By Jack Evans

A BARNSLEY legend - and indeed a national one - will be honoured by his son later this month with Mike Parkinson set to pay tribute to his father at the Civic.

Mike, youngest son of the late Sir Michael Parkinson, is back in Barnsley for a ‘Parky on Parky’ tribute show, ten years on from the last time they shared the town centre venue’s stage together.

Mike told the Chronicle: “It was important I came back here as just before he passed my dad told me that we had to keep a promise to the Civic that we made in 2015.

“He said he’d come back to do a fundraiser but never got the chance, so I now have the honour to fulfil that promise.”

Mike and his dad worked on stage together for over 20 years, producing television shows, writing books and also developing the stage show ‘An Evening with Michael Parkinson’.

The evening at the Civic - on April 25 - will allow Mike to share thoughtful, funny and sometimes surprising insights into what made Sir Michael tick, not only as a master of television interviews but also as a man and a father.

He added: “What I can bring into this show that I didn’t when we did it together, are revelations about what drove him, worried him and what characterisations people maybe didn’t realise he had.

“It’s also a way of working through grief weirdly, the show changes every time I do it, because new thoughts and feelings emerge.”

Sir Michael was a proud patron of the Civic up until his death, making Mike’s show a special event for the town.

Mike said: “My father wanted, when he passed away, something tangible that showed he cared about the community.

“So doing this show, and having every ticket sold goes 100 per cent back to the Barnsley Civic, is one part of a putting back into a community that nurtured him.”