as president of the Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain since 2005, the largest national organisation of sports journalists in the world. In 2014 he agreed to become patron of the Reg Bartley Cricket Club in Sydney, Australia.

In popular culture

Parkinson is on the cover of the 1973 Wings (band), Paul McCartney and Wings album ''Band on the Run''. Paul McCartney told Parkinson that he would appear on his show if Parkinson appeared on the album cover, although it was not until 1999 that McCartney fulfilled his promise. In 2005, 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. Parkinson was featured in ''Irregular Webcomic!'' number 1697. In 2008, Parkinson was interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson on ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' (Top Gear Series 12, Series 12, Episode 1).

References

External links

*
Michael Parkinson
and the Museum of Broadcast Communications, MBC's Museum of Broadcast Communications#Encyclopedia of Television, Encyclopedia of Television * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, Michael 1935 births Living people 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century British journalists BBC Radio 2 presenters Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners British military personnel of the Suez Crisis Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English autobiographers English memoirists English children's writers English game show hosts English male journalists English radio presenters English sportswriters English television presenters English television talk show hosts Knights Bachelor People educated at Holgate School, Barnsley People from Cudworth, South Yorkshire Royal Army Pay Corps officers Military personnel from Yorkshire Television personalities from South Yorkshire