Michael Parkinson

Has said on the Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne that he does "not believe in mystical things" and that he does not believe in life after death like his devout Catholic wife Mary does. He also explained he does not believe in the devil, but he does pray but "not to a deity". He describes he used to pray before each show, but that it was a prayer to himself as self encouragement and that it is a natural reflex "like when soldiers are under fire and hit the ground, they dig with their hands".