Author name: David Parkin

FAREWELL then Dame Diana Rigg, whose death, aged 82, was announced yesterday. Her varied work as an actress over more than 65 years was known by many generations. What I didn’t know until yesterday was that she was born in Yorkshire – in Doncaster – and educated at Fulneck Girls School in a Moravian settlement […]

YOO HOO! I’m back! What do you mean? You could at least pretend you missed me. Please yourselves. I hope you’ve had an enjoyable and relaxed summer and I find you healthy and happy. Given the limitations that still prevent life returning to anywhere near normal, all of us have probably not done many of

FOR weeks he has been entertaining the nation. On a regular basis he has dropped into people’s homes to keep them focused. And during that time he has become a bit of a heart-throb. But all good things must come to an end. And so this week he has called a halt to his communications

AN email arrives titled ‘Boy Genius’. It is from insolvency practitioner Gerald Krasner and the man tasked with unravelling the tangled mess that is Wigan Athletic’s collapse into administration. If I was in any doubt whether the title of the email referred to me or him, the content swiftly put me right. “David how nice

FOOTBALL. It’s a funny old game, as dear old Jimmy Greaves used to say. And in the near three decades since the former striker used to make Ian St John chuckle on ITV sports show Saint and Greavsie, his words still ring true. In fact, football gets funnier. And weirder. And despite the introduction of

PLENTY of reasons to be cheerful this week with the return of Military 1st Fitness sessions on The Stray in Harrogate. All official rules were observed with the two instructors taking just five people per session, all of whom were positioned two metres apart. Which is more than can be said for most people socialising

IT’S been a busy week. Gardening on Monday. Fetching the post from the office on Tuesday. A dog walk with friends on Wednesday. I needed a lie down yesterday and I’m still not sure I’ll summon enough energy for the trip I booked to the tip this afternoon. Actually I’m taking the mickey. Tuesday was

  HAPPY Birthday Sir Tom Jones. The oldest swinger in town turned 80 last weekend. They used to use that term to describe an older man attempting to impress younger women by strutting his stuff on the dance floor of a disco. That certainly doesn’t apply to The Voice from the Valleys. Even at 80,

THERE have been plenty of cliches trotted out over the last three months. As lockdown restrictions start to ease we are all wondering what life will look like on the other side of the virtual domestic bubble we’ve been living in since March. One of the phrases you hear said the most is “the new

YOU could call it a coincidence but two readers have recently sent me old photos of myself. It could be a benevolent, munificent and solicitous attempt to keep my spirits from flagging in these challenging times. Or they could just be taking the piss. Firstly Richard Doyle sent me a photograph of me presenting him