MIKE Parkinson decided Barnsley Grammar School was a waste of time.

He took O levels without doing any work and without caring, according to his autobiography, Parky. "I passed in art and English and departed Barnsley Grammar School shortly after. I was 16 and already had a job."

Many years later he received a letter saying there was to be a dinner to mark the life of the headmaster Mr Roche and would he be the guest of honour.

Mike declined. Years earlier he had been caned by Roche, "a large blustery man with strange eyes." He gave the future journalist and celebrity six of the best on his hand which meant Mike could not pick up a pen for days.

"Unless you buck up, Parkinson, you will never add up to much," boomed Roche.

He did his National Service, after which he went to work at the Chronicle instead of returning to the South Yorkshire Times where he worked before service.

It was during that period he wrote a piece about Roy Cooling, the Barnsley footballer, saying he had the romantic looks of young Scott Fitzgerald.

But a sub editor had never heard of the writer and inserted in the story the words: ...Cooling bears a distinct resemblance to Scott of the Antarctic. It was an inglorious start to a glittering career.

Parky is published by Hodder and Stoughton, price £20.