Michael Parkinson doesn’t recognise himself in old clips as his TV self was 'a disguise'

TV legend Sir Michael Parkinson has said he doesn't recognise himself in old clips because his small screen persona was "a disguise".

The 87-year-old journalist started out on television in the 60s and is well known for hit programmes like Going For A Song, Give Us A Clue and his long-running chat show Parkinson.

But he has now confessed that he doesn't really like watching his old interviews these days.

Read more: Sir Michael Parkinson branded 'unrecognisable' by GMB viewers

Sir Michael opened up on BBC Breakfast when presenter Naga Munchetty asked if he got sick of seeing clips.

"Do I get sick of it?" he asked.

"Absolutely, yes I do. Because I don’t recognise the person. It’s a disguise, this is a disguise. All of it.

“You’re not yourself at all, it changes you, no matter how considerate you might be of the problems of being famous, it changes you and it’s bound to.”

Asked how it changes people, he went on: "Just people's reaction to you.

"And it makes you sometimes a worse person than you are."

Last year the star admitted he was embarrassed about his early TV appearances because of his accent.

Sir Michael, the son of a coal miner, said on Lorraine: "The big break came in 61/62 when Granada Television in Manchester, a wonderful company to work for in those days, asked me to do a screen test, and I did and I look now with terrible embarrassment at the way I used to speak."

Doing an impression of his old screen voice, he said: "I was terribly posh, 'Hello, how are you?'

"I don't know where I got that from – nobody in my family or immediate friends spoke like that at all, quite the opposite.

Watch: 50 years of Michael Parkinson interviews: His most iconic chat show moments

"But there I was, terribly posh."

Watch: Michael Parkinson looks back on his early TV days with embarrassment