A staple of BBC Radio 4's broadcasting line-up, the comic panel show Just A Minute first aired on 22 January 1967, with the erudite Nicholas Parsons in the chair, master of the ad-lib, and unshaken by the best efforts of myriad panellists - a cavalcade of the cream of British talent including Kenneth Williams, Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, Beryl Reid, Sheila Hancock, Peter Jones, Paul Merton, Pam Ayres, Gyles Brandreth, Marcus Brigstocke, Julian Clary, Maureen Lipman, Fenella Fielding, Barry Cryer, Jenny Eclair, Stephen Fry, Tony Hawks, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Josie Lawrence, Aimi MacDonald, Miriam Margolyes, Richard Stilgoe, Ross Noble, Graham Norton, Sue Perkins, Tim Rice, Wendy Richard, Linda Smith and Liza Tarbuck - to bend the rules of speaking for one minute on a given subject, without "hesitation, repetition or deviation".
Fifty-two years later, the show was still on air - with the erudite Nicholas Parsons in the chair! He only ever missed a broadcast twice in all that time...
From his first emergence on radio and TV as the posh "straight man" for comedians such as Arthur Haynes and Benny Hill, to acting appearances including on Doctor Who and on stage in The Rocky Horror Show, to being voted the "housewives' favourite" as host of the "Quiz of the Week" Sale of the Century, Mr Parsons was rarely out of the British consciousness.
A true "national treasure", who will be sorely missed.
RIP Christopher Nicholas Parsons CBE (10th October 1923 – 28th January 2020)
Listening to Just A Minute now. He'll be hugely missed
ReplyDeleteNothing will ever be quite the same again without seasoned presenters of his calibre. Slowly but surely, what we revere for its "class" is being lost forever in a morass of mediocrity. Jx
DeleteI think you have hit the nail on the head, Jon. TV, Radio and magazines/ newspapers, all bowing to the lowered standard.
DeleteIt is a horrid development, and a cheapening of culture. Why are column inches in a venerable tome like The Daily Telegraph devoted to such utter toss as 'Love Island'? Why is the opinion of faceless morons on Tw*tter nowadays considered more important than genuine critical analysis by journalists? Exactly whose "reality" is "Reality TV" supposed to represent? Why is Doctor Who now a northern bimbo? What the fuck is "woke" supposed to mean anyway? Speak the Queen's English!
DeleteI despair. Sigh.
Jx
Shesh, you're miserable! No one has to watch Love Island. Jodie Whittaker's been great, my kids are terrified to watch Dr who but still ask for the TV to be paused when they need the toilet when we're watching it. (they're not used to watching TV when it's broadcast.) Jack Dee's done a great job filling Humphrey Littleton's shoes. There are people who appreciate Reithian values out there. Terry Jones, Neil Innes and Nicholas Parson's deaths all led to tremendous outpourings of love.
ReplyDelete"woke" is just a word white people don't quite know the meaning of but are using anyway. (Not me. If you've only seen a slang word on twitter don't use it. You'll get it wrong. I don't know what it means either.)
I may be miserable, but at least I am not a fucking moron. Our culture is undermined daily by the crap that pours out of Tw*tter, and give the BBC a chance and they'll cancel both Just a Minute and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again in a second in order to make room for something presented by a nasal yoof, or else yet another "vox pop/phone-in" programme. Just look what's been announced for BBC news today.
DeleteJx
I've no idea what has been announced for BBC News. (I have depression and anxiety, news is about as useful as horror films. ) I've instilled Reithian values in my kids as best I can. Go Jetters, Dr Who, Horrible Histories, Alphablocks, Numberblocks, all big part of their lives,.
DeleteAlso, there's a reason the telegraph covers Love Island: bikinis. They don't assume their readers are stupid, they're just assuming they're horny.
Totally agree with you about vox pops, they're poison. They're a terrible way of finding what the nation thinks, only what the kind of people who take part in box pops think.
Always seemed like a lovely and jolly sort of a chap
ReplyDeleteI am certain he genuinely was. Jx
DeleteSeems to be properly missed as a person.
ReplyDeleteIs radio more immediate than TV? I miss Humph, Simon Hoggart, Jeremy Hardy and Linda Smith more than any TV personalities who've passed on.
Radio - while it lasts, as all our favourite shows are slowly edged out into the margins in favour of "podcasts" and commercial-radio-style playlist fodder - is our mainstay here. Apart from the Queen's speech, I can't remember the last time we watched live telly - we record the shows we like and watch them when it's convenient. Jx
DeleteThere's a couple of BBC podcasts I like Evil Genius (about iconic people and whether they should be admired or not) and You're Dead To Me, about history. Although I don't know what makes either of them a podcast as opposed to a radio programme.
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to much music radio except Jazz Record Requests so can't comment there.
Radio Four and Four Extra are doing a great job, as is The World Service
Bless him, and the old school.
ReplyDeleteSx
Huzzah! Jx
DeleteLovely tribute to him on the end of the news quiz. I didn't know he'd fronted a predecessor to it.
ReplyDeleteHe was fantastic in Dr Who as the self-doubting vicar.