Ryan later compared the tone of his questions about her erotic thriller In The Cut - a departure from her more usual romcoms - to that of a"disapproving dad".
He once opened the batting for his local club alongside legendary cricketing umpire Dickie Bird, and underwent trials with Geoffrey Boycott. His hard work paid off, and in 1971 he was offered his own chat show - Parkinson - which ran until 1982. A music lover , he presented Desert Island Discs from 1986 to 1989. He also presented a Sunday morning show on Radio 2 between 1996 and 2007, credited with bringing jazz to a more mainstream audience.
In 2012, a Sky Arts show - Parkinson: Masterclass - saw Parkinson able to speak in depth with musicians and artists about their craft, with the show running for two years.Never afraid to voice his opinions on fellow celebrities or the TV industry as a whole, Parkinson's bluntness sometimes caused offence.
Parkinson wrote various books over the course of his career, including memoirs on Mohammed Ali and George Best, several sporting books centred around his love of cricket and golf, his family story in Like Father, Like Son and his 2009 autobiography Parky.