- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
- EU chief announces 35 bn euro loan plan for Ukraine before winter
- From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
- Verstappen punished for swearing in Singapore press conference
- Sri Lanka lead by 202 in first New Zealand Test
- Brook 'not too fussed' by England's batting in heavy Australia loss
- India's Ashwin 'happy' to embrace pressure
- A modern 'Trojan Horse': two days of mayhem in Lebanon
Michael Parkinson: Britain's chatshow king
Michael Parkinson was a regular first port of call for reporters looking for a tribute on the passing of the rich and famous, so much so that he often picked up the phone and asked: "Who's died now?"
But it was a reflection of how many stars -- from Hollywood A-listers to sporting and actual royalty -- had appeared on his eponymous Saturday night chatshow, which first ran from 1971 to 1982.
When he finally bowed out in December 2007 after his show was revived for a second stint, "Parky", as he was often called, reckoned he had interviewed some 2,000 celebrities.
"Sinatra was the one that got away," he recalled. The great Australian cricketer Don Bradman was another.
"Otherwise, I've met everyone I have ever wanted to meet," he added.
Parkinson, whose death aged 88 was announced Thursday, won fans for his laid-back interviewing style that encouraged guests to talk, in stark contrast to some modern chatshow hosts who are often billed as the main attraction.
But it was also the calibre of people he attracted, in an age when big-name celebrities were rarely seen on prime-time television.
His assessment of his abilities was typically modest.
"I'm not bad at what I do," he told The Guardian in 2000, adding that he knew his limitations and the trick was getting the chemistry right between guests.
- Ali and Billy -
Parkinson, the son of a miner, was the quintessential plain-speaking, flat-vowelled, cricket-loving Yorkshireman.
He once opened the batting for his local club side Barnsley with the future Test umpire Dickie Bird, and tried out for Yorkshire with Geoff Boycott, later an England opener and commentator.
From school he became a newspaper journalist, moving into television in the 1960s after stints on the Manchester Guardian and Daily Express.
Highlights on his chatshow included Marlon Brando, David Niven, Richard Burton, and Orson Welles, Alec Guinness, Fred Astaire and even Princess Anne.
He also appeared on the cover of Paul McCartney and Wing's 1973 album "Band on the Run".
But he will be best remembered for his encounters with the heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali, whom he called "the most remarkable human being I ever encountered".
"I interviewed him four times and lost on points on just about every occasion," he told the Daily Telegraph in 2016.
Parkinson once recalled that only two guests could add millions to the viewing figures -- Ali and the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, whose early career he championed.
He sometimes secured scoops, such as in March 2006 when prime minister Tony Blair told him that he believed he would be judged by God for the divisive Iraq War.
There were lows, too, notably with the actress Helen Mirren in 1975, whom he introduced as the "sex queen" of the Royal Shakespeare Company and pursued a prurient line of questioning.
Mirren dismissed him later as a "sexist old fart" but Parkinson was largely unrepentant, assessing it was "over the top" and "of its time" yet still "good television".
- Big band and sport -
After TV, Parkinson moved to radio, briefly presenting the BBC's "Desert Island Discs", on which celebrities and others reminisce about their lives before being cast away to an imaginary desert island.
The widow of the man he replaced, however, decided he was "a rough country boy with a terrible accent", he said, and he left.
Other stints followed ranging from sport to music, particularly jazz and big band.
He also kept up his sports writing, and was president of the Sports Journalists Association.
Parkinson, who married his wife Mary in 1959 after meeting her on the top deck of a bus, earned a knighthood in 2008, becoming "Sir Michael" for his services to broadcasting.
But he admitted he was a print journalist at heart.
"I've never had that fear about what would happen if TV didn't come calling," he told The Guardian in 2000.
"That's terribly important. If they said tomorrow 'we never want to see your face on television again', it wouldn't matter a damn.
"I could still make a living and I'd probably write a book about how crazy they all were on TV, all my secrets."
A.Seabra--PC