I had cancer and a spine op but I am not about to slow down yet

experience. Even if you survive it, there are still ramifications.”

During his BAFTA award-winning Parkinson talk show, which ran from 1971 until 1982 and from 1998 to 2003, Sir Michael interviewed around 2,000 of the world’s most famous people.

But now he has things he wants to talk about as we sit in his son Nick’s Michelin starred pub in Maidenhead.

Top of the list are Brexit, the BBC gender pay row and the rotten deal he says his beloved Barnsley is getting.

He says: “I went up to Barnsley just before the Brexit vote and I knew the way they’d vote because they’ve been neglected and ignored. There’s nothing up there to replace the mines. It is shameful. If I talk about the northern powerhouse, it ain’t in bloody Barnsley that’s for sure.

“It might be in Manchester or Leeds, but not Barnsley. They didn’t want to sustain those areas and it is sad to see. It makes me cross.”

When it comes to the BBC not paying female broadcasters as much as men, he says: “It should be based on talent and not on sex.

“That’s a good general rule. If people are very good at their jobs, they should be paid a bit extra maybe.” And Parky doesn’t hold back either when it comes to disgraced director Harvey Weinstein accused of sexual assault and rape. Actresses complaining about the casting couch shouldn’t happen – but it has done since Hollywood was first invented,” he says.

OBNOXIOUS

“I’ve no doubt a lot of it is still going on, but we’ve thankfully got an attitude about it. For years they’ve been saying this about Harvey Weinstein.

“His reputation was common knowledge among that fraternity. Why didn’t someone come forward before this? It’s no good sitting back and altogether blaming him although they should as he’s a predator, but people knew what was happening.

“It’s reprehensible what happens to women in jobs and I’m delighted it is more of a debate than it used to be.”

When asked if he knew about Jimmy Savile’s behaviour while working for the BBC, Parky curtly replies: “I didn’t like him and thought he was a deeply suspicious and obnoxious man, but I had no idea what was happening. Nobody did.

“We now have a deeper understanding of what was going on in