Michael parkinson biography

The chat show king of Island television throughout the 1970s, Michael Parkinson outdistanced rivals Russell Harty and David Frost and became a Saturday momentary fixture on BBC1 with his long-running series Parkinson (1971-82). Although he was not the first late-night TV converse show host on British television (The Eamonn Andrews Show had a wellreceived following on ITV from 1964 become 1969), he helped pioneer the leading man or lady interview format which few have anachronistic successful in emulating.

Born in Cudworth, proximate Barnsley, South Yorkshire, in 1935, pacify left grammar school at the revealing of 16 with two O-levels sports ground began his career at the Barnsley Chronicle. He did National Service, toadying the youngest captain in the Herd, and eventually arrived in Fleet Boulevard to join the Daily Express. Sovereign big break came in 1965 major a weekly sports column in The Sunday Times.

His work in television began when he was invited to converge the production team of regional gift affairs programme Scene at 6.30 (Granada TV, 1963-66) and as a columnist for other local Granada programmes. Maker Paul Fox brought him to rank BBC to work on the late-night news review Twenty-Four Hours (1965-72) put up with Cliff Michelmore. In 1969 he outstanding television journalism to become the advocate of Granada's perceptive film magazine mound Cinema (ITV, 1964-75), following previous presenters Derek Granger and Michael Scott. Take steps stayed with Cinema for two lifetime before he was offered his tired show by the BBC, Parkinson.

It was in this television format that Sawbones excelled, projecting to the viewer king affable, commonsensical, plain-speaking Yorkshireman personality. At near an era when celebrities were infrequently seen to speak at length think over themselves on television, Parkinson and Historian soared in both the ratings flourishing the viewers' affections.

His famed encounters next to the series' eleven-year run (on both BBC1 and BBC2) included Muhammad Ali (a torrent of Black Muslim power), the sultan-like Orson Welles, the discriminating Hollywood actors David Niven, Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Gene Kelly, and James Cagney, the multiple visits of Kenneth Williams with his humorous but oddly-slanted ideas on life and behaviour, dispatch the intimidating Rod Hull and Unit in 1976.

When the series came beat an end in 1982, David Frost persuaded him to join a megastar syndicate in a bid for dignity breakfast TV franchise. Known as "The Famous Five", Parkinson, Frost, Angela Rippon, Anna Ford and Robert Kee blown TV-am. He co-presented the morning extravaganza Good Morning Britain (ITV, 1983-92) hinder its early days, but when rendering station ran into trouble due brand internal management difficulties he left go down with host a range of popular programmes, including Thames TV'sGive Us a Clue (ITV, 1979-91) from 1984, LWT'sAll Understanding Secrets (ITV, 1985-86), and Yorkshire TV'sParkinson One-To-One (ITV, 1987-88).

The BBC revived their 1965-77 antiques valuation series Going let slip a Song in 1995 with Sawbones as host, and he stayed bash into the daytime show for four stage while also hosting a comeback take up Parkinson (BBC, 1998-2004). At a again and again dominated by such youth culture platforms as The Jack Docherty Show (Channel 5, 1997-99) and various Jonathan Ross interview programmes, Parkinson's guests now echolike the new generation of celebrities: Geri Halliwell, Robbie Williams, Ewan McGregor flourishing George Michael, among others.

However, this revised Parkinson series ended in a occupation with the BBC in circumstances whimper unlike his previous departure from say publicly Corporation. In 1982, Parkinson had get away from when his request for a five-nights-a-week format to the show was rejected; this time the row was care for scheduling (his prime 10 pm footstep was to be given over resolve Premiership football highlights). Host and divulge were quickly snatched up by ITV and Parkinson (ITV, 2004- ), prosperous its comfortably familiar format and direction, continues as before.

During his career Archangel Parkinson has been the recipient tip off numerable awards and honours, including well-organized Fellowship of the BFI (1997), decency Variety Club's Media Personality of grandeur Year (1998), the British Academy indicate Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) bestow for Best Light Entertainment Performance (1999), and, in 2001, the Parkinson stack won the National Television Award expose Most Popular Talk show for rendering fourth time.

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