Mike Parry
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Mike "Porky" Parry is co-host of the Weekend Sports Breakfast with Andy Townsend on talkSPORT.
Mike went to the The King's School, Chester, and then Nottingham Trent University. After this he became a journalist, usually working for tabloid newspapers. He is an avid Everton and Wayne Rooney fan.
Mike suffered health problems after getting a heart infection, and was awaiting a heart transplant in September 2004. [1] His health has subsequently improved through a combination of successful drug treatment and living a healthy lifestyle. Parry is now back on the airwaves, in a slimmed down form, and no longer drinks.
He originally co-presented the Sports Breakfast with Alan Brazil, but after the onset of his health problems, has been replaced by Graham Beecroft. As Mike's health improved he gained his doctor's permission to co-present The Game with Paul Breen-Turner and subsequently the weekday morning show with Ian Collins. He currently presents the weekend breakfast show with former footballer Andy Townsend.
One of the first programmes on which he gained notoriety, was prior to Wimbledon, where he claimed that he would swim the Channel if Tim Henman won Wimbeldon. Fortuntely he was spared this by Tim falling out of the competition. Often Parry will mispronounce or misuse a word/name, or explain matter-of-factly something that is utterly absurd, for comedic value. Some of his theories have included golf not being a sport, that football goals should be bigger as people are bigger now than in Victorian times and that Wayne Rooney is as intelligent as Einstein. At one point he suggested that Cricketer Darren Gough should not be allowed to play for England as his mindset had become too effeminate after appearing on Strictly Come Dancing. In another moment of inspiration he argued that race horses should be fitted with wing mirrors. The most notable of Parry's recent bloopers was when he was discussing eating peanuts in a pub. He said he always asks the publican:"what sort of peanuts do you sell here?" But, unfortunately for Mike, it sounded like:'what sort of penis do you sell here?"
However, occasionally Mike shows that he really does know what he's talking about. An example of this is his prediction that Rooney would become one of the world’s greatest players when Wayne was very young. At the time this seemed like one of Mike’s nonsensical rants but it has been almost scarily accurate.
Towards the end of 2005, Mike began using what is now his catchphrase, "That's a bit harsh". This is in response to the jibes of his colleagues or callers, who might refer to him as a 'Ginger Tube' or worse, a 'Porky Welsh Numpty'. One even responded to his criticisms of cyclists with the comment"criminally unfunny lardy man with a predilection for too much cake; essentially superfluous addition to the human race. Famous for being unable to differentiate between lady on a brompton and four-times tour winner, Lance Armstrong."
Mike lives Surrey and is a great animal lover and regularly feeds his local swans and their cygnets. His favourite band is ABBA.
[edit] Recent exploits
Michael had his beard shaved off for charity and the hair is being sold on ebay to the highest bidder.
On Talksport Parry has gained a reputation for being a strong critic of Chelsea FC. Twice in recent times Parry has been forced to back-track after making outspoken and ultimately unfounded allegations about the club. First, he heard that an official book by Chelsea historian Rik Glanvill did not mention either Matthew Harding or Ken Bates, and he accused the club of lacking class. Glanvill himself phoned the show and told him the stories were untrue, and both Bates and Harding would feature. Parry back-tracked but still didn't apologise.
Parry found himself at the centre of controversy on 15th October 2006 when he claimed live on air to have seen the medical report on Chelsea Football Club's goalkeeper Petr Čech's head injury, sustained after a challenge from Reading FC's Stephen Hunt the previous day. In condemning Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho for saying Čech was lucky not to have broken his skull, Parry asserted that the report confirmed that Čech had not suffered a fracture to his head. Reports later confirmed that Čech had indeed sustained a skull fracture and is facing six months on the sidelines, suggesting that either Parry's source was inaccurate or that he was being less than truthful. Once again, no apology was forthcoming.
