Fond farewell to 'The Greatest' chat host
He is the undisputed king of chat...but tomorrow after interviewing more than 2,000 of the most famous people in the world, Michael Parkinson's last eponymous show will be shown on television. But the son of a miner, from Cudworth, near Barnsley, will not be at home watching what many regard as the end of a golden era. Instead he and his wife Mary will be in Australia with their family - where he says he'll "probably be playing cricket on the beach". Just one hour before flying o
MICHAEL Parkinson's long list of stellar interviewees includes Muhammad Ali, John Wayne, Orson Welles, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Stewart and John Lennon.
He has provided viewers with countless classic television moments, from fighting with Rod Hull's Emu and flirting with Miss Piggy to provoking Woody Allen into accusing him of having a morbid curiosity about his personal life and enduring a monosyllabic Meg Ryan.
So who was his favourite all-time guest?
"Muhammad Ali," he says simply.
"He was unique, in whatever way you look at him he was and is an extraordinary man. When I interviewed him he was the most famous person in the world and I was fortunate that my career coincided with that time in his life and I am certain we will never see the like of him again," he said.
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"Nelson Mandela also - an extra special human being. They both possess something so special, there is an aura about them. I'm certain if you were in a room and they walked in behind you you would sense the sheer force of their presence."
Parky's other favoured interviewees are from a distant roll-call of greats embracing Orson Welles, James Cagney, Fred Astaire, Peter Sellers and James Stewart.
"At the time I persuaded Orson Welles to come onto the show he was a giant. Once he had appeared everyone wanted to come on, agents wanted their clients on my show because Orson Welles had been on, such was his fame and his importance," he said.
Of James Stewart and other greats he says: "To talk to people who had flown missions over Germany as well as played Hamlet was to deal with a different creature. Those greats had a life other than acting, they were more rounded human beings.
"Because they had lived lives that were not bounded by their acting career, there was a hinterland that was worth exploring, a background, a richness.
"Today, it's different. Not worse, just different. There are the big stars but in the main they don't have the texture. They didn't go through a war. And thank God for that."
He says over more than 600 shows he has always sought guests who, besides being well known, had some sort of story to relate. He then saw his job as "allowing them to tell it".
"You have to do your research and then to be an adept interviewer, you have to be a good listener. It's no good having a fixed set of questions - they can help, but if a guest suddenly starts to tell an interesting tale or reveal an unknown facet of their life you shouldn't interrupt, you should sit back and just enjoy as hopefully the audience is doing."
Parky's skill has been in putting guests at ease, such as when he coaxed Dame Judi Dench to talk about the death of her husband, and Mo Mowlam to speak about her father's alcoholism.
Sir Paul McCartney appeared on the show shortly after the death of his wife Linda and performed an acoustic version of the Beatles song Yesterday.
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Back to main news index. Tony Blair became the first serving Prime Minister to appear on the programme when he announced that he would be judged by God on the Iraq war.
Paul Jackson, ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, said of Parkinson: "He has defined the talk show in British television and no one has come near to equalling his record. His name is synonymous throughout the English-speaking world as a benchmark for integrity and quality."
At the end of it all, on the last ever show to be shown on Saturday night, he sums up decades of chat with the words: "It's been a great joy, and I shall miss it."
But just before setting off for Australia the 72-year-old granddad said he was not saddened to be finally leaving the Parkinson set and theme music behind.
He says he is "greatly looking forward to" writing his autobiography and said his childhood, his adored parents Jack and Freda and his formative years in South Yorkshire will feature.
"It is so important to me because it is where I am from and it is where I was formed," he says.
Just a few days ago Parky appeared on the Paul O'Grady show where there was a special surprise for him. His old mate Dickie Bird had travelled down from Barnsley to give him a hug - and shed a tear.
"Me, Dickie and a young Geoff Boycott were schoolboys together, playing for Barnsley Cricket Club, we had such dreams," says Parky.
"Geoff went on to become one of England's best ever batsman, Dickie the world's best and most loved umpire - and I was attacked on television by a bloody Emu!"
PARKINSON FACTFILE
BORN in 1935 in Cudworth, Michael Parkinson was educated at Barnsley Grammar School.
He cut his journalistic teeth at The South Yorkshire Times and other weekly newspapers and then The Manchester Guardian, followed by a stint as feature writer with The Daily Express.
He landed his first job in television as a current affairs producer at Granada Television. During the next few years he wrote a weekly sports column for The Sunday Times and presented Granada's Cinema series. In 1971 the BBC first broadcast 'Parkinson' which ran for eleven years. The world's most famous people were featured and the show became essential viewing for millions each week.
He went on to present some of the nation's much-loved radio programmes including Desert Island Discs on Radio 4.
In 1990 Michael joined The Daily Telegraph writing a weekly column on his favourite subject - sport. In 1995 he was named Sports Feature Writer of the Year and his many published books include 'Best - An Intimate Biography', 'Parkinson on Golf' and 'Parkinson on Football'.
1998 saw 'Parkinson' returned to the screens featuring more of the biggest personalities from the worlds of film, music, sport and politics.
In 2000 he was awarded the CBE and 'Parkinson' was listed in the BFI's top 10 favourite TV programmes of all time. In 2003 the readers of the Radio Times crowned Michael the UK's chatshow king.
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