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SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON CBE |
| Michael Parkinson was born in 1935 in Cudworth, near Barnsley & was educated at Barnsley Grammar School. He spent much of his youth whiling away afternoons in the local cinema dreaming of marrying Lauren Bacall, Veronica Lake or anyone else who would have him! |
| His early journalistic experience was gained on several local newspapers in Yorkshire & then the Manchester Guardian until he became a feature writer with The Daily Express in London. |
| Michael's first work in television was as a current affairs producer at Granada Television with programmes including Scene at 6.30, Afternoon Edition, World in Action & then as a reporter for BBC's 24 Hours. In 1969, he took over Granada's Cinema series. In 1971, he compered a regular afternoon show, Teabreak for Thames Television & at one stage was joined by his wife Mary, who went on to present the programme in her own right. |
| Michael presented his own BBC talk show, Parkinson for 11 years until 1982. With around 800 editions over the course of 30 years & featuring 3000 of the world's most famous people, this proved essential viewing for millions each week. The show would eventually be voted in the top ten of a British Film Institute poll of the Best Television Programmes of All Time & would win a BAFTA & the National Television Award for Most Popular Talk Show four times running. |
| From 1979 to 1982, Michael also presented Parkinson for ABC & Channel 10 in Australia. His other broadcasting credits include; The Movie Quiz, Where in the World, Give Us a Clue, All Star Secrets, Desert Island Discs, Parkinson - One to One, Parky & The Help Squad. From 1995 to 1999 he hosted the very popular Going for a Song & in October 1992 Michael played the lead in Ghostwatch, a BBC1 play. It was highly controversial & received the largest audience of any BBC drama production for ten years. Both Michael & the play were nominated for BAFTA awards. |
| Throughout his career Michael has also broadcast extensively on radio, including; The Michael Parkinson Show for LBC, Parkinson for Sport for Radio Five Live & also Parkinson's Sunday Supplement on Radio 2. Alongside this he remained a busy journalist & prolific writer beginning with a weekly sports column for The Sunday Times, selections of which have been published in four books; Football Daft, Cricket Mad, Sporting Fever & Bats in the Pavilion. In 1975, Michael also published Best - An Intimate Biography about George Best & A-Z of Soccer. |
| Other publications include: The Woofits, Parkinson's Lore, The Best of Parkinson, Sporting Lives, Sporting Profiles, Parkinson on Golf & Parkinson on Football. In 1990 Michael joined the Daily Telegraph writing a regular weekly column on sport for the paper as well as contributing to other periodicals. In 1995 Michael was named Sports Feature Writer of the Year at the British Sport Journalism Awards. The judges praised him for "masterful observations of the sports scene in general & for an outstanding portfolio". |
| Michael returned to the BBC during the summer of 1995 to present the highly acclaimed series Parkinson: The Interviews. Michael introduced highlights from his original interviews, together with clips of unforgettable performances by the entertainers themselves. This proved so popular, a second & third series followed featuring the likes of Ingrid Bergman, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby & Bette Middler. As well as the Christmas Special, Michael was also asked to host the BBC's Auntie's All Time Greats as part of the TV60 celebrations. This was a two-hour special & watched by 12.5 million viewers. |
| In February 1997, the BFI launched TV97 - A Big Festival of the Small Screen. Michael introduced the Dennis Potter Memorial Evening, the opening event at which he was presented with a Fellowship to the BFI in recognition of his contribution to television. Following the enormous popularity of the series featuring past interviews Parkinson returned to BBC1 in January 1998. Once again the series was a huge success & featured guests such as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Elton John, Dame Judi Dench & Julie Walters. Another highly acclaimed series followed in January 1999, kicking off with a George Michael special. |
| Michael has won numerous awards for his work in three different branches of the media - a feat thought to be unique; Sony Radio Award for Parkinson's Sunday Supplement, Sports Writer of the Year at the Press Gazette British Press Awards, Media Personality of the Year by the Variety Club, Gold Awards from Comic Heritage & the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA), voted Yorkshire Man of the Year, Best Talk Show Host in the National TV Awards, Cover Magazine's Best Sports Writer, British Press Guild's Best TV Performer in a Non-Acting Role & the prestigious BAFTA award for Best Light Entertainment Performance, which was the first time ever the ceremony's presenter has also been a winner. |
| In July 1999, Michael was the proud recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Lincolnshire & Humberside University. Later that year he went on to win the National Television Awards Best Chat Show for Parkinson for the second time. The year continued with the Radio 2 series Parkinson's Choice giving Michael the opportunity to play the giants of popular music. A CD compilation of the same name, featuring many of these classic tracks, was released by Universal Jazz in early September to great success & Michael recorded a second series due to popular demand. |
| December brought the eagerly awaited return of another series of Parkinson, starting with a show dedicated to & only featuring Sir Paul McCartney. In March 2000 Michael was honoured by the Media Society & received its annual award for his Outstanding Contribution to the Media. In June 2000, Michael was delighted & proud to be included in the Queen's Birthday Honours list & was awarded a CBE. |
| October 2001 saw another successful series of Parkinson on BBC1 & the programme won the National Television Award for Most Popular Talk Show for the fourth time running. |
| In April 2004, it was announced that Michael would leave the BBC. He moved to ITV for another successful 3 years of Parkinson during which he also found time to host the Classical Brit Awards, the Royal Variety Awards & Michael Parkinson's Greatest Entertainers. |
| During 2007, he was given the Bernard Delfont Award for Outstanding Contribution to Showbusiness by the Variety Club of Great Britain. 2007 was also the year he decided to retire from the talk show, after what had been a sensational run; one in which he sang with Bing Crosby, danced with Will Smith, played a love scene with Bette Davis, kissed Lauren Bacall, fought off an emu, fell out with Meg Ryan & had his knee touched by Renee Zellweger, Sandra Bullock, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kylie Minogue, Billie Piper & Dame Edna Everage to mention but a few of the sex symbols that appeared on the show. At the same time, Michael also decided to retire from the hugely successful & influential Sunday Supplement & began writing his autobiography. |
| Michael was Knighted in June 2008 & installed as Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University in November of the same year. |
| His autobiography, Parky was published in October 2008 & his double CD - My Life in Music was released in the following month. Far from "retired", the same year saw Michael engage in several other one-off projects, including an interview at Downing Street with Gordon Brown on the policy of nurturing young talent in Britain. |
| During 2009, Michael dedicated a lot of time to his fans in Australia as he embarked on a tour around the country; Parky: The One Man Show in which he told of his life & career to packed-out venues all over Australia & New Zealand. |
| Michael is currently working on two further projects & has also released another book; Parky's People as well as the Best of Parkinson DVD. |
For more information on Sir Michael Parkinson, Contact Arena. Tel: 0113-239-2222 |