TALK OF THE TOWN

Michael Parkinson looks back on his most memorable interviews from the past 50 years, from laughs with Lennon to a bruising bout with Ali

In a retrospective 50 years on from his first talk show, Parky reveals who his favourite was among all those famous guests

Ask Michael Parkinson which guest he was most thrilled to interview on his chat show, and he says without hesitation, ‘Jimmy Cagney.’ The actor revered for his tough-guy roles was long retired but, aged 81, was coaxed into making a rare appearance on Parkinson in 1981. ‘He summed up everything marvellous about my job. There I was, a movie fan who grew up watching my heroes at my local cinema in Yorkshire. And now I was interviewing them.’

He has little time for most of the current crop of chat hosts. ‘Today it’s quips and banter because the interviewers are not journalists. Graham Norton gets people chatting away, having a party. But too often the presenters cannot ask a question or listen to an answer.’ To mark 50 years since Parkinson first aired, his son Michael has put together a cavalcade of clips. There are even excruciating interviews like the one with Meg Ryan, who made it plain she didn’t want to be there, and that encounter with Rod Hull and Emu. ‘Those are the stories people talk about most,’ he groans. ‘Being attacked by a bloody emu – what an epitaph.’

But many memories still kindle a wicked twinkle. ‘My face made it clear when I fancied the woman opposite me. Lauren Bacall, Liz Taylor, Sophia Loren…’

And then there was his chemistry with Shirley Maclaine, who pointed out a missing button on his shirt as if she wanted to tear open all the rest. ‘We pop ’em off, wives sew ’em on,’ she rasped.

Parky chuckles. ‘I’ve had a ball. What a job to have. And they paid me too!’

PHOTOGRAPHED EXCLUSIVELY FOR weekend BY NEALE HAYNES