for centuries, we've immortalised them in pencil paint and through the lens of a camera. and each year, we mark the passing of people we may never have met but have meant so much to many of us. there was an energy here that brought something out in me, that excited me. in 2023, we lost legendary singers and composers... cheering. ..sporting greats, political trailblazers. .. order, order! order. ..and household names on both the big and small screens. all men are fools. and what makes them so is having beauty like what i have got. laughter. they've been part of our shared experience, woven into the storylines and soundtracks of our lives. good evening and thank you forjoining us.

welcome to the new series... applause what made their lives so extraordinary? the lasting legacies of lives well lived. elizabeth i has been played by some movie greats, from bette davis tojudi dench to cate blanchett. but for millions of television viewers in the 1970s, the role was defined by one actor — glenda jackson.

she played a queen, a king and a real part in politics. i am not only a queen, walsingham, i am a tanner and a tinsmith, a collier and a shepherd. how will my trades prosper if you have your war with spain? bailey. ma'am. the fleet is to be dismissed. madam, i must warn you that... no, sir, you must not. you must guard your rattling tongue, lest i have my hangman pluck it out. if i was to close my eyes and think about glenda jackson, i think of a woman of small stature with incredible power. how cruel. how can you say that? don't i live? everyone thinks they can do as they like with me... ..even you! i loved her strength, really.

that passionate intensity. every muscle was taut and her face was a... i was an amazing picture of strength. ladies and gentlemen, glenda jackson. applause you came from a very ordinary background, didn't you? mm, yes. your dad was a bricklayer, wasn't he? that's right, yes. in those early days, what did you want to be? i left school without wanting to do anything in particular and no qualifications for anything. so i worked in boots cash chemists for two years, and while i was there, ijoined an amateur dramatic company at home and someone said, as someone always does, "you should do this professionally." so i wrote off to the only drama school i'd ever heard of which was rada, and i got a scholarship and there i was for two years. what kind of parts did you get when you were at rada? well, we didn't really have parts until our last term, but they told me, "don't expect to work until you're 60 "because you're basically a character actress." how wrong her drama teachers were.

she became a major movie star with women in love in 1969. how much do you love me? how much do you think i love you? i don't know. but what's your opinion? very little indeed. why don't i love you? well, i didn't know why you don't. i've been good to you. when you first came to me in that fearful state, i had to take pity on you, but it.... it was never love. and she followed that success in the romantic comedy a touch of class. and may i point out, as you have so obviously never noticed, women are a little different from men. they require time, a little sensitivity... english women. all women. anybody but a superannuated boy scout would know that. it's got my name on it. yes. she won oscars for both, but didn't go to hollywood to collect either.

there she is. she looks extraordinary there, doesn't she? oh, yes. gorgeous. she always sort of held her hand like that, i remember. and this is not quite as glamorous a shot. there's a young celia imrie in here. she laughs yes, now you see, she always joined in with us. this is at niagara falls. she laughs you look like you're members of some sort of cult. yes, i know. it was a world tour of hedda gabler, directed by trevor nunn for the royal shakespeare company. it was a very starry cast, actually. patrick stewart, timothy west. i was the tea girl and the assistant stage manager. i was nervous because she was such an icon. but she was very un—grand. all the time that i worked with her in 1975, she always looked after the underlings. she found out when my birthday was and there was champagne and a cake, you know, from her. she was fierce, actually.

like a lioness on our behalf. did you believe i would sacrifice my reputation on your behalf? it is not enough, madam, to speak one's mind in season and out as you do. that is not the conduct of a queen. it is the outpouring of a pampered woman demanding that all indulge her. but wasn't she stunning there? you know, that marvelous scene in women in love when she's dancing with the highland cattle. particularly in morecambe and wise, actually, i thought she looked absolutely gorgeous. all men are fools and what makes them so is having beauty like what i have got. laughter continues you have a plan? leave me alone.

laughter leave me alone with him for five minutes. five minutes? five minutes. but her strong political beliefs began to come to the fore. where an actress has strong political opinions, is she justified — or even wise — in parading them before her public? totally, yes. totally. i cannot see why one's profession should preclude one having political beliefs. will you welcome, please, the man who's made our dreams come true. the next prime minister of the united kingdom — neil kinnock! applause you tried to dissuade her from entering the house of commons? yes, i said to her, actually, "look, in the end, you can do "more good for the cause by being the oscar winner "glenda jackson descending

from on high to bless us poor plebeians with your presence." and she said, "that's bloody rubbish." so, i have to accept that it was bloody rubbish. glenda mayjackson — _ the labour party candidate —19,193. cheering and applause. glenda jackson— adds the words "mp" to the two oscars she won as an actress. glenda jackson was an mp for 23 years. rising to the position of transport minister, she had to travel to europe, where she found the detail of one eu debate rather tedious. during the coffee break, i said, "hey, glenda, are you all right?" and she said, "fine." and i said, "because you keep popping out?" "i'm going for a fag," she said. "right you are," i said. "yeah, i understand that." "in any case..." she said, "..it is so bloody boring." "the whole thing is boring." glenda jackson.

thank you, mr speaker. it's hardly a surprise that baroness thatcher... that speech that she made... ..after margaret thatcher's death... ..was pure glenda. everything i had been taught to regard as a vice — and i still regard them as vices — under thatcherism, was in fact, a virtue. greed. selfishness. no care for the weaker. sharp elbows. sharp knees. they were the way forward. we heard much... it's an amazing speech and kind of only really an actor could have done that speech in the way that she did it. and then to go back into acting... rumble thy bellyful! spit, fire! spout, rain! ..to take on the role of king lear, which is one of the biggest roles in shakespeare — in fact, it probably is the biggest

— and at the age of 80. she really did exude power and she ruled that stage. do you find the process of acting i is getting easier as you get older? are you kidding me? every performance now is a life and death situation and that doesn't get any easier. it's like standing on the top of a very, very high diving board and you don't know if there's any water in the pool. and you do that every night. there was a lot of vulnerability there. and i think once she got the opening night out of the way and she realized she could do it, then she relaxed. and i think she just needed that confidence again to... you know, for an audience to say, "you're back, we're welcoming you "and you're still as fantastic." celia imrie: after king lear, we met for lunch. _ jane horrocks and i were

king lear's daughters. and as we sat down for lunch, she said, "well, "i don't have any daughters to leave anything to," and presented me with this beautiful necklace. wow. isn't it beautiful? it really is. isn't it gorgeous? it looks elizabethan. it probably was, actually. so i wear it for good luck. she's been a light in my life. a marvelous mixture, actually, of fragility and toughness... ..and courage. and i must go. no. let me go alone.

sir michael parkinson brought many lives well—lived into our living rooms. good evening and welcome. growing up, i would have always watched obviously match of the day on the saturday night and the precursor to that was... was always the parky show. # hello, parky # 0h, hello, parky # it's so nice...# a proud yorkshireman, his love of cinema and sport shone brightly throughout his years as the nation's most watched chat show host. # because it's absurd, parky. we used to watch that show together, you know, in the good old days when families used to watch shows together. that was one of them. stephen fry: parkinson - was famous people times 100. and of course, it was rare to see them. they weren't always there to sell something. so it was an opportunity to hear and to get to know hollywood legends. he interviewed you

know, orson welles. a lot of directors and actors like to run their movies. - you know, their idea of a happy night at home is to turn - on the projector and see one - of their pictures again, you know? and i can't think of anything more horrifying, you know, _ because you can't change it. what can you do about it? yes. there it is. forever. there was going to be someone on television who was never on television. james cagney, for heaven's sake. you decided to retire during the making of that film, one, two, three, didn't you? mm—hm. what was the moment you decided? 0h, they said, "we're ready, mr cagney." . and i said, "well, right with you." and i turned around, walked in, and i said, "this is it." - "no more." so i called it a day then. he really understood who they were. you can't be frank and you can't be stevie wonder and you _ can't be marvin gaye. you can't be those people. be the best sammy davis that you know how to be. the grandeur of the old hollywood

star bette davis coming on. "wow, she's in england, let alone... "she's not onlyjust in england, "she's in my room, she's "there and she's telling stories "and it's amazing." if you look back on the history of hollywood, there've been, what, i suppose three great women stars, haven't there? there's garbo, hepburn, yourself. would you... would you agree with that running order? well, i will accept| the running order. yes, i will accept it. of course, i'd be happier if i got first billing, - but i'll take third. so when you saw them, it was a special thing. he's without doubt, the most beautiful and complete athlete i've ever seen. to others, he's a political leader, a figurehead in the battle between black and white, and yet to more people who care little about sport and even less about politics, he's one of the world's great entertainers, a character, a comedian and a sometime poet. here he is in all his splendour. ladies and gentlemen, muhammad ali. that interview between parky

and muhammad ali is the slow process of getting this great man to just open up and reveal so many facets of himself. can i ask what the problem is — if it is indeed a problem to you — about being regarded as one of the world's most attractive men and the kind of fan adulation you have from women? no. fan what? fan worship. from who? women. oh, i don't pay no attention to it. i don't... i don't consider myself as no attractive man. i people like tom jones. laughter. and elvis presley. i'm not nothing like that. well, whether you want it or not, you are. i mean, people for years have been saying you're one of the most attractive men in the world. i know it, i wasjust... laughter you witness one of the most extraordinary minds you have ever seen at play. the speed — unbelievable — of his brain explains the speed of his hands as a boxer.

i'm not going to argue with you. you're not as dumb as you look. the intelligence, something which i don't know if american tv really pulled out of him. when was your first recollection as a child of being a second class citizen? being treated like one? second class? no. more 16th class. and always asked my mother, i said, "mother, how come . is everything white? " i said, "why isjesus white - with blond hair and blue eyes? "why is the lord's - supper all white men? "angels are white. "mary and every... "even the angels. " i said, "mother, when we die, do we go to heaven?" - she said, "naturally we go to heaven." l i said, "well, what happened to all the black angels?" - "they took the pictures. " parky talked to muhammad ali, the man.

what plans do you have for the for the future now, apart from fighting? well, just... i'll tell you something. i don't think i've ever said this before, but i'll tell you, - i really cared nothing about boxing. boxing isjust to introduce me to the struggle. - like, when i speak, i draw people in the states to draw my people l to teach them various things which'll give them dignity, . pride and self— help. so boxing isjust going to be another year. i but my main fight is for freedom and equality. i it really did make people realise what an extraordinary human being he was. | i love your show and i like yourj style, but your pay is so cheap, i won't be back for a while. and that's the thing. parkinson delivered treats. hi. how are you doing? i'm well, thanks. it's michael parkinson! hello, fozzie. me come on this show, parky, cos you is the institution. - everyone round the country love you. i mean, obviously, - apart from young people.

i went to the doctor the other week. i said, "what's good for wind?" he gave me a kite. could i just ask you one i deeply personal question? of course. is that a toupee? and he made incredible relationships. and one of those relationships was extraordinary because it was michael parkinson and billy connolly. billy connolly. oh-h-h-h! it was that relationship with parky and going back on the show, you know, many, many times that fixed billy connolly in the hearts and the minds of people everywhere. you see this guy was going to meet his friend in the pub... _ the whole of britain became aware of this extraordinary scots genius. he said, "did you hear about the one... - "a guy done his wife in and that?" and i said, "no." and sure enough, there's a big mound of earth. - there was a bum sticking out of it.

he says, "is that her?" he says, "aye." he says, "why'd you leave her bum sticking out for?" - he says, "i need somewhere to park my bike." _ stephen fry: you develop a kind of connection - with michael parkinson. when he's killing himself with laughter, you are thrilled for him. i loved his show and i actually appeared on it a couple of occasions as well. it's quite the experience. i mean, you made this, in a sense, this kind of seamless transition, it seems, from being in the football into the media. well, it seems to be that way. were there problems i mean...? i think presenting on television is something that i've had to learn and i'm still very much, very much a novice. and in football, you're not on your own so much either. yes. you know? and you could be found out. that camera, it tends to look very closely. he was an amazing broadcaster, a brilliant interviewer, and he was always a great, great host. welcome, please, jane horrocks.

i couldn't wait to tell my mum and dad. yeah i mean, they loved michael parkinson and they came to watch it that night. # be wise # be smart # behave, my heart...# i liked parkinson because he was a great listener and he made the person who he was interviewing the star. whenever you want, you can say, yes? we have a full and frank discussion here about any topic. we will do operations here with her sexuality, anything at all. he sort of had a humbleness about him, which was very endearing and likeable. ladies and gentlemen, stephen fry. stephen fry: iwas on lots. you feel that you're in perfect hands. you don't feel the conversation's going to run out. you don't feel your mouth is going to turn dry and you can't remember a story. somehow he relaxes you. i mean, was that an ambition when you were a child,

to be a movie star? is that what you imagined you might be? film star, name above the title. well... if i'm deeply honest, i'm afraid, yes. little part of me. one i remember most particularly that i did was when i was on with robin williams _ you're right. edith head dolphin. you're right. you're mad, but you're right. he simply was a genius, a one—off genius of comedy who was able to do things at speed that no—one else you ever met was able to do. do the major doth become minor, i'll have you not know. _ speak to me and run gentle moose and i'll call your name. _ "go, oh pinch—faced one, oh giant rat, and call mel not," said tony blair. "just say the word and george be not going into the bush, we shall." - it was an event. and now i think, you know, the people who succeeded parky are brilliant, but it's harder for it to be an event. let's do michael's . favourite song, 0k?

# this day and age we're living in # gives cause for apprehension...# if i were one of those people who writes the summation of people's lives after they've died... ladies and gentlemen, tony bennett. ..i would be so grateful to parkinson. # you must remember this # a kiss is still a kiss # a song is...# hello! hello, possums! hello. i think i'm overdressed. dame edna everage! you've only got to look at the crop of people who died recently. what an honour to be on this, isn't it? - to be on parky. swivel chair, it's still. warm off liam neeson. 0h. it's the closest i'm i going to get, isn't it? let's face it. ladies and gentlemen, paul o'grady. so i was in all sorts of little drag acts. i most of them were all in sequins

and they were shirley bassey - orientated, you know? it was all very glam. i went the other way with lily, sort of gave it a scare, - with the tassel and roots. she had a tattoo and a love bite. you know what i mean? you're dead, mate. ladies and gentlemen, raquel welch. do you find it difficult for people to take you seriously in the business? oh, i don't know. i'll tell you, i don't think it's- wildly important that everybody take everybody really seriously. dr henry kissinger. did you have any sort of sense of destiny? any indication that one day, you might become one of the most influential men in the world? absolutely not. gina lollobrigida. ladies and gentlemen, mike yarwood. i'd also like to thank mike... laughter mike yarwood. we'll see you again next week. goodbye. you want to know something about them, yes, you can read their wikipedia entries these days and things like that, but you're far better off going to their parkinson appearances where you really do get a sense of who they were.

you went on the freedom marches, didn't you, with martin luther king? well, harry belafonte was... we started out together, and he told me about the problem. there's no question that dr king would have stood in history, - as other great men have stood, in terms of having dramaticallyl changed the course of all of it. how different do you think it would have been had he not been killed? do you think it would have been better for the black people in america? i'm almost positive it would've been better for the world. _ parkinson stands as a record of their lives and their way of thinking and why we valued them. here talking turkeys is benjamin zephaniah. be nice to your turkeys this christmas because turkeys just want to have fun turkeys are cool and turkeys are wicked and every turkey has a mum. cheering and applause you know. —

it's been tough for me in london because i can't, you know... it's a lovely city - and i can't really... can't really walk around because i'm getting... i i'm getting recognised all the time. i think that may be _ because i walk outside of my flat and say, "hey everyone, i i'm chandler from friends!" we have to close down, sadly. um... one hour's gone by already? yeah, already. whoa, time flies when you're in good company. # it's still the same old story # fight for love and glory # a case of do or die # the world will- always welcome lovers # as time # goes by—y—y—y!# applause

hello there. the new year has started dry with some sunshine for many parts of the country. if we have a look at the satellite picture, we've seen a few showers from this cloud in western scotland, but this cloud here is really arriving now from the south—west. that's going to bring some rain. that first weather system is going to be followed by a secondary feature here. those two combined could bring 50 millimetres of rain to parts of england and wales. given how wet it's been, there's likely to be some further flooding. ahead of that wet weather, the temperatures will dip away early in the night to below freezing in eastern scotland. it's going to be much milder, though, in the south—west. we've got the rain here by the evening. that's pushing across england and wales, across northern ireland, up into scotland, as well. briefly, we'll see some snow over the scottish mountains. clearer skies do follow that band

of rain, but there's more wet weather returning to the south coast and the south—west of england later on in the night. temperatures here around about 11 or 12 by the end of the night, by which time temperatures should have lifted a bit in scotland. we've still got some wet weather to move steadily northwards. windy in the northern isles, windy across southern parts of england and wales, particularly around those southern coasts. we've got the spell of rain, maybe for northern ireland, certainly across england and wales. it may well turn a bit drier across the south of england and south wales during the afternoon. temperatures here in those strong winds reaching 1a degrees, seven degrees where we've got a bit of sunshine in scotland, but also some showers. that weather system there bringing that second spell of rain moves away overnight. we've still got this low pressure towards the north—west of the uk. still some brisk winds up towards the far north—east of scotland where we've got a mixture of rain, but perhaps some snow heading towards the northern isles. the wind won't be as strong across the south of england and wales. for much of the uk it will be a case of some sunshine, but also some showers getting blown in on those westerly winds. we've got temperatures still pretty decent — eight to 12 degrees.

as we head towards the end of the week things are going to change because high pressure is going to come to dominate. it may well bring with it some colder air and a north—easterly wind. december was so wet because it was dominated by low pressure and over the next couple of days we'll see further areas of low pressure bringing more wind and rain, but there's an increased chance that, through the rest of the month even, it will turn drier and colder, maybe a little more wintry.

live from london. this is bbc news. japan downgrades its major tsunami warning, but urges people to stay on higher ground, after a powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit the country, bringing down buildings. the new year brings more hamas rocket attacks and more deadly air strikes on gaza — where almost 22,000 palestinians have been killed since october the 7th. and as 2024 begins, religious leaders from around the world urge tolerance for all beliefs and pray for peace in the new year. hello, i'm devina gupta. we are getting some news right now

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