Yorkshire is saying goodbye to one of its own after the death was announced of Sir Michael Parkinson
A supreme broadcaster and cricket devote, ‘Parky’, was a native of Cudworth near Barnsley, brought up in a council house. The son of a miner, his dad took him down the mine to dissuade him from working there – he duly headed for success, going to school at Barnsley Grammar after passing the eleven plus.
He was a club cricketer, and both he and his opening partner at Barnsley Cricket Club, Dickie Bird, had trials for Yorkshire together with Geoffrey Boycott.
His close friend, and current Yorkshire managing director of cricket, Darren Gough, said: ‘He was a Barnsley boy, like myself, and it was an absolute pleasure to know him and his family.
‘We are all devastated here at Yorkshire and thoughts of everyone at the Club are with Sir Michael’s family and friends at this sad time.’
Sir Michael received an honorary doctorate in 2008, alongside cricket umpire and his good friend Bird, at the Barnsley campus of Huddersfield University.
Bird has paid tribute to his close friend, telling the PA news agency: ‘There will never be a chat show host like Michael Parkinson. He was the best. There will never be anyone better than him in your lifetime, my lifetime or anyone else’s lifetime.’
Barnsley FC tweeted: ‘Barnsley Football Club is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Michael Parkinson CBE.
‘The town has lost one of its favourite sons, and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.’
Monty Python star Eric Idle, who was interviewed by Sir Michael Parkinson in 1982, described the interviewer as ‘a great Yorkshireman’.
Idle tweeted: ‘Farewell Parky. A great Yorkshireman and cricket fan and a lovely interviewer to be with.’
Parky was honoured by The Yorkshire Society for a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award in 2022. Fellow Barnsley writer Milly Johnson met him that night.
Today she recalled. ’I am truly gutted over the death of our ‘Parky’, a star from Barnsley who was at school with my dad. When I met him - and I totally hogged him - he was charm personified and wonderful company. He’d already given me a quote for a book I’d written for charity which made him hoot, he said, because he loves a bit of the subversive. I could have stayed there with him all night, but I thought it only right I let go and share because everyone wanted him.
‘Apparently I made him laugh when I was doing my turn on stage and before he left he scouted the room to come and find me to say goodbye and give me a hug. I could have cried. Now I am. An absolute gent. He made my evening, my week, my year. My memory of him just got more precious.’
When his dreams of playing cricket for Yorkshire were dashed, he left school aged 16 and began working at a local paper, later joining the Manchester Guardian and then the Daily Express.
His first TV job was as a producer at Granada, and he later moved to Thames TV, before landing his chat show Parkinson at the BBC.
He had a short-lived term at TV-am as part of the original presenting line-up alongside the likes of Angela Rippon and David Frost, and appeared on the shows Give Us A Clue, one-off drama Ghostwatch and Going For A Song.
Sir Michael brought down the curtain on more than 30 years of his chat show at the end of 2007 with a final show featuring Beckham, Sir Michael Caine, Sir David Attenborough, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Edna Everage, Sir Billy Connolly, Peter Kay and Jamie Cullum in a two-hour special.
Speaking on the final show, he said: ‘Over the years it has been a privilege to meet some of the most intelligent and interesting people. It has always been a great joy and I shall miss it.’
As well as his television career, he was a respected radio broadcaster, having hosted Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 as well as his own sports shows on Five Live. He was also an award-winning sports writer, having been a lifelong cricket fan.
He was knighted by the late Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2008, and said of the accolade: ‘I never expected to be knighted – I thought there was more chance of me turning into a Martian really.’
In 2013, he spoke openly about being diagnosed with prostate cancer following a routine health check.
He had three sons with wife Mary, who he married in 1959.
