Michael Parkinson

About Michael Parkinson

Considered by many to be the undisputed champion of the chat show, Michael Parkinson is familiar to listeners and viewers all over Britain.

Starting out as a newspaper journalist, Michael moved into television as a producer for Granada Television, before going on to host a number of shows, including the celebrated Parkinson.
Born in 1935 near Barnsley, Michael was educated at Barnsley Grammar School. He cut his journalistic teeth at local Yorkshire newspapers and The Manchester Guardian, followed by a stint as feature writer with The Daily Express. He landed his first job in television as a current affairs producer at Granada Television. During the next few years Michael began writing a weekly sports column for The Sunday Times and presented Granada's Cinema series.

In 1971 the BBC first broadcast Michael's talk show, 'Parkinson' which ran for eleven years. Nearly one thousand of the world's most famous people were featured and the show became essential viewing for millions each week. He went on to present some of the nations much-loved radio programmes including Desert Island Discs on Radio 4.

In 1990 Michael joined The Daily Telegraph where he writes a weekly column on perhaps his favourite subject, sport. In 1995 he was named Sports Feature Writer of the Year and his many published books include 'Best - An Intimate Biography', 'Parkinson on Golf' and 'Parkinson on Football'

1998 saw 'Parkinson' return to our screens by popular acclaim, featuring more of the biggest personalities from the worlds of film, music, sport and politics. In 2000 Michael was awarded the CBE and 'Parkinson' was listed in the BFI's top ten favourite TV programmes of all time. In 2003 the readers of the Radio Times crowned Michael the UK's chat-show king.