Sir Michael Parkinson

Michael Parkinson was born in Cudworth, near Barnsley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of a coal miner. Leaving school at sixteen, he began his career as a local newspaper reporter on the South Yorkshire Times before working as a features journalist for The Guardian and The Daily Express. He moved to Granada Television and the BBC in the 1960s.

In 1971, the BBC launched his eponymous talk show, Parkinson. Combining Yorkshire warmth, journalistic rigor, and a natural gift for active listening, Parkinson interviewed more than 2,000 of the world's most famous individuals over four decades. His four televised encounters with Muhammad Ali became legendary broadcasting moments, while his interviews with Billy Connolly launched the Scottish comedian into superstardom. Knighted in 2008 for services to broadcasting, Parkinson was celebrated as the "king of the chat show" in British cultural history.