Stars including Sir David Attenborough and Sir Elton John paid an emotional tribute to TV titan and king of the chat show Sir Michael Parkinson after his death at the age of 88.
Sir Michael Parkinson, who was fondly known as ‘Parky’ by his friends and fans, passed away surrounded by his wife Lady Mary and their children at his Berkshire residence last night.
Paying tribute, Sir David Attenborough, 97, said being interviewed by him was like meeting a friend, and admitted his Yorkshire timbre was very refreshing at a time when southern, upper-class accents were common on the BBC.
He said he was extremely generous. He wanted you to shine and would always laugh at your jokes and give you an opportunity to make them sound funnier than in fact, they were. He said it was always friendly, it was always thorough, it was always intelligent, and it was always a pleasure to do it and he said he thought that came over no matter who his interviewee was.
Sir Elton John said he loved spending time with Parky, and that Michael Parkinson was a TV legend who was one of the greats. That he loved his company and his incredible knowledge of cricket and Barnsley Football Club, and he was a real icon who brought out the very best in his guests.
BBC broadcaster Nick Robinson said on Twitter that he was the greatest interviewer of our age who owned Saturday Night TV year after year, and that Michael Parkinson was the king of the chat show.
The down-to-earth Yorkshireman was the son of a coal miner and became one of the most well-known names in Britain after his seminal interviews with Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, Billy Connolly, Orson Welles and most of the world’s biggest celebrities in an outstanding TV career spanning five decades.
There were also wildly comical, and awkward interviews, including being attacked while talking to Rod Hull and Emu as well as a cranky Meg Ryan in 20 years of more than 2,000 BBC interviews beamed into up to 17 million homes on a Saturday night.
He said his greatest regret was never being able to interview Frank Sinatra, and recently revealed that Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was his most formidable interviewee.
Parky presented his programme Parkinson from 1971 to 1982 and again from 1998 to 2004 on the BBC. He then changed to ITV where his talk show ran from 2004 to 2007. He was last seen in public in April. The cricket-mad journalist was frail as he celebrated his friend Dickie Bird’s 90th birthday party at Headingley, Leeds. His last TV appearance was last November.
Parky was a legend and I hope he’s up there, still sparring with the late great Mohammed Ali. There will never be another chat show host like him and it was an honour and privilege to see all his interviews.
What a fantastic life Parky had and he brought joy to so many people, myself included.
He brought celebrities into our homes – proper celebs, no z listers, and usually they weren’t there just to plug something, but it was a different generation and it will be much missed.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 