As they prepare to celebrate their golden anniversary, Michael Parkinson has been waxing lyrical about his feelings for his 69-year-old wife Mary.   

"She's getting better as she gets older," the chat show king says of the lively Irishwoman he wed his native Yorkshire in August 1959. "I think she's more beautiful now than when we met," he tells the Daily Express.   

Her attraction, reveals the 74-year-old, lies in the fact that she "never stops talking and she's full of life and vigour", providing a contrast to his own "irascible" nature.  

One of the blessings of the life together has been their eight grandchildren. "It almost justifies getting old," says Michael

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