never. jimmy cagney. orson welles. jimmy stewart. these were distant, mysterious screen gods until parkinson brought them into your living room. the fact is that you re a crowd puller and frazier s not, is he? why is that? number one, he s ugly. his interviews with muhammad ali were unmissable. he has no rhythm, no footwork, no class. he cannot talk. and who told him he could sing? but of all those 2000 or so guests, one always haunted him. i interviewed everybody from henry kissinger to billy connolly to james cagney to dame edith evans, to all those people. and i m only remembered for one thing, i was attacked by a sodding emu. it s not a question. rod hull and emu rather punctured the suave tv persona. i knew we should never have booked it. of course, there wasn t much hollywood glamour in the childhood of this son of a yorkshire miner. my generation was the first that actually challenged the assumption that if you are born into a mining family, you followed your dad s foo
Such a respect for their great talent and their stardom, although he remained a good journalist, he gave them a chance to speak, to be at their best and he loved interviewing his heroes. mas at their best and he loved interviewing his heroes. was that one of his most interviewing his heroes. was that one of his most unique interviewing his heroes. was that one of his most unique qualities, | one of his most unique qualities, when we look at the platform today, he gave the stars the platform. the show wasn t he gave the stars the platform. the show wasn t about michael, he gave the stars the platform. t t2 show wasn t about michael, he he gave the stars the platform. tt2 show wasn t about michael, he saw his role as a journalist to get the best interview he could out of his subject and, boy his library of parkinson interviews, is a popular history of the 20th century. [30 parkinson interviews, is a popular history of the 20th century. do you have a favourite history of the 20th
We re were your done a levels, what were your subjects and did you get the results politics, history and soakology and i politics, history and soakology and | -ot politics, history and soakology and i got what sociology and i got what i got what sociology and i got what i i got what sociology and i got what i wanted. hello, i m lucy hockings, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast moving news, interviews and reaction. we start here in the uk, where tributes have been paid to the tv talk show host and journalist sir michael parkinson. in a statement, his family said he died peacefully at home. he was 88. sir michael interviewed hundreds of the world s top stars of entertainment and sport including muhamed ali, orson wells and james cagney. david sillito looks back at his life. don t you get fed up of each other? oh, yes, yes. i call him golden- balls, you know, now. did you ever say, you dirty rat?