A self-administered eight-symptom questionnaire on parkinsonism was completed by 35 patients known to have parkinsonism and 88 controls independently selected by a local general practice. The presence of shaking and difficulty opening things/doing small buttons were the commonest positive responses among the cases (27/35). While a shuffling walk and difficulty turning in bed were the least frequent positive responses among the cases, they were also the two questions least likely to be positive in the control group. The question on shaking was the most discriminating between cases and controls. When the question on a shuffling walk was added, a positive answer to questions correctly identified 91% of cases and 92% of controls. These questions can form the basis of an alerting/screening questionnaire for parkinsonism and could be useful in screening smaller targeted populations such as a general practice list.