Sir Michael Parkinson obituary: A gentle Yorkshire accent and razor-sharp wit – the host that A-listers wanted to share their secrets with
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.
‘Greatest interviewer of our time’ – reaction as Parky dies
Sir Michael and Muhammad Ali in 1979
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Who’s Zak Starkey is back in the band after reports earlier this week he’d been sacked.
A statement on the band’s official social media pages written by guitarist Pete Townshend said “communication issues” had been “aired happily” and Starkey was “not being asked to step down”.
Townshend also acknowledged the situation “blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen”, concluding “it’s over” and acknowledged his part in “the confusion”.
Titled, “News Flash! Who Backs Zak,” the long statement said Starkey was “not being asked to step down from The Who”.
It said: “There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily.
“Roger and I would like Zak to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line-up and he has readily agreed.”
Roger Daltrey and Starkey on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in March. Pic: PA
The rock and roll row followed the band’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows in March.
Townsend’s statement went on: “I take responsibility for some of the confusion. Our TCT shows at the Royal Albert Hall were a little tricky for me.
“I thought that four and a half weeks would be enough time to recover completely from having a complete knee replacement. (Why did I ever think I could land on my knees?) Wrong!
“Maybe we didn’t put enough time into sound checks, giving us problems on stage. The sound in the centre of the stage is always the most difficult to work with.”
So what went wrong?
Going on to highlight the specifics of what went wrong, Townshend added: “Roger did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors. Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologised. Albeit with a rubber duck drummer.
“We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen. It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”
A review of one gig, published in the Metro, suggested frontman Roger Daltrey – who launched the annual gig series for the charity in 2000 – had been “frustrated” with the drumming during some tracks.
Townsend also said he owed drummer Scott Devours “an apology” for not “crushing the rumour” that he would be replacing Starkey in the Who line-up.
Devours is supporting Roger Daltrey on his solo tour, which kicked off this weekend.
Read more from Sky News:
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Starkey – who is the son of The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr – reposted Townshend’s statement, with the message: “V grateful to be a part of the Who family Thanks Roger and Pete xx”.
The 59-year-old drummer previously said he was “surprised and saddened” by news of his sacking.
He’s been with The Who for nearly three decades, after joining in 1996 for their Quadrophenia tour.
Starkey also drums for supergroup Mantra Of The Cosmos – along with fellow musicians Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy Mondays, and Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis – and has previously played with Oasis, Lightning Seeds and Johnny Marr.
Entertainment
The Last Of Us: The science behind the real ‘zombie’ fungus – and is it an actual threat?
Could the next public health crisis be caused by a fungus?
Such an emergency is the basis of the post-apocalypse TV drama series The Last Of Us, which has returned for its second season on Sky Atlantic.
Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the show takes place in a world ravaged by a pandemic caused by a mass cordyceps outbreak, which transforms people into bloodthirsty abominations.
The prospect was outlined in its debut episode in 2023, when a prescient epidemiologist played by John Hannah warned how a warming climate could force some fungus to evolve into something more dangerous.
“Candida, ergot, cordyceps, aspergillus: any one of them could be capable of burrowing into our brains and taking control of not millions of us, but billions,” he said.
An extreme outcome with plenty of artistic licence taken – but is it entirely without scientific basis?
A mass cordyceps outbreak transforms people into blood-thirsty abominations in the show. Pic: HBO/Warner Media/Liane Hentscher
Do fungi really threaten humans?
“There are numerous fungi infecting the brains of human beings all over the planet, often with devastating outcomes,” says Professor Elaine Bignell, a world leader in the field of human fungal pathogen research.
“A number of fungal species are quite prominent pathogens and kill hundreds of thousands of people every year – it’s just the public is not well aware of this.”
A few of the dangers identified by The Last Of Us’s fictional epidemiologist previously featured on a list of health-threatening fungi by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Among the fungi deemed most high-risk was Aspergillus fumigatus, a common mould widespread in the environment in homes and outdoors, which can cause “chronic and acute lung disease” and can be deadly.
Aspergillus is a type of mould, common in homes
Candida species, which are behind complaints like thrush and skin rashes, are also one of the leading causes of bloodstream infection in intensive care patients.
Cryptococcosis neoformans – which infects the lungs and brain, causing pneumonia and meningitis in immunosuppressed patients – also made the list. It kills more than 100,000 people a year in sub-Saharan Africa.
“One thing killer fungi do have in common is they are able to grow at human body temperature, and that’s unusual for a fungus,” Prof Bignell tells Sky News.
“Most fungi in the environment are suited to growing in more temperate conditions, and it places quite a strain on any microorganism to counteract an immune response in a human body and cope with the high temperature.”
The main symptom of ringworm is a rash, which can spread. Pic: NHS
What about cordyceps?
Cordyceps was not on the threat list – but it is absolutely real.
The parasitic fungus infects and takes over the mind of insects, as it does to humans in The Last Of Us.
“There are about 600 species,” says Dr Mark Ramsdale, a professor in molecular microbiology at the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology.
“They are predominantly insect pathogens. It’s their insect host that they manipulate and change their behaviour. And so from that perspective, there is some basis there.”
A fly infected by a cordyceps fungus. Pic: Alejandro Santillana/University of Texas
Found in tropical forests, the fungus penetrates an insect’s body via spores, which are released to allow a fungus to reproduce and defend itself.
The fungus then guides its host into more humid locations to help it grow, before feeding on the remains and launching new spores from its corpse.
When it comes to humans, cordyceps is used in treatments and therapeutics – notably Chinese herbal medicines.
“There’s a long history of relationships between humans and this particular group,” Dr Ramsdale tells Sky News.
“There’s no evidence they’re causing disease in humans. However, in terms of their insect relationships, they do manipulate their hosts – and several fungi have evolved this capacity over time.”
Cordyceps growing from a caterpillar. Pic: L Shyamal/Wikimedia Commons
Ophiocordyceps caloceroides infecting a tarantula. Pic: Ian Suzuki/Wikimedia Commons
Could climate change the picture?
Another facet of The Last Of Us shared by the WHO’s landmark report was the potential influence of climate change on the nature of fungi and our relationship with it.
Prof Bignell says the impact of global heating will be “profound” for all microbes on our planet.
There are some 150,000 identified species of fungi in the world, well short of the millions estimated to exist, and few have what it takes to cope with the 37C temperature and other stresses imposed by the human body.
But some do, and more could – either those yet to be discovered or which adapt to survive on a warming planet.
Read more:
Fungus unknown to science discovered in Scotland
“It changes the selection pressures that are put on those huge, diverse life forms,” says Dr Ramsdale.
“Perhaps some could potentially make that transition from one lifestyle to another and become pathogenic in a context we haven’t thought of before.”
So the show’s pandemic may be far from factual, but it’s not completely without merit.
“What really is the most removed from the current status quo is the scale and the rate of the infections occurring in The Last Of Us,” says Prof Bignell.
“Some fungi can get passed from one person to the next – and in the environment we are exposed to them all the time – but it would take a very significant variant to be able to cause the sorts of species extinction event they’re dramatising.”
Humans are transformed into zombie-like monsters in the show. Pic: HBO/Warner Media/Liane Hentscher
So … no reason for alarm?
You can sleep easy knowing there won’t be a fungus that turns you into a zombie in your cereal tomorrow morning.
But COVID, researchers say, is proof we can’t rest on our laurels when it comes to public health threats and the potentially sudden nature of their arrival.
With fungal infection in humans being a relatively modern phenomenon, with few examples until the 1980s, and the absence of any antifungal vaccine research programmes, there’s certainly work to do.
“We have to be in a state of preparedness,” says Prof Bignell.
“We have to have a very good understanding of how different fungi can cause human diseases, how our immune systems cope with those microbes, and a good medicine cabinet with antifungal agents we know are effective.”
In the meantime, if you do happen to see anyone that looks like they’re covered in mushrooms and feasting on a member of their family – best steer clear.
The Last Of Us airs every Monday at 2am on Sky Atlantic.
Clodagh Rodgers, a singer best known for representing the UK at the 16th Eurovision Song Contest, has died aged 78.
The Northern Irish singer was described as “the rock of this family” by her son Sam, who said she died on Friday 18 April.
Sam Sorbie wrote: “With a heavy heart, my dear beautiful mum Clodagh has sadly passed away after battling an illness for the last three years. She passed away peacefully yesterday, surrounded by her family in Cobham.
“Mum has lived an incredible life, full of love and happiness. Her fantastic career performing, travelling the world, devoting her life to her two sons and being the rock of this family.
“Life will not be the same without Mum, but she will finally be at peace now with dad, nanny and pappa. We all love and miss her terribly.”
A regular face on the TV in the 1970s and 1980s, Rodgers performed Jack In The Box at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, finishing in fourth place behind Germany, Spain and the winners, Monaco.
Jack In The Box went on to reach number four in the UK singles chart, and although she entered the charts later that year with Lady Love Bug, the Eurovision track remained her biggest hit.
Rodgers began singing as a youngster and got her first record deal aged just 15.
Rodgers performing at the 16th Eurovision. Pic: BBC
She went on to appear on primetime shows including The Morecombe And Wise Show, The Two Ronnies, Top Of The Pops, Bruce Forsyth & The Generation Game and The Val Doonican Show.
She was chosen as the face of Bisto gravy in the 70s, following her Eurovision hit.
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(L-R) Rodgers with Ronnie Corbett in 1971, when they starred in Cinderella. Pic: AP
A talented live performer, she also starred in her own West End show Talk Of The Town, and West End musical hit Blood Brothers, as well as numerous variety shows and the pantomime Cinderella, co-starring comedian Ronnie Corbett.
Rodgers released six albums, five compilation records and numerous singles across her six-decade career. She insured her voice for £1m.
In 2001 she appeared as a recurring character in police drama The Bill.
Married twice, Rodgers leaves behind her two sons, Sam and Matt.
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