Swingin' Christmas
11:15 pm - 12:25 am, Thursday, December 25 on BBC Four HD (106)
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About this Broadcast
Michael Parkinson introduces a concert by the John Wilson Orchestra, in a celebration of festive musical treats from the golden age of swing. Soloists Seth MacFarlane and Anna-Jane Casey are joined by special guest Curtis Stigers for renditions of classic numbers like Winter Wonderland, Baby It's Cold Outside, Let It Snow and White Christmas
HD
subtitles
16x9
Jazz
Music/Ballet/Dance
Cast & Crew
Michael Parkinson
(Presenter)
Helen Mansfield
(Producer)
Oliver Macfarlane
(Executive producer)
Ian Russell
(Director)
More Information
Did You Know..
Michael Parkinson
(Presenter)
Born:
March 28, 1935
in
Cudworth, West Yorkshire
Best Known For:
Quizzing celebs
Early-life:
Born on March 28, 1935. An only child, he grew up in a council house in the coalmining village of Cudworth, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. When he was 14, his father, a miner, took him down the pit to put him off working there. After his original dream of playing cricket for Yorkshire was dashed, Parkinson left school at 16 to work on a local paper before joining the Manchester Guardian and later the Daily Express. He was also the youngest officer to take part in the Suez crisis.
Career:
Parkinson's first TV job was as a producer at Granada. In 1969 he began hosting the channel's Cinema programme. By 1971 he was working for Thames TV, presenting Teabreak with wife Mary, before getting his own chat show at the BBC which saw him interview such stars as Ingrid Bergman, Orson Welles, James Stewart and John Wayne. More than a decade later the series was dropped. He had a short-lived term at TV-am and appeared on the shows Give Us A Clue, one-off drama Ghostwatch and Going for A Song. In 1998, his chat show was revived and proved an instant hit. It switched from the Beeb to ITV1 in 2004 and ran until 2007 - the same year he retired from his Sunday morning Radio 2 programme.
Quote:
"There comes a time when you have been around for so long you become like a well-worn, well-loved object on the mantlepiece."
Trivia:
Parkinson owns a pub (which is run by one of his three sons), writes books and plays golf.
Helen Mansfield
(Producer)
Oliver Macfarlane
(Executive producer)
Ian Russell
(Director)
