A Barnsley-born lad, who through interviewing the world’s biggest stars, became a household name himself.
Sir Michael Parkinson’s illustrious career spanned five decades, during which he chatted to the likes of John Wayne, Fred Astaire, Orson Welles, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Muhammad Ali (four times), Bette Davis, Lauren Becall and Tommy Cooper.
More recent A-listers to grace his comfy chat show chairs included Tom Cruise, Madonna, and the Beckhams. His career saw him at the helm of more than 600 shows and 2,000 interviews.
Despite having talked to almost every celebrity worth their salt, he once described Frank Sinatra as “the one who got away” – having never got the chance to sit down with “Ol’ Blue Eyes”.
Known to many simply as “Parky”, his gentle Yorkshire accent, warm tone and razor-sharp mind combined to make him the host every celebrity wanted to share their secrets with – minus a few notable exceptions.
His 2003 interview with American actress Meg Ryan went down in history as one of the most awkward TV chat show moments of all time. When he asked the monosyllabic star what she would do in his place, she snapped: “Why not wrap it up?”
Ryan later compared the tone of his questions about her erotic thriller In The Cut – a departure from her more usual romcoms – to that of a “disapproving dad”.
Twenty years after the interview, Parkinson called it his “most difficult TV moment,” offering up an apology to the actress and admitting neither of them were on “top form”.
Actress Helen Mirren also famously called him out during his 1975 interview with her, when he asked the then 30-year-old star if her physical attributes had “hindered” her in her career. Parkinson later referred to it as just “good television”.
Another interviewee who gave as good as they got was Rod Hull’s Emu the following year, who wrestled Parkinson to the ground during their chat. Parkinson went on to jokingly bemoan the fact that despite a wealth of perfectly crafted interviews to his name, “I’ll probably be remembered for that bloody bird”. He was, in part, right.
Image: Sir Michael Parkinson with Tom Cruise. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
From a family of miners
Sir Michael was born on 28 March 1935, in Cudworth, near Barnsley, in what was then the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Far from being born into showbiz, his father and grandfather before him were miners, and a young Parkinson left school with dreams of becoming a professional cricketer.
He once opened the batting for his local club alongside legendary cricketing umpire Dickie Bird, and underwent trials with Geoffrey Boycott.
But when a cricketing career didn’t work out, Parkinson turned to journalism, writing first for local newspapers before moving to London to work for the Daily Express.
Completing his national service in 1955, he was made a captain (the youngest in the British Army at the time) and saw active service in Egypt during the Suez Crisis.
Image: Sir Michael with his wife Mary
After learning his trade in Fleet Street, he swapped print journalism for TV in the 1960s, first appearing on BBC nightly current affairs show Twenty-Four Hours, before fronting Granada’s late night film review show Cinema.
His hard work paid off, and in 1971 he was offered his own chat show – Parkinson – which ran until 1982.
Early in the show’s first run, when chatting to his interviewee Orson Welles ahead of filming, the director screwed up his list of carefully prepared questions. It was a moment Parkinson later cited as teaching him his craft, making him fully appreciate the art of giving his subjects space to talk.
Image: Sir David Frost (centre) dishes out the champagne to Sir Michael, joined by (from left) Robert Kee, Angela Rippon and Anna Ford
A spooky Halloween trick
Sir Michael followed up his late-night chat with morning shifts, becoming one of the original TV-AM line-up in 1983, alongside Angela Rippon, Anna Ford, David Frost and Robert Kee.
Other TV credits include Parkinson One To One – with each show giving an in-depth chat with one celebrity, Give Us A Clue, and Going For A Song.
On Halloween night of 1992, he hosted controversial pseudo-documentary Ghostwatch, alongside presenters Sarah Greene and Mike Smith. The show garnered much press attention, with the BBC receiving tens of thousands of complaints from viewers unsure if the programme was real.
A music lover (he once called listening to music his “greatest joy in life,” adding, “I don’t know how people exist without [it]”), he presented Desert Island Discs from 1986 to 1989. He also presented a Sunday morning show on Radio 2 between 1996 and 2007, credited with bringing jazz to a more mainstream audience.
His eponymous BBC chat show was successfully revived in 1998, defecting to ITV in 2004 (due to a difference in opinion over scheduling), where it ran until 2007.
Sir Michael received a standing ovation after his final episode, later commenting that the conclusion of his show marked the end of “polite conversation”, citing more recent hosts – including Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton – as being more about the comedy than the chat, and their shows more a vehicle for the interviewer than their subject.
He went on to form his own production company, Parkinson Productions, along with his eldest son Michael Parkinson Jr.
In 2012, a Sky Arts show – Parkinson: Masterclass – saw Parkinson able to speak in depth with musicians and artists about their craft, with the show running for two years.
Image: Sir Michael with George Best
‘I don’t see the point of him’
Never afraid to voice his opinions on fellow celebrities or the TV industry as a whole, Parkinson’s bluntness sometimes caused offence. His comments in a Radio Times article that the late Jade Goody represented “all that’s paltry and wretched about Britain today” led to criticism from the bishop who had married her.
The One Show (which he said was an example of the decline in TV), female comedians (not as funny as men) and Russell Brand (unfunny and creatively dull) were also on the receiving end of Parkinson’s sharp tongue, with him declaring of the latter: “I don’t see the point of him.”
However, he wasn’t afraid of a bit of celebrity stardust himself, popping up in a few surprising cameos, including the Christmas romcom Love Actually and the much-loved Australian soap Neighbours, when he bumped into Karl and Susan during their trip to London.
He also made a baffling appearance on the front cover of the 1973 Wings album Band On The Run, along with several other well-known figures and of course the band themselves.
Sir Michael wrote various books over the course of his career, including memoirs on Ali and footballer George Best, several sporting books centred around his love of cricket and golf, his family story in Like Father, Like Son and his 2009 autobiography Parky.
Like any self-respecting celebrity, he also wrote a series of children’s books – The Woofits – about a family of cuddly hat-loving dogs set in the fictional Yorkshire coal-mining village of Grimeworth, leading to a TV series which he narrated.
Image: Sir Michael received his Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2008
‘I have the best job in the world’
Knighted for services to broadcasting in 2008, following his CBE in 2000, Parkinson joked he was “not the type to get a knighthood,” adding, “they give it to anyone nowadays”.
As well as interviewing celebrities in a professional capacity, he also counted many as close personal friends, including chef Michel Roux and comedian Billy Connolly.
Image: Sir Michael with Billy Connolly in 2016
Known as an interviewer, Parkinson admitted he actually enjoyed it when the tables were turned and he himself was interviewed.
A man who reached the top of his game, he recognised his own good fortune, saying: “I have the best job in the world and once you have a show named after yourself, where else do you go?”
A life-long lover of cricket, Parkinson described playing the sport as “compulsory” for anyone born in Yorkshire. Adopting golf in later life, he was eventually forced to give up the sport due to back troubles.
In 2013, Parkinson revealed he was being treated for prostate cancer, and in 2017 he underwent a serious back operation.
He leaves behind his wife of 64 years Mary, three sons – Michael Jr, Andrew and Nicholas – and eight grandchildren.
British teenager Jay Slater had taken ecstasy, cocaine and possibly ketamine – but did not steal a Rolex watch as he claimed on Snapchat – the night before he went missing in Tenerife, an inquest into his death has heard.
Bradley Geoghegan, who was on holiday with Mr Slater on the Spanish island, said the 19-year-old had also been drinking alcohol before he was last seen on 17 June last year.
Mr Slater’s disappearance sparked a huge search until his body was eventually found by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard in a ravine near the village of Masca around four weeks later on 15 July.
Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said in May that a post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as head injuries, and Mr Slater’s body showed no evidence of restraint or assault, with the pattern of injuries consistent with a fall from a height.
The teenager, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had been to the NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on 16 June.
During the night out he was forced to leave a nightclub for being too drunk. However, instead of going back to the apartment he shared with Mr Geoghegan, he went to an Airbnb miles away in the northern village of Masca with two men they had met on the holiday.
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The next morning Mr Geoghegan said he got a video call from Mr Slater, who was walking along a road and was still “under the influence”, Preston Coroner’s Court heard.
Mr Geoghegan said: “I said put your maps on to see how far you were. It was like a 14-hour walk or an hour drive. I said, ‘Get a taxi back’, then he just goes, ‘I will ring you back’.”
He added that did not think his friend had any money on him, and taxis in Tenerife insisted on payment up front before carrying a fare.
Image: Jay Slater and his mother, Debbie Duncan. Pic: Lucy Law
The inquest into Mr Slater’s death had begun in May but was adjourned the same day.
Dr James Adeley, a senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, made the decision after a number of witnesses who had been asked to give evidence could not be traced or were unable to attend.
The adjournment allowed for time to trace the witnesses who had been with him in the hours before he vanished.
Witness says Slater didn’t steal watch
This includes Ayub Qassim – one of the two men staying in the Airbnb that Mr Slater travelled back to.
Mr Qassim said he and Steven Roccas, the second man staying in the Airbnb, met Mr Slater and his friends out in Tenerife.
He added that Mr Slater asked if he could come back to his and Mr Roccas’ apartment on the night before he went missing.
Mr Qassim, giving evidence via videolink, told the hearing: “I did say, ‘Bro, oh mate, it’s so far away from the strip.’ There’s nothing happening there other than scenery. I said I would drop him off in the morning. He rolled with us.”
The coroner then asked Mr Qassim about messages Mr Slater had sent about a watch possibly being stolen.
Mr Qassim said while still on the strip before leaving for their apartment he saw what he described as a Romanian “Lucky-lucky” man take a watch from another person and tried to sell it to him and Mr Slater.
He added: “Jay did not steal no watch. I can say 100%.”
Image: A search team looking for Jay SlaterPic: Europa Press/AP
While on the drive to the Airbnb Mr Slater then posted a message to friends on social media, saying: “Just took a 12k Rolly (Rolex) off some c*** with this Maili (Somalian) kid. Off to get 10 quid (thousand) for it. Off my undies ha, ha, ha.”
Coroner Dr Adeley asked the witness: “You were not involved in taking a watch?”
Mr Qassim replied: “No. And neither was he.”
He said when they got to his Airbnb he gave Mr Slater a blanket and pillow and told him he could sleep on the sofa before going off to his own bed.
Image: Jay Slater’s funeral took place in August last year. Pic: PA
Slater said he ‘cut his leg on a cactus’
Lucy Law, who had to be traced along with Mr Geoghegan and Mr Qassim after the inquest was adjourned in May, was next to speak at the hearing and said Mr Slater was “definitely on a buzz… but not visibly mangled” the night before he went missing.
Ms Law said Mr Slater told her “there’s no way I’m going home” after she suggested it.
She is believed to be the last person to have had contact with the teenager after she spoke to him on a 22-second call on the morning he went missing.
He is believed to have said he had cut his leg on a cactus and got lost in the mountains. His phone battery was also said to be on 1% at this point.
Meanwhile, the coroner’s officer Alice Swarbrick said she was unable to get in touch with Mr Slater’s friend Brandon Hodgson and Mr Roccas so that they could give evidence at the inquest.
The father of a two-week-old baby has been found guilty of murdering him in hospital.
Daniel Gunter, 27, killed his son, Brendon Staddon, on 5 March 2024, a jury at Bristol Crown Court has concluded.
Baby Brendon suffered “catastrophic injuries” to his head, neck, legs and jaw, while he was a patient at the special care baby unit at Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset.
The jury found Gunter guilty of his son’s murder, but the baby’s mother, Gunter’s former partner Sophie Staddon, 23, was cleared of causing or allowing the death of a child.
Image: Brendon Staddon.
Pic: Avon and Somerset Police
Staddon was previously found not guilty of murder, and Gunter was cleared of causing or allowing the death of a child on the direction of the trial judge, Mr Justice Swift.
The defendants showed no emotion as the verdicts were returned.
“Daniel Gunter, you have been found guilty of murder. You will be remanded into custody pending the sentencing hearing,” the judge said.
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“Sophie Staddon, you have been acquitted by the jury. Your bail will no longer be necessary, and you are free to go.”
Gunter, of no fixed address, will be sentenced on a later date yet to be fixed.
The court heard hospital staff had discovered Brendan’s serious injuries after Staddon told nurses her son was cold and asked them to check on him around 4am.
But while staff rushed to Brendon’s cot to try and save him, his parents walked outside for a cigarette, Charles Row KC, prosecuting, said during the three-week trial.
Image: Baby Brendon was killed while a patient at Yeovil District Hospital. Pic: Shutterstock
He said Brendon was found with his baby grow open, and staff soon realised he had suffered devastating injuries.
“In plain language, his head had been crushed so as to shatter his skull. He was badly bruised from head to toe, with deep scratches in his neck,” Mr Row said.
“He was later found to have, amongst other injuries, a broken neck, a broken jaw, broken legs, broken ankles and broken wrists.”
Staff carried the baby’s “limp, lifeless body” to the resuscitation area, but Brendon did not respond to treatment.
His parents were arrested by police outside the hospital as they were smoking.
Social services and Gunter’s family had raised concerns about the couple’s “lack of emotional warmth” toward their child before his death, Mr Row said.
A post-mortem examination found Brendon died of “blunt force impact(s) head injury” with multiple non-accidental injuries to the head.
The prosecution said during the trial that the jury needed to understand the “sheer brutality” involved in Brendon’s death, with Mr Row adding that “there was hardly a part of his body that was spared”.
Two children and a woman who died in a shooting in County Fermanagh have been named.
Vanessa Whyte, 45, and her two children, Sara Rutledge, aged 13, and 14-year-old James Rutledge, died in the shooting on Wednesday morning, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
A man, who is a member of the same household, was seriously injured in the shooting in the village of Maguiresbridge, about 75 miles (120km) southwest of Belfast.
Police launched a murder investigation, and Detective Chief Inspector Neil McGuinness asked people with information about the shooting incident to contact police.
Image: The scene in the Drummeer Road area of Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh, after three people died in a shooting. Pic: Oliver McVeigh /PA Wire
“I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who had spoken to Vanessa, Sara or James over the last few weeks. If you are someone that Vanessa, Sara or James may have confided in, please come and speak to us,” he said.
“Any information, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem could prove crucial to our investigation.”
Police don’t anticipate any arrests being made at this stage, Superintendent Robert McGowan, district commander for Fermanagh and Omagh, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Emergency services were called to the Drummeer Road area of Maguiresbridge at around 8am on Wednesday following a report raised from the property.
Two people were found dead at the scene, and two others were seriously injured.
One patient was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, by air ambulance and the other to South West Acute Hospital by ambulance. Supt McGowan said the third person died at the South West Acute Hospital.
Image: Maguiresbridge
A local Gaelic football club said the victims were all “active and beloved” members of their club.
Sara and James Rutledge also used to be part of a local cricket club, which said in a statement that it was “extremely saddened by the tragic events”.
“Both of them turned out to be talented young cricketers and two absolutely lovely-natured children,” the statement read.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn said: “The news from Maguiresbridge is tragic and deeply distressing.
“My thoughts are with the victims, their relatives and the local community in Fermanagh.”
Image: The scene was cordoned off by police following the shooting on Wednesday morning. Pic: Oliver McVeigh /PA Wire
Sinn Fein MP Pat Cullen has expressed her deep shock over the shooting.
“I’m also thinking of all the wee school friends of those two wee children and what that must feel like for all of them and how the next few days and weeks will be for everyone, particularly just at the beginning of the school holidays,” she said.
DUP MLA Deborah Erskine, who represents Co Fermanagh in the Northern Ireland Assembly, said that the community was “stunned” by the shooting in “a rural, quiet area”.
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