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Mark Mardell reveals he has Parkinson’s disease

Mark Mardell presented The World At One on BBC Radio 4 - PA
Mark Mardell presented The World At One on BBC Radio 4 - PA

Former BBC presenter Mark Mardell has revealed he has Parkinson's disease, with his diagnosis made after he struggled to open Waitrose products.

The former Radio 4 The World at One presenter revealed his condition on the Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch podcast on Friday.

He said: “I'm feeling fine and dandy, but I have to share with you that I have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which means my voice is rather strange and weak… I've lost a bit of my boom.

“And I'm getting used to being the quietest person in the room rather than the loudest. But generally it’s in the stage of just being annoying rather than anything terrible.”

Asked when he first spotted the symptoms Mardell, 65, who also worked as the BBC's Europe and North America editor, replied: “I started thinking at the beginning of the year, Waitrose are making their packaging really hard to get into these days. What's this about?

“And then I found my arms suddenly lifting above my head for no particular reason, or at least staying there.”

Mr Mardell said he was told to see a doctor about his symptoms by a physiotherapist friend who visited him in May.

He added that his greatest concern was currently the medicine he’s been prescribed which doctors warned can make patients act impulsively.

“[I told them to] watch for gambling, because it's the one vice I've never had,” he said. “So if I start gambling, you know there's a problem with the pills!"

Mr Mardell, who announced his surprise departure from the BBC after 30 years on October 30 2020, also discussed on the podcast the impact of cuts at the BBC, impartiality and whether there are too many posh broadcasters.

Parkinson's disease is an incurable condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years. Its three main symptoms are involuntary shaking, slow movement and stiff and inflexible muscles.

Last year former Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman revealed his diagnosis of the disease.

In 2019 BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones also disclosed he had it, after viewers spotted his hands shaking during a live report.