Inside Sir Michael Parkinson's friendship with Billy Connolly and his other most iconic interviews

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Legendary British chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson passed away aged 88 at his home on Wednesday night following a short illness.The family of the veteran broadcaster confirmed Sir Michael's death in a statement: “After a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family.“The family request that they are given privacy and time to grieve.”Sir Michael, who was considered the King of British talk show presenters, was known for his infamous and sometimes controversial interviews with some of Hollywood's biggest names during his BBC show, Parkinson.Over the years, he interviewed huge stars such as boxing legend Muhammad Ali, late singer David Bowie, sporting star David Beckham and actress Dame Helen Mirren.According to the BBC, Parkinson is estimated to have welcomed over 2,000 famous guests in total on to Parkinson over the course of four decades.But it was the famously good relationship the journalist had with Scottish comedian and actor Billy Connolly that may stick in the mind most for Scots.

The Glasgow comic was one of Parkinson's most loved and most frequent interviewees, having between invited onto the show an astounding 14 times.Here we take a closer look at how the friendship started and at Sir Michael Parkinson's most infamous celebrity interviews.

Sir Michael Parkinson was friends with Sir Billy Connolly for many years after he first appeared on his talk show in 1975, which went on to become one of the comedian's most memorable interviews of his career.Connolly famously appeared in a 1970's style beige leather suit with a traditional Scottish sporran attached for his first interview on Parkinson and the pair spent the first part discussing life in