WARREN CUMMINGS REMEMBERS PARKINSON

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on November 26th 2023

Back in August this year, the lights came down on yet another of the broadcasting giants from the younger lives of many of us, when MICHAEL PARKINSON, the person who many considered to be one of the greatest television interviewers ever, passed on at the grand old age of eighty-eight.

A cornerstone of British television throughout the 1970s and beyond, “PARKY” was a no-nonsense Yorkshireman whose journalistic career took him from the Manchester Guardian via CINEMA on Granada Television, all the way to the BBC where he was finally given his eponymous chat show PARKINSON which ran from 1971 to 1982, and again from 1998 to 2007.

In his own distinctive style, he interviewed many of the most famous people in the world, including many of the brightest stars from the golden era of Hollywood that he would have grown up watching in the cinemas of Barnsley, in shows that have since become some of the most memorable and valued video documents of their time.

And whilst his presenting skills were utilised on radio in DESERT ISLAND DISCS, and in many television shows such as GIVE US A CLUE, meaning he has over 450 television presenting credits to his name, including a memorable acting turn in the VISION ON SOUND favourite GHOSTWATCH, he was also one of the “Famous Five” who helped set up GOOD MORNING BRITAIN in 1983.

Anyway, WARREN CUMMINGS is a huge fan of dear old PARKY, and so we got together a few weeks ago and had a good old reminisce about our own memories of watching MICHAEL PARKINSON’s television interviewing career, and we also talk a little about the legacy he left, and the current state of the art of the television interview.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.