It may surprise you to learn that, before coming into television, Parky worked as a journalist. Various local and national papers followed before he was hired by Granada, to front various shows including the regional magazine SCENE at 6.30pm, where he was able to break the news of the assisination of President Kennedy. He also found time to do shows on his two favourite subjects (apart from whinging about why he's better than everyone else) - the movie magazine CINEMA and, after graduating to the newly launched LWT, the Friday night talking shop SPORTS ARENA. He also made the odd contribution to the early years of WORLD OF SPORT. He then defected to the Beeb to report for 24 HOURS, and then in 1971 was given a Saturday night chat show as a summer filler. Of course, this "summer filler" went on to last for eleven years. More or less everyone in the world came on Parky's show, yet the only one anyone ever remembers - thanks to Parky repeatedly bringing it up - was Rod Hull. We'd like to know why Rod was actually on the show in the first place (who was on the following week, Roger De Courcey?) and also when Parky is ever going to actually acknowledge Rod when he wheels the anecdote out again.

In any case, the show became such an institution that in 1979 it was planned to run the show every night at the week, but the plan was vetoed by the BBC governers. They'd already booked the Greenwood Theatre, though, so they gave him an extra show on Wednesday and invented QUESTION TIME to use it up. In 1982 he made "positively his last appearance on BBC Television" and legged it to be part of the Famous Five at Eggcup Towers. He fronted the weekend show with his wife Mary, and lasted longer than most, leaving in February 1984. By then, though, he'd had six months off to go to Australia (all the five presenters were allowed that much time off, as they were clearly too rich and famous to do it day in day out) when he replaced by John Noakes, and also been on the verge of resigning several times. Then Parky drifted around the schedules, taking over from Asp on GIVE US A CLUE (which he was shit at, because he kept forgetting to ping the bell), hosting the useless ALL STAR SECRETS and That's Life knock-off THE HELP SQUAD, and broadcasting on that rest home for ex-breakfast show presenters, LBC.

He made a return to the chat show in 1987 with PARKINSON ONE TO ONE on ITV, a name which was immediately rendered meaningless because the first show had two guests - Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau appeared together. That interview went on for so long it had to be shown over two weeks. However his most famous chat show was regularly wheeled out for obituaries and, later, compilations of the best, which were so successful that the show itself was revived from 1998, and it's still running today. That's as opposed to Melinda Messenger's chat show, which finished ages ago, yet Parky continues to go on about it being the epitome of all that is bad about modern chat shows. But you hardly need to have years of training to talk to Tania Bryer, do you? Miserable git.

Nicholas started off as an actor, and appeared in various early TV shows and B-movies throughout the fifties and sixties. He first became more than just 'that bloke' when he was Arthur Haynes' regular straightman, and also provided the voices for FOUR FEATHER FALLS. Presenting work then followed, and in 1971 he was made quizmaster of SALE OF THE CENTURY, a job he held for over a decade. The early episodes appear to have been only semi-networked - or at least, Nick made a point of mentioning that the contestants had come from "all over the Anglia Television region". It was also filmed as-live, which meant that Nick would often get halfway through a question before going 'Oh! I'm sorry!' and moving onto another one. Quite why that occured, God knows.

The show itself, of course, was bloody awful, with Nick simply galloping through question after question, getting interrupted by 'bargains' that nobody ever bid for, and then galloping through question after question again. That was until the end of the show, when he'd manhandle the winning contestant ("Would you like a mink coat, Elizabeth? I said, would you like a mink coat, Elizabeth!") through a succession of prizes which, in most cases, they could never afford anyway. Still, an all-out strike at the Beeb in December 1978 meant that 21 million people watched one episode, so he'll always have a place in the record books. After the show was dropped Nick concentrated on touring the nation's theatres and chairing JUST A MINUTE on the radio, which he is really good at. Alas, an attempt to transfer it to the telly in 1998 was flawed by a lunchtime slot and the most revolting set in television history. The overuse of CSO wasn't helped by Nick's stripy jacket, of course.

Peters started his broadcasting career at that modern-day ENSA, Radio Top Shop, where he'd broadcast each Saturday afternoon. His first TV job came in 1988 as an 18-year-old when he was picked to front Thames' revival of FREETIME, presenting the show live each Friday afternoon from a playing field somewhere around the M25. He seemed to be pretty adept at live telly, and after a few stand-in stints on CHILDREN'S ITV, he was poached by the BBC. He made his first appearance alongside Simon Parkin during the May half-term in 1989, and swiftly moved up the ranks - within a year he'd replaced Andy Crane as the third occupant of the Broom Cupboard, much to TV Cream's chagrin as we much preferred Parkin. He had little of the charm of his two predecessors, but stayed in the hot seat until 1993. He then followed the standard career path of the Broom Cupboard presenter by moving to Saturday mornings and the newly launched LIVE AND KICKING. Around the same time he also made his 'adult TV' debut with useless daytime quizzer THE TRAVEL QUIZ, most famous for the moment where a montage of clips of Barcelona, backed with the song 'Barcelona', was followed by Peters saying "Aw, they faded it out before the bit where it goes 'Bar-ceeee-loooo-naaaa'! And your question is, what city were those pictures of, ooooh noooo!" Christ.

Presenting was just one aspect of the Peters plan for world domination. He got involved with directing and, by 1994, was producing THE O ZONE. His additional presenting gigs included CHILDREN IN NEED for a bit (though Wogan hated him) and dull Friday night series GOOD FORTUNE, with Gloria Hunniford. Yet it was still a huge shock when in 1996 he left the Beeb to go to LWT, producing and presenting music and youth programmes. After an unwatchable final episode of Live and Kicking, his first product was something of a misfire - the Saturday morning music magazine THE NOISE failed to capture the public's imagination, although the brand was used for another year or so for one-offs. He also fronted useless regional shows on Friday teatimes, where he'd subject the likes of Frank Skinner to unbelievably crass and arrogant questioning. In 1998 he moved over to Channel Four to work as commissioing editor for youth programming, inventing T4 while still fronting the odd celebrity interview himself. He's done OK for himself, yes, but we're not that crazy about him - because Simon Parkin would have been loads better.

Pete started off as an actor, and famously spent some time as one of the assistants to William Hartnell's Doctor Who in the early episodes of children's programme DR WHO. But never mind that, we're more interested in 1967 when he replaced Christopher Trace and became the fourth presenter of BLUE PETER. Purves will forever be linked with John Noakes - they joined and left within a few months of each other - and the two complemented each other perfectly. While Noakes was manic and scruffy, Pete was a laid-back snappy dresser. Pete did his fair share of 'action man' stuff, mind, including a brush with the big D when, for some reason or other, he drove a Mini into the side of a lorry for a report. Still, Purves was a true professional, and unlike the whinging Noakes, only complained once - about being forced to play with Daniel, the Blue Peter baby, which he claimed was woman's work.

Pete left BP in 1978, after over a decade on the sofa - and he regrets not leaving sooner. After quitting, he stayed in children's television, fronting shows like STOPWATCH and WE'RE GOING PLACES. His best post-BP job, though, was the Easter holiday staple KICK START, which he fronted for many years alongside the solid John Lambkin. The out-take where Pete pisses himself at a St John's Ambulanceman falling arse over tit down a hill has reached legendary staus. He also presented Sunday afternoon fave SUPERDOGS, which was a bit like Kick Start but on four legs, and his interest in canines meant he was the logical choice to commentate on CRUFTS, which he still does today, and edit the magazine Peter Purves' Mad About Dogs (presumably the name came about after he'd been hired). Perhaps his most famous role in recent years, though, has been his advert for National Power, shown during every ad break in ITV's coverage of the 1990 World Cup. If you want to know exactly who generates most of Britain's electricity, Pete's your man!