Michael Parkinson, the broadcaster best known for hosting the talkshow Parkinson from 1971 to 2007, has died, aged 88.
A statement from his family said: “After a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family.
“The family request that they are given privacy and time to grieve.”
In tributes shared on social media, actor Michael Caine said he “always looked forward to [being] interviewed by him”, adding: “Michael Parkinson was irreplaceable, he was charming, always wanted to have a good laugh. He brought out the best of everyone he met.”
Singer Elton John shared a photo of his time with Parkinson on Desert Island Discs, captioning it: “Michael Parkinson was a TV legend who was one of the greats. I loved his company and his incredible knowledge of cricket and Barnsley Football Club. A real icon who brought out the very best in his guests.”
Speaking on Radio 4, David Attenborough said of Parkinson’s professionalism: “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 also described his northern accent, at a time when southern accents were the norm in broadcasting, as “a very refreshing voice in those days”.
Parkinson began his career in print journalism, working for local papers based near his hometown of Barnsley before becoming a feature writer at the Manchester Guardian and then the Daily Express in London.
After a stint in the army, including serving in Egypt during the Suez crisis as a press liaison officer, Parkinson moved into television. He worked for Granada Television in the 1960s as a current affairs reporter and presented the station’s late-night film review programme, Cinema, from 1969.
In 1971, his eponymous BBC talkshow began on a late-night Saturday slot, ultimately running until 1982 before being revived from 1998 to 2007. Parkinson pioneered a conversational style of interviewing, putting guests at ease with his relaxed questioning and lack of interruptions. It led to an unexpectedly confrontational exchange with the boxer Muhammad Ali in 1974, a flirtatious chat with the actor Shirley Maclaine, and a slapstick encounter with the entertainer Rod Hull and his puppet Emu in 1976.
In a 2003 interview, Parkinson estimated he had interviewed more than 2,000 celebrities during his career. The Guardian writer Simon Hattenstone described Parkinson as “the great British talkshow host” in a 2012 interview, noting his enthusiasm towards his guests as a hallmark of his success.
Comedian Eddie Izzard, who was interviewed by Parkinson twice, paid tribute via Twitter. “Very sad to hear that Michael Parkinson has left us,” he commented. “He was the king of the intelligent interview.”
BBC broadcaster and Radio 4’s Today host Nick Robinson described him as “king of the chat show”, adding: “He was the greatest interviewer of our age who owned Saturday night TV for year after year”.
News host Angela Rippon said he “listened to what his guests said” and “had a conversation with them rather than mechanically going through a list of questions or haranguing them. As a result he has left a treasure trove of conversations with some of the greatest names of the 20th century”.
And TV presenter Gloria Hunniford called him an “all-round” person, recalling: “When my daughter Caron passed, she was writing two books. I finished them off and that’s when he asked me to go on the programme. After the show he said if I ever wanted him to do a theatre show with clips from his programmes to raise money for my foundation, he would. And so he did. He championed other people.”
Parkinson hosted a number of BBC radio programmes, including Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs for a season in 1986, Parkinson on Sport on Radio Five Live from 1994 to 1996, and the morning show Parkinson’s Sunday Supplement on Radio 2 from 1996 to 2007.
He received a number of accolades for his work, including a knighthood in 2008 and being made the first chancellor of Nottingham Trent University in the same year.
In 2013, the presenter revealed he had received radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Two years later he confirmed he had got the all-clear from doctors.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, and their three children, Andrew, Nicholas and Michael Jr.
