Sleep
I never had a problem sleeping until recently. As a result of illness – a serious back operation last year, and treatment for prostate cancer five years ago – I now tend to wake three or four times in the night. We have a TV in the bedroom but we don’t use it very much. I would never take a call after 10pm unless I am away from home and my wife, Mary, calls me.
Eat
I learned from an early age how to cook as both my parents worked. I can do rudimentary stuff like frying an egg, but I don’t cook now. My middle son, Nick, has a Michelin-starred restaurant, The Royal Oak, about three miles from me in Berkshire, so I go there if I want a decent lunch or dinner. I adore all English fish. Breakfast is porridge and lunch tends to be my main meal of the day; I will eat whatever I want. And then in the evening have a light soup. I weigh about 12 stone; the same as when I was 17 or 18.
Work
When I was in newspapers and television, I worked goodness knows how many hours. I enjoyed it so much, I never counted. I have always worked weekends, so the day of the week means nothing to me. My youngest son, Michael, runs our production company, and I’ve been working on a book about George Best, who was a family friend and the best footballer I ever saw.
Family
It is one of the great mysteries in my life how our 59-year marriage has lasted. If you ask Mary how that has happened, she doesn’t know either, but I can’t imagine life without her. We are a close, loving family. I have three sons: Michael lives next door and Nick and Andrew live a few miles away. We have eight grandchildren, too. Of course every family has its ups and downs but nothing is going to break the bonds between us.
Fun
The greatest joy in my life is listening to music. The Great American Songbook [George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin] is the greatest treasure of songs that we have. I don’t know how people exist without music. I used to love playing golf, but I don’t play any more because of my back. And being from Yorkshire, it was compulsory to play cricket.
• An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson tours the UK from 1 September, faneproductions.com/sirmichaelparkinson
