The broadcaster on waking in the night, writing a book about his friend George Best, and how he couldn’t live without music

Sleep

I never had a problem sleeping until recently. As a result of illness – a serious back operation last year, and treatment for prostate cancer five years ago – I now tend to wake three or four times in the night. We have a TV in the bedroom but we don’t use it very much. I would never take a call after 10pm unless I am away from home and my wife, Mary, calls me.

Eat

I learned from an early age how to cook as both my parents worked. I can do rudimentary stuff like frying an egg, but I don’t cook now. My middle son, Nick, has a Michelin-starred restaurant, The Royal Oak, about three miles from me in Berkshire, so I go there if I want a decent lunch or dinner. I adore all English fish. Breakfast is porridge and lunch tends to be my main meal of the day; I will eat whatever I want. And then in the evening have a light soup. I weigh about 12 stone; the same as when I was 17 or 18.

Work

When I was in newspapers and television, I worked goodness knows how many hours. I enjoyed it so much, I never counted. I have always worked weekends, so the day of the week means nothing to me. My youngest son, Michael, runs our production company, and I’ve been working on a book about George Best, who was a family friend and the best footballer I ever saw.

Family

It is one of the great mysteries in my life how our 59-year marriage has lasted. If you ask Mary how that has happened, she doesn’t know either, but I can’t imagine life without her. We are a close, loving family. I have three sons: Michael lives next door and Nick and Andrew live a few miles away. We have eight grandchildren, too. Of course every family has its ups and downs but nothing is going to break the bonds between us.

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Fun

The greatest joy in my life is listening to music. The Great American Songbook [George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin] is the greatest treasure of songs that we have. I don’t know how people exist without music. I used to love playing golf, but I don’t play any more because of my back. And being from Yorkshire, it was compulsory to play cricket.

• An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson tours the UK from 1 September, faneproductions.com/sirmichaelparkinson