Parky's Best: George and Michael

Q. What was Michael Parkinson's George Best biography called asks Birchy.

A. A co-authored number, it was called Best: An Intimate Biography and first published in 1974. It's not currently available, though Best completists would do well to seek out a copy as it depicts both author and subject in less than holy lights.

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Q. How so

A. Because Best comes out of it as a drunken, foul-mouthed misogynist, his mind fixated on the next drink and scoring the next 'bird'. And Parkinson doesn't do his friend any favours. The meat of the book seems to be a drunken interview or two, and while the author's purpose may have been to expose the decline of authentic working-class culture and its replacement by the shallow world of consumerism and shabby celebrity, what he actually did was to hammer the last nail into the coffin of Best's reputation.

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Q. So, how is it at odds with the earlier effort

A. Best's first literary foray was 1968's Manchester United-sanctioned The Best Of Both Worlds. This slim whitewash of a volume informed us that our hero had 'an eye for the ladies' - he claimed, in keeping with the morals of the day, that the tanned, slim blonde he met on the train back from the European Cup final was dropped off at a hotel by her escort and picked up again for breakfast. Best also admitted to 'one or two problems' with late nights, but nothing serious.

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The glowing portrait painted in the first book of Bobby Charlton as the avuncular elder statesman of the dressing-room was refuted by Best, who now described Charlton as pretty miserable so and so who kept himself very much to himself.

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Q. Presumably there have been plenty of more recent biographies

A. A new one came out in 2001, entitled Blessed: My Autobiography, written with Roy Collins. This is Best's fifth shot at telling his story, and the question of how a man could have everything and be systematically destroyed by alcoholism is at the heart of the book. Inevitably, you may think.

His 1980s effort, Where Do I Go From Here ends with him in rehab, embracing the AA programme. In 1991 he published The Good, the Bad and the Bubbly, in which he's fallen off the wagon again. Eight years later The Best of Times took us up to the end of the 1990s.

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Q. Parkinson interviewed Best. Does he make Parkinson's list of favourite guests

A. Over its 11 year-, 61 edition-run Parkinson featured nearly a thousand of the world's most famous people, including Best. However, Parky's top five doesn't include him, though he has checked him elsewhere. Curiously the Muppet Miss Piggy does make the list, along with Mohammed Ali and Diana Rigg.

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Q. So Parky's more of a pal of Best's than Terry Wogan, then

A. Perhaps Best's most embarrassing alcohol-related moment came in 1990 when Wogan cut short a live interview with a visibly drunk Best, who was slurring and swearing. Best said of the occasion: 'The worst thing was that I thought I'd got away with it, that though I might have been a bit tipsy, I had come across as reasonably coherent. But when I saw the recording the following day, it was obvious that I had been completely out of it...it's awful to see yourself coming across as some mumbling drunk.'

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Q. So, back to Parky. What else has he written

A. Parkinson started out as a journalist, working on several local newspapers in Yorkshire before joining the Daily Express. As a teenage cub reporter, in homage to his hero Humphrey Bogart, Parkinson wore a fedora hat with a 'Press' card tucked into the headband.

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Other than the Best book, his other literary offerings include Football Daft, Cricket Mad and Sporting Fever. Currently available is Michael Parkinson on Football and Michael Parkinson on Golf.

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Q. But wasn't he once president of the Anti-Golf Society

A. Indeed. He was a founder member and president of the Anti-Golf Society. But in his forties he was persuaded to take up the game by his wife. Since his conversion he has worked hard at unravelling the mysteries of the game by talking to and playing with such experts as Nick Faldo, Gary Player and Laura Davies. Celebrity golfer Whatever next

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Q. And Parkinson on Best

A. 'He was quick, two-footed, beautifully balanced...He could hit long and short passes with equal precision, was swift and fearless in the tackle and he reintroduced the verb "to dribble". He was as imaginative and whimsical in midfield as he was economical and deadly given a chance at goal.'

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'The only tragedy George Best has to confront is that he will never know how good he could have been.'

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Q. And Best on Best

A. 'When I look back at my life it is impossible not for me to feel blessed.'

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By Simon Smith