This is chat show legend Michael Parkinson’s last known interview on live TV just months before his death.
Parkinson appeared on Good Morning Britain on November 23, 2022, alongside his son Mike Parkinson and presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, to discuss his memoir My Life in Sport: Memories, Moments and Declarations.
He can be seen laughing as his son recalls an encounter with footballer George Best.
Parkinson’s death at the age of 88 was announced by his family on Thursday.
Parkinson appeared on Good Morning Britain on November 23, 2022, alongside his son Mike Parkinson and presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, to discuss his memoir My Life in Sport: Memories, Moments and Declarations.
He can be seen laughing as his son recalls an encounter with footballer George Best.
Parkinson’s death at the age of 88 was announced by his family on Thursday.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 you get a detention mic because of George Best?
00:02 I did. It's this kind of story that people think that's not true,
00:07 but it did actually happen.
00:08 George used to come down and he used to try and avoid Dad
00:12 because Dad would try and lecture him.
00:14 So he'd run out in the garden with a bag of balls
00:16 and play football with me and the two brothers,
00:18 and indeed the cat, and the game was,
00:20 "Get the ball off George Best," which was impossible.
00:23 Anyway, the next day, after the weekend, I went to school.
00:26 It was a Catholic primary school,
00:27 so truth was the most important thing.
00:30 And they asked me what I did for the weekend.
00:32 I said, "I played football with George Best."
00:35 And the teacher was not happy.
00:38 I kept repeating this claim, and I was given detention.
00:41 For lying.
00:42 I then saw George next time and said to him,
00:44 "Now, George, you got me in trouble."
00:46 He said, "What can I do?"
00:47 He said, "Well, get me a football."
00:49 And he signed the football.
00:50 He said, "To Sister Cross," because she was a nun,
00:53 she said, "He did play football with George Best.
00:56 "Love, George."
00:57 And I gave it to her the next day at school,
00:59 and I'm sure she blushed.