Like Father, Like Son, Mike, who was born in 1967, writes that for much of his childhood Parkinson was a figure who inspired ‘disquiet and anxiety’, and who would appear only at mealtimes, issuing ‘diktats and less-than-complimentary observations on length of hair, performance at school and sporting prowess’, creating ‘a charged and unpleasant atmosphere’ in the home. ‘I was not terrorised by him; I just found him forbidding and distant.’How, I ask, did Parkinson feel on reading that? ‘I take it as Mike’s observations and therefore I respect it.
I don’t discount it. I don’t deny it either. And I’m very sad that I caused such unhappiness and disquiet in the family.’You didn’t realise it at the time? ‘No, I was too drunk to realise.
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