Michael Parkinson was born in a pit village in Yorkshire where he lived on the back row of the local cinema and dreamed of marrying Lauren Bacall, Vera Hruba Ralston and Veronica Lake, or anyone else who would have him.

Pretending to be Humphrey Bogart, he became a journalist and a familiar sight around Barnsley and district, riding his bike while wearing a military style raincoat, snap-brimmed trilby with elastic chinstrap and green cycle clips. Thus disguised, he bluffed his way on to the "Manchester Guardian", and later the "Daily Express" in Fleet Street before being found out and sent back to Manchester, where he worked for Granada Television. He eventually ended up at the BBC with a talk show that run for many years and made him an instantly recognisable face, mainly among people who thought he was Michael Aspel.

With the help of his wife Mary, he has overcome many problems, including drink, Meg Ryan and an irrational fear of emus, to lead a seemingly charmed life - he has sung with Bing Crosby, danced with Billy Connolly, Bruce Forsyth and Will Smith, played a love scene with Bette Davis, and has his knee touched by Rene Zellweger, Sandra Bullock, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kylie Minogue and Dame Edna Everage, to mention but a few sex symbols who have felt irresistibly drawn to his left patella.

Parkinson's memoir is an inspiring story, particularly for anyone who hated school and left with two O levels, because it proves that dreams do come true.