My father's 100th

Every day is a day for thinking about family, but today has special significance for me. If he were still alive, my father would be celebrating his 100^th birthday today; he died in March 1999. Here he is with his grandson on Christmas Day 1998.

I have been puzzled recently to see Helen Mirren in a television advert for Nintendo Wii – not the sort of product I expected one of our theatre dames, and an Oscar winner, to be advertising. It all became clear on Wednesday when this article appeared in the Guardian. She is speaking out for sufferers of Parkinson’s disease. My father self-diagnosed his Parkinson’s and I’m afraid it blighted the last 25 years of his life, and of course my mother’s life too; she died eight months after him. Today, I am very happy to remember him, and will raise a glass this evening.

Read about the charity Parkinson’s UK and their Fair Care for Parkinson’s campaign.