Sir Michael Parkinson to deliver after-dinner speech at NCTJ conference

Sir Michael Parkinson, one of Britain’s best-known television presenters, is to deliver the after-dinner speech at this year’s NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference in Nottingham.

Sir Michael Parkinson, one of Britain’s best-known television presenters, is to deliver the after-dinner speech at this year’s NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference in Nottingham.

The gala dinner and awards ceremony will take place at the Nottingham Contemporary, one of the largest modern art centres in the UK, on the evening of 28 November. The conference sessions will be held at Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham Conference Centre on 28 and 29 November.

Sir Michael Parkinson began his career as a journalist on local papers and ended up as a features writer for the Daily Express and Manchester Guardian. His first foray into television came when he joined Granada Television before moving to the BBC to join the 24 hours team. His talk show Parkinson was launched in 1971 and ran until 1982.

He has also had a successful career on radio. In 1996 Michael launched a Sunday morning show on Radio 2 – which ran for 12 years. He has won numerous awards and in 1998 was separately honoured for his work in journalism, radio and television. The same year saw a new series of Parkinson start on BBC 1 lasting until 2003 and winning many awards including a BAFTA in 1999.

In 2003 he successfully transferred Parkinson to ITV until his retirement from the show in 2007. Parkinson was voted in the top ten in a British Film Institute poll of the Best Television Programmes of all time. He was awarded a CBE in June 2000 and a knighthood for services to broadcasting in the 2008 New Year’s honours’ list. Also in 2008 he was installed as Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University.

The Journalism Skills Conference will cover topical issues associated with developing professional journalists across all sectors, including new technologies and ethics. The gala dinner will also incorporate an awards ceremony celebrating the top-performing course, students and trainees from the past year.

To book your place at the conference, please complete the booking form available on the website.

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