Veteran British Tv Presenter Michael Parkinson Dies aged 88

Michael Parkinson, the veteran British chat show host whose decades-spanning career featured interviews with some of the world’s highest-profile figures, has died at the age of 88, his family said Thursday. The talk show host passed on late Wednesday night after a brief illness.

His show “Parkinson” which first aired in June 1971 made him a household name. Muhammad Ali, Fred Astaire, Elton John, Paul McCartney and Peter Sellers were just a few of the famous names to grace his interview couch.

Others included Lauren Bacall, David Bowie, Tom Cruise, Helen Mirren and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The star interviewer’s chat show enjoyed a successful run until 1982 before being revived in 1998.He switched from the BBC to commercial rival ITV in 2004, where he continued until 2007.

Parkinson’s final two-hour show in late 2007 featured a typically star-studded line-up of footballer David Beckham, actors Michael Caine and Judy Dench, environmental broadcaster David Attenborough and comedian Billy Connolly.

In 2013, he revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer following a routine health check. He had three sons with wife Mary, who he married in 1959.

Tributes have flooded in for the British TV legend, with the director-general of the BBC lauding him as “the king of the chat show” and an “incredible broadcaster and journalist”.

It will re-air a celebration programme about Parkinson on Thursday evening.

Vanguard/Victoria Ibanga