The cause of Sir Michael Parkinson’s death has been revealed.
The “frailty of old age” is listed as the reason for his passing on his death certificate, according to The Mirror.
The veteran talk show host’s family announced that he had died aged 88 on August 17 and his spokesperson said at the time that he “passed away peacefully at home in the company of his family” after a “brief illness”.
On Friday, the late presenter’s son Mike Parkinson said his family is allowing the public to fully mourn his father’s death before they can “remember him as a dad and as a husband”.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast he said of the public outpouring: “We didn’t expect what happened. I mean, not just here but in Australia.
“I mean, Australia, there was a golf course he used to be a member of and they put the flag at half mast. Remarkable kind of gestures like that.
“And I have said previously that it’s a very difficult situation to be in as a family because you do actually feel that you should step back for a while and just let the public mourn the man that they lost...
“And in a sense they’re mourning a different person and so we have to, in a sense, keep out what we were mourning and keep it separate and allow that to subside before we’re really able to as a family come together and remember him as a dad and as a husband of 64 years.’
Sir Michael, who had three sons with wife Mary, whom he married in 1959, came from humble beginnings – born in South Yorkshire in 1935, and growing up in a council house in Cudworth, near Barnsley.
He was hailed as being “beyond region or class” and “irreplaceable” by contemporaries including broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, former cricket umpire Dickie Bird and actor Sir Michael Caine.
In November last year, the broadcaster appeared on BBC Breakfast alongside his son to chat about his career and his latest book release.
Mike Parkinson revealed that after the show they went to literary event, the Hay Festival and then a book signing, which was his “last public appearance”.
