Welcome to Just a Minute! For five decades it's been a case
of speaking without hesitation, deviation or repetition. A simple yet
frustratingly difficult task that has led to some great comic moments over the
900+ editions that have been heard since Just
a Minute first appeared on 22 December 1967.
The programme, devised by Ian Messiter, had had an earlier
1950s radio incarnation under the title One
Minute, Please with Roy Plomley, and later Michael Jackson, chairing,
though here it was a team game rather than pitting four individual players
against each other.
In 1967 Nicholas Parsons was enjoying radio success in the
topical satirical comedy series Listen to this Space. Seeking some new challenges he spoke to Ian Messiter who
suggested Just a Minute. Getting the
green light for the pilot producer David Hatch was called in - David would
guide and help shape the programme for its first decade or so - and with
Nicholas as one of the panellists it was Jimmy Edwards who was lined up as
chairman. In the event Edwards couldn't commit to the show so Nicholas Parsons
reluctantly agreed to step in as master of ceremonies, a role he's maintained,
apart from some role swapping in early editions, ever since.
The pilot episode was recorded on 16 July 1967 and
eventually scheduled as the first edition of a new series to start on Radio 4
that December, thus becoming the newly re-badged network's first bona fide hit.
Show producer David Hatch writes a humourous introduction for the Radio Times of 22 December 1967 |
The game as played in the early series is not what we now
know. The rules took some time to bed in; repetition was counted as repetition
of an idea as well as words. For a while you couldn't even repeat the words in
the subject title and there were penalty rounds such as speaking on a subject
without using certain words but these proved inhibiting.
The third major player of the game joined for the second
series when Derek Nimmo couldn't make the recordings due to filming
commitments. Producer David Hatch had been convinced of Kenneth Williams'
suitability for the game after seeing him on the panel of BBC TV's Call My Bluff and he asked Williams to
initially do six programmes. According to Kenneth's diary it seems it was a
somewhat reluctant agreement: "unfortunately it means working with that
Parsons fellow, but I said yes, 'cos it will be a nice fill-in". His attitude
to the chairman had mellowed somewhat by the time of the recording and it also
touches on the fact that Hatch would have to had to continually keep Kenneth
happy and praise his contributions: "... when we came to the performance I
just about managed and scraped through. But Nicholas was a great help and so
was Clemet Freud. David Hatch was very nice to me before (when I was actually
v. nervous) and afterwards. I like him very much - always have
actually".
Parsons, Williams, Nimmo and Jones. Radio Times 7 February 1985 |
In 1992 the programme celebrated its silver anniversary with
a 2-part retrospective, Silver Minutes.
This is part one from 20 July 1992 (though this is the commercially released
version).
The fourth member of what was seen for many years as the
'classic line-up' - was Peter Jones, who joined the show in 1971, again to fill
a gap left by a busy Nimmo. He had a more laid back approach to the game and
was often willing to sit back whilst the other fought it out only to buzz in
with a very funny or acerbic comment. His talks always seemed to start with
"well..." I recall. Peter made 326 appearances until 2000.
That so-called classic line-up appeared together in just 38
episodes so there were always guest slots to fill. Some became semi-regulars
and the longest-serving of these is Sheila Hancock who, like Nicholas Parsons
spans the five decades, appearing on the second edition of the first series in
December 1967 through to a couple of shows in the latest series, the 79th, this
autumn.
This is the second of the Silver Minutes programmes originally broadcast on 27 July 1992.
With the gradual loss of Kenneth Williams in 1988 there was
a vacancy for a regular player. Comedian Paul Merton had been an avid fan of
the show for years and had recorded and constantly replayed episodes to
himself. Convinced that he could contribute to the show he wrote to the then
producer Edward Taylor. At the same time he'd appeared as a panellist on the TV
game show Scruples on which Nick also
appeared (BBC Genome would suggest this was the 30 October 1988 edition) and he
mentioned how much he loved Just a Minute.
Paul's flights of surrealist fancy and running gags opened up the show and in
recent years, alongside that other semi-regular Gyles Brandreth, it has tended
to be comedians on the panel.
The first series of Just
a Minute that I committed to tape was the 14th that aired between December
1979 and March 1980. Playing alongside Williams, Nimmo, Jones and Freud were
Sheila Hancock, Aimi Macdonald, Tim Rice, Patrick Moore, Lance Percival, Barry
Cryer and John Junkin. Making their only appearances in the programme's history
were Peter Cook, Bob Monkhouse, Rob Buckman and Kenny Everett.
This is the first episode from series 14 from 11 December
1979.
Of course the real star, and the one constant, throughout the run has been Nicholas Parsons, still sounding as strong, if a little less posh, as he did in 1967. "I enjoy the position of chairman so much", he says in next week's issue of the Radio Times. "It's the greatest effort of concentration of any job I have. I'm listening intently and can see the way people's minds are working when they have a subject. We, as professionals, make it look easy and sound fun, but it's an incredibly difficult game."
I can't do justice to the programme's 50 year history in such a short post so I can direct you to the superb Just a Minute website. Nicholas Parson's own history of the programme Welcome to Just a Minute was first published in 2014 and is available in hardback, paperback and Kindle editions
I can't do justice to the programme's 50 year history in such a short post so I can direct you to the superb Just a Minute website. Nicholas Parson's own history of the programme Welcome to Just a Minute was first published in 2014 and is available in hardback, paperback and Kindle editions
There are some special programmes over the holiday season marking JAM's 50th. On Radio 4 on Christmas Day Just a Minute: 50 Years in 28 minutes. On Radio 4 Extra on New Year's Eve a repeat of a 1952 edition of One Minute, Please. And on New Year's Day on Radio 4 Nicholas Parsons in Conversation with Paul Merton.
1 comment:
Thank you so very much. I have just recently started listening to the BBC archives and the 22-12-67 programme (I was just five months old) puzzled me greatly. The masterful Freud and Nimmo, beautiful Beril Reid, and Wilma Ewert?? Who was that? I searched for days before you enlightened me. Nicholas' neighbour! Goodness me, what a quiz question that would be. THanks again.
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