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More About This Title Just a Minute: Series 71
English
Nicholas Parsons chairs eight episodes of the long-running panel game, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in Spring 2015. “Welcome to Just a Minute!” As the Minute Waltz fades away, once again a multitude of players pit their wits against each other as they attempt to talk for 60 seconds on a given subject without hesitation, repetition, or deviation from the subject. So join redoubtable chairman Nicholas Parsons as the panelists - including Paul Merton alongside long-time players and newcomers to the game—use their intellect, imagination, wit, and verbal dexterity to beat the clock and win the points in these eight sparklingly funny shows.
4 CDs, 223 minutes
English
The formula for this long-running and popular radio panel game was devised in the early 1950s by Ian Messiter, a Light Entertainment producer who was on the staff of the BBC from 1942 to 1952. Although Just A Minute was Messiter’s preferred name for the show, the Head of Light Entertainment insisted the show be called One Minute, Please. In that first show, Roy Plomley acted as Chairman, with Gilbert Harding, Kenneth Horne and Reggie Purdell pitting their wits against Yvonne Arnaud, Valerie Hobson, and Nan Kenway. One Minute, Please was responsible for introducing the versatile talents of the artist, tuba player, and raconteur Gerard Hoffnung to a wider audience. It was on the show that Hoffnung first told his famous Bricklayer Story, which was used to warm up the audience before the start of the program. In 1952 Messiter left the BBC and set up a commercial radio station in Johannesburg. According to Ian’s wife Enid Messiter, it was here that Just A Minute first went on air in the format we know. Ian Messiter produced and chaired the program, and Enid herself played Chopin’s Minute Waltz for these South African recordings. In 1967 the Messiters returned to England, and a pilot edition of Just A Minute was proposed to Roy Rich, then Head of Light Entertainment for BBC radio. The pilot was made, but initially rejected. Producer David Hatch threatened to resign unless it was offered to BBC Radio 4 planners. It was, and the rest is history. In addition to the radio series, there have been several TV series on both ITV and BBC. For many years the regular panelists included Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, Kenneth Williams, and Peter Jones. As their numbers dwindled in the early 1990s, however, an increasing number of guests joined the show. Paul Merton has become a mainstay of latter-day Just A Minute, while many others now form a pool of semi-regular contestants. In 2003, the program won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award, and in 2012 it celebrated its 45th year. With Nicholas Parsons at the helm for its entire tenure, Just A Minute has been a continually popular feature of the Radio 4 schedules.
