Just a Minute - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

radio comedy

Radio comedy

Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...

panel game

Panel game

A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....

chaired

Master of Ceremonies

A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....

by Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...

. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003.

The object of the game is for panellists to talk for sixty seconds on a given subject, "without repetition

Repetition (rhetorical device)

Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words, in order to emphasize. This is such a common literary device that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech...

, hesitation or deviation

Deviation

Deviation may refer to:* Deviation , the difference between the value of an observation and the mean of the population in mathematics and statistics** Standard deviation, which is based on the square of the difference...

". The comedy comes from attempts to keep within these rules and the banter among the participants. In 2011 comedy writer David Quantick

David Quantick

David Quantick is a freelance journalist, writer and critic who specialises in music and comedy.-Career history:...

ascribed Just a Minutes success to its "insanely basic" format, stating, "It's so blank that it can be filled by people as diverse as Paul Merton and Graham Norton, who don't have to adapt their style of humour to the show at all."

History

The idea for the game came to Ian Messiter

Ian Messiter

Ian Cassan Messiter was a BBC Radio producer and the creator of a number of panel games, including Just a Minute, and Many a Slip. He was also the Programme Associate on Family Fortunes. Messiter was born in Dudley, Worcestershire and educated at Sherborne School in Dorset...

as he rode on the top of a number 13

London Buses route 13

London Buses route 13 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. The service is currently contracted to London Sovereign.-History:...

bus. He recalled Percival Parry Jones, a history master from his days at Sherborne School

Sherborne School

Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

who, upon seeing the young Messiter daydreaming in a class, instructed him to repeat everything he had said in the previous minute without hesitation or repetition. To this, Messiter added a rule disallowing players from deviating from the subject, as well as a scoring system based on panellists' challenges.

The idea for the show was first used in One Minute Please, chaired by Roy Plomley

Roy Plomley

Francis Roy Plomley , OBE was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist.-Early life:Plomley was the son of a pharmacist and was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon...

. Whilst the fundamental rules were the same, the game was played in two teams of three rather than with four individual contestants. The show was broadcast between 1951 and 1957. Previous incarnations of the programme included a 1952 version in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, as well as a television version on the DuMont network

DuMont Television Network

The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

A pilot for the show was recorded in 1967, featuring Clement Freud

Clement Freud

Sir Clement Raphael Freud was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.-Early life:Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud and Lucie née Brasch. He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the brother of artist Lucian Freud...

, Derek Nimmo

Derek Nimmo

Derek Robert Nimmo was an English character actor. He was particularly associated with upper-class "silly-ass" roles, and clerical roles.-Career:...

, Beryl Reid

Beryl Reid

Beryl Elizabeth Reid, OBE was a British actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Born in Hereford, England in 1919, Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools.-Career:Reid applied for and was accepted in a revue in...

and Wilma Ewart as panellists. The chairman was originally planned to be Jimmy Edwards

Jimmy Edwards

Jimmy Edwards DFC was an English comedic script writer and comedy actor on both radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in Take It From Here and as the headmaster 'Professor' James Edwards in Whack-O!-Biography:...

but he was unavailable on the proposed recording dates and was replaced by Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...

. Whilst executives at the BBC disliked the pilot, its producer, David Hatch

David Hatch

Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...

, threatened to resign if he could not oversee a full series. Not wishing to lose Hatch, the BBC acquiesced.

The show's theme music is Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

's piano Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, nicknamed the "Minute Waltz

Minute Waltz

The Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, popularly known as the Minute Waltz, and also Valse du petit chien, is a waltz for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin. It is dedicated to the Countess Delfina Potocka.-History:...

" (which, despite its name, lasts longer than the 60 seconds taken to complete a round of Just a Minute).

Rules

The four panellists are challenged to speak for one minute on a given subject without "repetition, hesitation, or deviation". Over the years, the application of these rules has been inconsistent and is thus the focus of much of the banter on the programme as Parsons' rulings are challenged. In the first three series, the rules were more complicated and sometimes applied on a one-off basis — a ban on the word "is" might apply in a round, for example. But the basic rules remain quite straightforward.

"Repetition" means the repetition of any word or phrase, although challenges based upon very common words such as "and" are generally rejected except in extreme cases. Words contained in the given subject are exempt unless repeated many times in quick succession. Skilful players use synonyms in order to avoid repeating themselves. The term "BBC" can be successfully challenged for repetition of "B".
"Hesitation" is watched very strictly: a momentary pause before resumption of the subject can give rise to a successful challenge, as can tripping over one's words. Even pausing during audience laughter or applause (known as "riding a laugh") can be challenged.
"Deviation" means deviating from the subject, but has also been interpreted as "deviating from the English language as we know it", "deviation from grammar as we understand it", deviating from the truth, and deviation from logic, although often leaps into the surreal are allowed.

A panellist scores a point for making a correct challenge against whoever is speaking, while the speaker gets a point if the challenge is deemed incorrect. However, if a witty interjection amuses the audience, even though it is not a correct challenge, both the challenger and speaker may gain a point, at the chairman's discretion. A player who makes a correct challenge takes over the subject for the remainder of the minute, or until he or she is correctly challenged. The person speaking when the 60 seconds expires also scores a point. An extra point is awarded when a panellist speaks for the entire minute without being challenged.

It is unusual for a panellist to speak within the three cardinal rules for any substantial length of time, whilst remaining coherent, and also being amusing. Therefore, to speak for the full minute without being challenged is a special achievement. However, if a panellist is speaking fluently on a subject, staying reasonably within the three rules, and seems likely to speak for the whole minute, the other panellists will often refrain from buzzing in. On occasion a similar courtesy has also been extended by the whistle-blower, who will refrain from indicating the end of the minute so as to not interrupt a panellist in full and entertaining flow (this once led to Paul Merton's speaking for one minute and forty seconds on the topic "Ram-raiding

Ram-raiding

Ram-raiding is a variation on burglary in which a van, SUV, car, or other heavy vehicle is driven through the windows or doors of a closed shop, usually a department store or jewellers shop, to allow the perpetrators to loot it....

").

Below is an example of a speech given by Sheila Hancock

Sheila Hancock

Sheila Cameron Hancock, CBE is an English actress and author.-Early life:Sheila Hancock was born in Blackgang on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Ivy Louise and Enrico Cameron Hancock, who was a publican. Her sister Billie is seven years older...

which lasted for a full minute without being challenged. The subject was "How to win an argument".

"Well it varies according to the person that you are arguing with. Should it be a child that you are having a contretemps with, the ideal is deviation tactics. For instance Lola Lupin who I mentioned before won't eat her dinner. So what I do is say, "yes it is rotten food, let us sing a song", making sure that that particular chanson has a few vowels in it that require her to open her mouth! During which I pop the spoon in and I have won the argument. However if it is an argument with a person that knows their subject what I do is nod sagely and smile superciliously, let them ramble on, and at the end I say "well I'm sorry, I think you're completely wrong", turn on my heels and leave. I..."

On rare occasions, panellists will challenge themselves, usually for laughs. The game rewards those that make entertaining challenges, even if they do not speak for very long. If successful, last-second challenges can be especially rewarding, as they allow one to speak for a short time but earn two points—one for the challenge and one for being the last speaker.

The game is scored and a winner declared, but the attraction of the show lies less in the contest than in the humour and banter among participants and the chairman.

Participants

Nicholas Parsons has chaired the show since its inception. On nine occasions he has appeared on the panel, and others have acted as chairman including Clement Freud

Clement Freud

, Geraldine Jones, Andrée Melly

Andrée Melly

Andrée Melly is an English actress.She appeared in many British films, including the 1954 comedy The Belles of St Trinian's and the 1960 Hammer Horror film The Brides of Dracula...

and Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...

. Ian Messiter was chairman on one occasion in 1977, when Freud arrived late and Nicholas Parsons took his place on the panel. Parsons has appeared on every show, either as chairman or panellist.

Each programme features four panellists, with the exception of six shows in 1968 and another at the end of the 1970–1971 season when there were three.

Until 1989, Ian Messiter sat on the stage with a stopwatch and blew a whistle when the speaker's minute was up (originally a cuckoo). He was replaced by a series of different whistle-blowers. Sarah Sharpe is the current incumbent. Messiter continued to be involved with the show, setting the subjects until his death in 1999.

There have been five regular competitors in the show's history: Clement Freud

Clement Freud

, Peter Jones

Peter Jones (actor)

Peter Jones was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster.-Early life and career:Jones was born in Wem, Shropshire and he was educated at the Wem Grammar School and Ellesmere College. He made his first appearance as an actor in Wolverhampton at the age of 16 and then appeared in repertory...

, Derek Nimmo

Derek Nimmo

Derek Robert Nimmo was an English character actor. He was particularly associated with upper-class "silly-ass" roles, and clerical roles.-Career:...

, Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Williams

and Paul Merton

Paul Merton

Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...

. Freud and Nimmo appeared from the first programme in 1967, while Williams joined in the show's second series in 1968. Jones made his début in 1971. After Williams' death in 1988, Merton (a long-time fan of the show) contacted the producer at Nicholas Parsons' suggestion and was invited to participate during the following year. Nimmo died in 1999, Jones in 2000 and Freud in 2009, leaving Merton as the only regular panellist, albeit not in every show.

Each of the regulars brought their individual style to playing the game. Clement Freud liked to list examples and to challenge with only a few seconds to go. He was among the show's more competitive players, regularly referring to the rules and deprecating any deviation from them. Derek Nimmo frequently improvised descriptions of his experiences abroad, often on theatrical tour. He also was highly competitive and berated the chairman frequently. Peter Jones once said that in all his years of playing the game, he never quite got the hang of it, though his self-deprecating, laconic style suited the essential silliness of the game. Kenneth Williams was often the star of the show: his flamboyant tantrums, arch put-downs, and mock sycophancy made him the audience's favourite. Williams often stretched out his speeches by extending every syllable to breaking point (some words lasting for up to three seconds), and his regular mock-anger often included the complaint, "I've come all the way from Great Portland Street

Great Portland Street

Great Portland Street is a street in the West End of London. Linking Oxford Street with Albany Street and the busy A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road, the road forms the boundary between Fitzrovia to the east and Marylebone to the west...

", which was close to where the show was recorded. Merton frequently launches into flights of fancy, such as claiming to have had unusual occupations or to have experienced significant historical events. He also often wins points by challenging just before the whistle or for humorous challenges.

Over the 40-year history of the show, there have been many other panellists. Those to have appeared frequently — more than 20 times each — are Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Daubeney Brandreth is a British writer, broadcaster and former Conservative Member of Parliament and junior minister.-Early life:...

, Julian Clary

Julian Clary

Julian Peter McDonald Clary is an English comedian and novelist, known for his deliberately stereotypical camp style, with a heavy reliance on innuendo and double entendre.-Early life and education:...

, Barry Cryer

Barry Cryer

Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...

, Jenny Eclair, Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

, Sheila Hancock

Sheila Hancock

, Tony Hawks

Tony Hawks

Antony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.-Early life:Born in Brighton in 1960, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College...

, Kit Hesketh-Harvey

Kit Hesketh-Harvey

Christopher John "Kit" Hesketh Harvey is a British musical comic performer, translator, composer and scriptwriter.Born in Nyasaland , he was educated as senior chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then Tonbridge School in Kent before moving on as a choral scholar under John Rutter to Clare...

, Aimi MacDonald

Aimi MacDonald

Aimi MacDonald is a British actress. She is best known for her role as "The Lovely" Aimi MacDonald in the television sketch comedy show At Last the 1948 Show ....

, Andree Melly

Andrée Melly

Andrée Melly is an English actress.She appeared in many British films, including the 1954 comedy The Belles of St Trinian's and the 1960 Hammer Horror film The Brides of Dracula...

, Chris Neill

Chris Neill

Chris Neill is a British comedian, producer and writer who features regularly on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. Performing also as a stand-up comedian on the UK circuit, he has presented five solo shows on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2002.-Early career:Chris Neill began his career...

, Ross Noble

Ross Noble

Ross Markham Noble is an English stand-up comedian, brought up in Cramlington, Northumberland, England.Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British television, particularly interviews and on celebrity quiz shows such as Have I Got News for You...

, Graham Norton

Graham Norton

Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...

, Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...

, Tim Rice

Tim Rice

Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...

, Wendy Richard

Wendy Richard

Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...

, Linda Smith

Linda Smith (comedian)

Linda Helen Smith was a British stand-up comic and comedy writer. She appeared regularly on Radio 4 panel games, and was voted "Wittiest Living Person" by listeners in 2002...

and Liza Tarbuck

Liza Tarbuck

Liza Tarbuck is an English actress and television and radio presenter, and daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck.She trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA graduating in 1986 alongside Clive Owen, Rebecca Pidgeon and Serena Harragin.-Acting:...

.

Others to have appeared as panellists on the programme are: Chris Addison

Chris Addison

Chris Addison is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He is known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4...

, Ray Alan

Ray Alan

Ray Alan was an English ventriloquist and television entertainer from the 1950s until the 1980s. He was associated primarily with the puppet Lord Charles and later also with the puppets Tich and Quackers.-Biography:...

, Juno Alexander, Stephen K. Amos

Stephen K. Amos

Stephen Kehinde Amos is a British stand-up comedian of Nigerian origin. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows...

, Toni Arthur

Toni Arthur

Toni Arthur-Hay is an English director, former folk singer and television presenter.Arthur-Hay was born Antoinette Wilson in Oxford, England. She was educated at Mary Datchelor's Girls School in Camberwell and the Royal Academy of Music...

, Pam Ayres

Pam Ayres

Pam Ayres MBE is an English poet, songwriter and presenter of radio and television programmes. Her 1975 appearance on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks led to a variety of appearances on TV and radio shows, a one woman touring stage show and performing before the Queen.-Early life:Pam...

, John Baddeley

John Baddeley (actor)

Edward John Baddeley is a British actor. Apart from his work in the theatre in the provinces and the West End, he is also notable for his work with the BBC and as voice-over artist...

, Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...

, Joan Bakewell, Isobel Barnett

Isobel Barnett

Lady Isobel Barnett was a British radio and television personality, popular during the 1950s and 1960s.Isobel Morag Marshall was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the daughter of a doctor. She went to the independent Mount School on Dalton Terrace in York and, following in her father's footsteps,...

, Lucy Bartlett, Simon Bates

Simon Bates

Simon Bates is a UK disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular presenter on Classic FM...

, Jeremy Beadle

Jeremy Beadle

Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE was an English television presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s, he was a regular face on British television and in two years appeared 50 weeks of the year. His shows regularly topped the charts beating Coronation Street and EastEnders on one...

, Elisabeth Beresford

Elisabeth Beresford

Elisabeth 'Liza' Beresford, MBE was a British author of children's books, best known for creating The Wombles. Born into a family with many literary connections, she worked as a journalist but struggled for success until she created the Wombles in the 1960s...

, Teddie Beverley

Beverley Sisters

The Beverley Sisters are a British female vocal trio, popular during the 1950s and 1960s. The trio consists of eldest sister Joy and the twins, Teddie...

, Carol Binstead, John Bishop

John Bishop (comedian)

John Joseph Bishop is an award-winning comedian.His television debut came on The Panel. As an actor, he has appeared in the E4 teen drama Skins as Mr Fitch, father of twins, Katie and Emily and in the Ken Loach film Route Irish...

, Barbara Blake, Marcus Brigstocke

Marcus Brigstocke

Marcus Alexander Brigstocke is an English comedian, actor and satirist who has worked extensively in stand-up comedy, television, radio and in 2010-2011 musical theatre. He is particularly associated with the 6.30pm comedy slot on BBC Radio 4, having frequently appeared on several of its shows...

, Tim Brooke-Taylor

Tim Brooke-Taylor

Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...

, Janet Brown, Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon is a BAFTA-nominated Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist...

, Rob Buckman

Rob Buckman

Robert Alexander Amiel "Rob" Buckman was a British-Canadian doctor of medicine, comedian and author, and president of the Humanist Association of Canada...

, Jason Byrne

Jason Byrne

Jason Byrne may refer to:*Jason Byrne *Jason Byrne *Jason Byrne Irish footballer...

, Ian Carmichael

Ian Carmichael

Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...

, Barbara Castle

Barbara Castle

Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn , PC, GCOT was a British Labour Party politician....

, Jo Caulfield

Jo Caulfield

Josephine Caulfield is a British actress, writer and comedian.-Biography:Born in Wales to Irish parents, she was brought up in Derbyshire and Leicestershire England....

, Lorraine Chase

Lorraine Chase

Lorraine Chase is an English actress and model. She became well known for her strong cockney accent and frequent use of cockney slang, and found fame through a series of television commercials for Campari before embarking on an acting career.-Television:After initially working as a model, Chase...

, Alun Cochrane

Alun Cochrane

Alun "The Cockerel" Cochrane is a Scottish stand-up comedian. He was born in Glasgow and raised in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.-Stand-up comedy:...

, Denise Coffey

Denise Coffey

Denise Coffey is an English actress, director, and playwright.After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey began a career in repertory at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh, then moved to the Palladium Theatre there...

, Charles Collingwood

Charles Collingwood (actor)

Charles Henry Collingwood is a British actor.Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and educated at Sherborne School in Dorset, England, he trained at RADA. He is best known for playing the role of Brian Aldridge in the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers since March 1975...

, Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...

, Bernard Cribbins

Bernard Cribbins

Bernard Cribbins, OBE is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2010 is still an active...

, Jack Dee

Jack Dee

James Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly, and deadpan style.-Early life:...

, Hugh Dennis

Hugh Dennis

Peter Hugh Dennis is an English actor, comedian, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist, best known for his work with comedy partner Steve Punt. He is also known for his position as a permanent panelist on the TV comedy show Mock The Week...

, Blythe Duff

Blythe Duff

Blythe Duff is a Scottish actress, best known for her role as Jackie Reid in the ITV television series drama, Taggart.-Background:Duff was raised in East Kilbride...

, Kevin Eldon, Kenny Everett

Kenny Everett

Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...

, Wilma Ewart, Craig Ferguson

Craig Ferguson

Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...

, Lynn Ferguson

Lynn Ferguson

Lynn Ferguson is a Scottish writer, actress, comedienne and presenter. She is the sister of comedian Craig Ferguson and is known for voicing the character of Mac in the animated film, Chicken Run.-Early life:...

, Fenella Fielding

Fenella Fielding

Fenella Fielding — "England's first lady of the double entendre" — is an English actress, popular in the 1950s and 1960s. She is known for her seductive image and distinctively husky voice.-Family:...

, William Franklyn

William Franklyn

William Leo Franklyn was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973...

, Liz Fraser

Liz Fraser

Liz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...

, Emma Freud

Emma Freud

Emma Vallencey Freud OBE is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator.-Early life:Emma Freud was born on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud and June Flewett. She is the great-granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud...

, Stephen Frost

Stephen Frost

Stephen Frost , also known as Steve Frost, is an English comedian.Frost is known for his work in the 1980s with Mark Arden as part of the double act The Oblivion Boys on Saturday Live...

, Graeme Garden

Graeme Garden

David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...

, Rhod Gilbert

Rhod Gilbert

Rhodri "Rhod" Gilbert, is a Welsh comedian who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008, he was nominated for the main if.comedy ....

, Annabel Giles

Annabel Giles

Annabel Giles has been a model, a television and radio presenter, an actress, a comedienne and a novellist during her career .-Career:...

, Fi Glover

Fi Glover

Fiona "Fi" Glover is a BBC journalist and presenter and, until March 2011, the host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live.-Career:...

, Liza Goddard

Liza Goddard

Liza Goddard is an English television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:Goddard was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England...

, Janey Godley

Janey Godley

Janey Godley is a British stand-up comedian and writer. Her autobiography, Handstands in the Dark, was a UK Top Ten bestseller and she was a 2006 Scotswoman of The Year finalist...

, Dave Gorman

Dave Gorman

David James Gorman is an English author, stand-up comedian and presenter. He has performed comedy shows on stage in which he tells stories of extreme adventures and presents the evidence to the audience in order to prove to them that they are true stories...

, Jeremy Hardy

Jeremy Hardy

Jeremy James Hardy is a British alternative comedian who is also known for his socialist politics.-Career:Hardy was born in Farnborough, Hampshire. He attended Farnham College and studied Modern History and Politics at the University of Southampton...

, Diane Hart

Diane Hart

Diane Hart was an English actress in both movies and the theater in the West End Theater of London, political campaigner and inventor. For 12 years she was married to the television broadcaster Kenneth MacLeod before separating in 1968...

, Richard Herring

Richard Herring

Richard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...

, Thora Hird

Thora Hird

Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...

, Ian Hislop

Ian Hislop

Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...

, Renee Houston

Renee Houston

Renée Houston was a Scottish comedy actor and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gibbin, she toured music halls and revue with her sister Billie Houston as the Houston Sisters.In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film,...

, Robin Ince

Robin Ince

Robin Ince is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage .-Stand-up comedy:...

, Charmian Innes, Eddie Izzard

Eddie Izzard

Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...

, David Jacobs

David Jacobs (disc jockey)

David Lewis Jacobs CBE is a British actor and broadcaster who gained prominence as presenter of the peak-time BBC Television show Juke Box Jury and the BBC Radio 4 political forum, Any Questions?-Early career:...

, Martin Jarvis, Brian Johnston

Brian Johnston

Brian Alexander Johnston CBE, MC was a cricket commentator and presenter for the BBC from 1946 until his death.-Early life and education:...

, Geraldine Jones, John Junkin

John Junkin

John Francis Junkin was an English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter.In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood's Stratford East Theatre Workshop, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing...

, Phill Jupitus

Phill Jupitus

Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....

, Miles Jupp

Miles Jupp

Miles Jupp is a British actor and comedian, probably best known as Archie in the children's television series Balamory....

, Miriam Karlin

Miriam Karlin

Miriam Karlin, OBE was a British actress who worked on screen for over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Paddy in The Rag Trade, a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom , especially for her catchphrase "Everybody out!"...

, Russell Kane

Russell Kane

Russell Kane is an English writer, comedian, actor and media personality. In June 2006, he became the face of digital station Five US. He has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning the main prize in August 2010...

, Gerry Kelly

Gerry Kelly (broadcaster)

Gerry Kelly is a broadcaster from Northern Ireland. He is best known for his presenting career at UTV.-Broadcasting career:...

, Henry Kelly

Henry Kelly

Patrick Henry Kelly is an Irish television presenter and radio DJ.Henry Kelly was born in Athlone, Co Westmeath, Ireland. He was educated at Belvedere College SJ, and at University College Dublin where he was Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society...

, Shappi Khorsandi, Miles Kington

Miles Kington

Miles Beresford Kington was a British journalist, musician and broadcaster.-Early life :...

, Josie Lawrence

Josie Lawrence

Josie Lawrence is a British comedienne and actress best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more recently her role as Manda Best in EastEnders....

, Bettine Le Beau, Helen Lederer

Helen Lederer

Helen Lederer is a Welsh comedienne, writer and actress who emerged as part of the alternative comedy boom at the beginning of the 1980s.-Career:...

, Maureen Lipman

Maureen Lipman

Maureen Diane Lipman CBE is a British film, theatre and television actress, columnist and comedienne.-Early life:Lipman was born in Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Maurice Julius Lipman and Zelma Pearlman. Her father was a tailor; he used to have a shop between the...

, Moira Lister

Moira Lister

Moira Lister de Gachassin-Lafite, Vicomtesse d’Orthez was an Anglo-South African film, stage and television actress, and writer.-Early life:...

, Sean Lock

Sean Lock

Sean Lock is an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. He won the British Comedy Award in 2000 in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He is also well known for his appearances on television and radio...

, Josie Long

Josie Long

Josie Long is an English comedian.-Background:Long spent her early life in Orpington, South East London, where she attended Newstead Wood School for Girls in Swift House. She also attended GIFT Ltd. summer schools. She began performing stand-up comedy at 14, winning the BBC New Comedy Awards at...

, Fred MacAulay, Lee Mack

Lee Mack

Lee Gordon McKillop is an English stand-up comedian and actor, known by the stage name Lee Mack. He is well known in the United Kingdom for writing and starring in the sitcom Not Going Out, for being a team captain on Would I Lie to You? and for hosting Lee Mack's All Star Cast.-Personal life:Mack...

, Jacqueline MacKenzie

Jackie Forster

Jackie Forster was born 6 November 1926 and died in London on 10 October 1998. She married her novelist husband, Peter Forster in 1958 while she worked as a TV presenter and news reporter, but divorced him in 1962 when she realised her true sexual identity...

, Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes, OBE is an English actress and voice artist. Her earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence .-Early life:...

, Alfred Marks

Alfred Marks

Alfred Edward Marks OBE was a comic actor and comedian.-Biography:Marks was born as Ruchel Kutchinsky in Holborn, London. He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. He then served in the RAF as a Flight Sergeant in the Middle East where he arranged...

, Betty Marsden

Betty Marsden

Betty Marsden was an English comedy actress.Originally from Liverpool, she attended the Italia Conti Stage School and ENSA.In the radio series Beyond Our Ken, she played Fanny Haddock, a takeoff of Fanny Cradock...

, Jean Marsh

Jean Marsh

Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....

, Pete McCarthy

Pete McCarthy

Pete McCarthy , was a British broadcaster and successful travel writer, noted for his books McCarthy's Bar and The Road to McCarthy.-Biography:...

, Maria McErlane

Maria McErlane

Maria McErlane is a British actress and presenter specialising in comedy. She has appeared in several TV series, including The Fast Show, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Thin Ice and Happiness, and "straight" roles in The Bill and Holby City but is probably best known as the narrator for Antoine de Caunes...

, Alistair McGowan

Alistair McGowan

Alistair McGowan is a British impressionist, stand-up comic, actor, singer and writer best known to British audiences for The Big Impression , which was, for four years, one of BBC1's top-rating comedy programmes - winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003...

, Pauline McLynn

Pauline McLynn

Pauline McLynn is an Irish actress, comedienne and author, best known for playing Mrs Doyle in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, and Libby Croker in the Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless.- Early life :...

, Ian McMillan

Ian McMillan

Ian McMillan is a British poet, journalist, playwright and broadcaster who has continued to live in Darfield.-Background:...

, Mike McShane

Mike McShane

Michael "Mike" McShane is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian who first became known through his appearances in the early 1990s on the British version of the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?-Biography:...

, Ian Messiter

Ian Messiter

, Millie

Millie (singer)

Millie is a Jamaican singer-songwriter, often known as "Little Millie Small", and in the United States as "Millie Small", and is best known as the singer of the 1964 hit, "My Boy Lollipop".-Career:...

, David Mitchell

David Mitchell (actor)

David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...

, Warren Mitchell

Warren Mitchell

Warren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...

, Bob Monkhouse

Bob Monkhouse

Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse, OBE was an English entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host...

, Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore

Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...

, Justin Moorhouse, Richard Morton

Richard Morton

For the American professional wrestler, see Ricky Morton.For the English physician, see Richard Morton .Richard Morton is a retired American professional basketball player...

, Neil Mullarkey

Neil Mullarkey

Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian.Mullarkey studied at Robinson College, Cambridge; while he was there he was Junior Treasurer of the Cambridge Footlights in the academic year 1981 to 1982 and was president in the year ending 1983...

, Jimmy Mulville

Jimmy Mulville

James Thomas "Jimmy" Mulville is an English comedian, comedy writer, producer and television presenter. Jimmy Mulville is best known for co-founding in 1986 the British independent television production company Hat Trick Productions with Denise O'Donoghue and Rory McGrath...

, Richard Murdoch

Richard Murdoch

Richard Bernard Murdoch was a British comedic radio, film and television performer.Richard Bernard Murdoch attended Charterhouse School. He then appeared in Footlights whilst a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge...

, Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain is an Irish stand-up comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting topical panel shows such as The Panel and Mock the Week....

, Owen O'Neill

Owen O'Neill

Owen O'Neill is an award-winning writer actor director and comedian. His short film The Basket Case won the best Irish short at the 2008 Boston Film Festival in the U.S...

, Michael Palin

Michael Palin

Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

, Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...

, Lance Percival

Lance Percival

Lance Percival is an English actor, comedian and after-dinner speaker.-Biography:Educated at Sherborne School, Percival first became well known for performing topical calypsos on television satire shows such as That Was The Week That Was. He appeared in the Carry On film, Carry On Cruising...

, Greg Proops

Greg Proops

Gregory Everett "Greg" Proops is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his work as an improvisational comedian on the UK and U.S. versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?...

, Marjorie Proops

Marjorie Proops

Rebecca Marjorie Proops , born Rebecca Marjorie Israel, was probably best known as an agony aunt in the United Kingdom, writing the column Dear Marje for the Daily Mirror newspaper....

, Libby Purves

Libby Purves

Libby Purves OBE is a British radio presenter, journalist and author. A diplomat's daughter, she was educated at convent schools in Israel, Bangkok, South Africa and France, and then Beechwood Sacred Heart School in Tunbridge Wells.Purves won a scholarship to St Anne's College, Oxford, where she...

, Magnus Pyke

Magnus Pyke

Dr. Magnus Alfred Pyke was a British scientist and media figure, who, although apparently quite eccentric and playing up to the mad scientist stereotype, succeeded in explaining science to a lay audience...

, Caroline Quentin

Caroline Quentin

Caroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...

, Jan Ravens

Jan Ravens

Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...

, Beryl Reid

Beryl Reid

, Nick Revell

Nick Revell

Nick Revell is a British stand-up comedian and writer for radio and television. Born John Revell, he studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and subsequently taught English at Westminster School....

, Kate Robbins

Kate Robbins

Katherine Robbins is an English actress, comedienne and singer.-Biography:Robbins is a first cousin once removed of Paul McCartney and older sister of Amy Robbins . She attended Wirral Grammar School for Girls and won the Drama Prizes each year, notably with her monologue "All this glitters is not...

, Kenneth Robinson

Kenneth Robinson

Sir Kenneth Robinson PC was a British Labour politician who served as Minister of Health in Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into the new title of Secretary of State for Social Services.-Early life:The son of Dr Clarence Robinson and a nurse, Ethel...

, Willie Rushton

Willie Rushton

William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the Private Eye satirical magazine.- School and army :William George Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in the family home at Scarsdale Villas,...

, Prunella Scales

Prunella Scales

Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...

, John Sergeant

John Sergeant (journalist)

John Sergeant is a British television and radio journalist and broadcaster.-Biography:The son of a missionary who was also a distinguished linguist, Sergeant is of Russian Jewish origin on his mother's side. Sergeant's early life meant that he followed his father's work, and was raised in...

, Lee Simpson

Lee Simpson

Lee Simpson is a British actor and comedian best known as a member of the improvisational group The Comedy Store Players.He has appeared in a number of roles, including the sitcoms Terry and Julian and Drop The Dead Donkey, the films Paper Mask and Nuns On The Run, and played a key role in...

, Paul Sinha

Paul Sinha

Paul Sinha is a British stand-up comedian and broadcaster. Sinha is openly gay, a subject he has discussed on stage.-Education:Sinha was educated at Dulwich College and St George's Hospital Medical School...

, Tony Slattery

Tony Slattery

Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The...

, Arthur Smith

Arthur Smith (comedian)

Brian Arthur John Smith is an English alternative comedian and writer. He was born in Bermondsey, South London, brother to Richard Smith...

, Victor Spinetti

Victor Spinetti

Victor Spinetti is a Welsh comic actor.-Early life:Spinetti was born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Wales of Welsh and Italian heritage from a grandfather who was said to have walked from Italy to Wales to work as a coal miner...

, Richard Stilgoe

Richard Stilgoe

Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe OBE is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....

, Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch is an American actress and vocalist. She has appeared in numerous stage plays and musicals, feature films, and many television programs...

, Una Stubbs

Una Stubbs

Una Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...

, Eleanor Summerfield

Eleanor Summerfield

Eleanor Summerfield was a British actress.Summerfield was born in London in 1921. She received her acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In the mid-1960s, she played P. G. Wodehouse' character Aunt Dahlia in the BBC One's World of Wooster. She was a team member on BBC Radio 4's...

, Jim Sweeney, Christopher Timothy

Christopher Timothy

Christopher Timothy is a Welsh actor, television director and writer. Timothy is possibly best known today for his role as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small; more recently he has starred as Dr. Brendan 'Mac' McGuire in the British television drama Doctors...

, Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...

, Barry Took

Barry Took

Barry Took was an English comedian, writer and television presenter. He is best remembered in the UK for his weekly role as presenter of Points of View, a BBC TV programme in which viewers' letters criticising or praising the BBC were broadcast...

, Tommy Trinder

Tommy Trinder

Thomas Edward Trinder CBE known as Tommy Trinder, was an English stage, screen and radio comedian of the pre and post war years whose catchphrase was 'You lucky people'.-Life:...

, Joan Turner

Joan Turner

Joan Turner was a British comedienne and singer born in Belfast and brought up in London. She died of a heart attack.-Early years:...

, Stanley Unwin

Stanley Unwin

Stanley Unwin may refer to:* Stanley Unwin , South African-born comedic writer and performer* Stanley Unwin , British publisher, founder of George Allen and Unwin...

, Richard Vranch

Richard Vranch

Richard Leslie Vranch is a British comedian, actor and musician.Vranch improvises comedy on stage with the Comedy Store Players every Wednesday and Sunday at The Comedy Store in London. He has voiced British Airways TV and radio commercials since 2003, and he narrates TV documentaries...

, Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman

Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

, Suki Webster, Katharine Whitehorn

Katharine Whitehorn

Katharine Elizabeth Whitehorn is a British journalist, writer, and columnist who was known for her wit and humour and as a keen observer of the changing role of women.-Early life:...

, June Whitfield

June Whitfield

June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in radio and television comedy series....

, Simon Williams

Simon Williams (actor)

Simon Williams is an English actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper-class roles, he is also known for playing Dr...

, Anona Winn

Anona Winn

Anona Winn was an Australian-born actress, broadcaster and singer, who spent most of her career in the UK .-Career:...

, Terry Wogan

Terry Wogan

Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...

, Michael Wood and Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...

Recording locations

The first show in 1967 was recorded in the Playhouse Theatre in central London, and the 35th anniversary show was also recorded there, and broadcast on New Year's Day 2003.

Most shows in the first 30 years were recorded in the Paris Theatre

Paris Theatre

The Paris Theatre was a former cinema located in Lower Regent Street, London, which was converted into a theatre by the BBC for radio broadcasts...

in central London. In 1992, the then-new producer, Sarah Smith, took the show outside central London and recorded some shows in nearby Highgate

Highgate

Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....

. A year later, the show left Greater London for the first time; the first such shows broadcast were recorded in Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre...

and Llandudno

Llandudno

Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...

. The show started going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1993 and has been there every year since. Currently most shows, though not all, are recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House

Broadcasting House

Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...

in central London. On the PM

PM (Radio 4)

PM, sometimes referred to as the PM programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4's long-running early evening news and current affairs programme.-Broadcast times:...

programme on 2 Nov 2011, Nicholas Parsons announced that two episodes of the show were going to be recorded in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, where he said the show has a large following.

TV versions

Several television versions have been attempted. Two pilot episodes were recorded for television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

in 1969 and 1981 but never broadcast, except in documentaries about Kenneth Williams.

In 1994, 14 shows were broadcast on Carlton Television

Carlton Television

Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...

, ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

in London. Two additional variations were added: a round in which the team were presented with a mystery object to talk about, rather than a subject, and another round where the audience suggested a topic. Nicholas Parsons chaired the show, and Tony Slattery featured in all programmes. Other panellists were Tony Banks

Tony Banks, Baron Stratford

Anthony Louis Banks, Baron Stratford was a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2005, before being made a Member of the House of Lords. In government, he served for two years as Minister for Sport...

, Tony Blackburn

Tony Blackburn

Tony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....

, Jo Brand

Jo Brand

Josephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...

, Ann Bryson, John Fortune

John Fortune

John Fortune is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John...

, Clement Freud, Mariella Frostrup

Mariella Frostrup

Mariella Frostrup is a Norwegian-born journalist and television presenter, well known on British TV and radio, mainly for arts programmes. Her 'gravelly' voice was once voted the sexiest female voice on TV, and research to find 'the perfect voice' has indicated that Frostrup's voice is one of the...

, Jeremy Hardy, Tony Hawks, Hattie Hayridge

Hattie Hayridge

Hattie Hayridge is a British stand-up comedienne and actress, best known for the role of the female version of Holly in Red Dwarf during the third, fourth and fifth series, along with the role of Hilly in Parallel Universe, the final episode of the second series.After graduating from the...

, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Helen Lederer, Pete McCarthy, Neil Mullarkey, Derek Nimmo, Graham Norton, Nick Revell, Ted Robbins

Ted Robbins

Ted Robbins is an English comedian, actor, broadcaster, radio DJ, radio personality, voice-over artist and television personalityRobbins currently presents a morning show on BBC Radio Lancashire from 9am - 11am on weekdays....

, Lee Simpson, Arthur Smith, Jim Sweeney and Richard Vranch.

In 1995, fourteen more episodes were broadcast. Just a Minute became a team game, with the Midlands and London playing against each other, under team captains Tony Slattery and Dale Winton

Dale Winton

Dale Winton is an English radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Winton's father, Gary, was "domineering" and died when Winton was 13. Winton was brought up by his mother, actress Sheree Winton...

. Each player earned individual points, which were totalled for each team at the end of the show. Nicholas Parsons again chaired the shows. The gimmick of the audience choosing a subject was abandoned in this series. Other panellists were Tony Banks, Tony Blackburn, Craig Charles

Craig Charles

Craig Joseph Charles is an English actor, stand-up comedian, author, poet, radio and television presenter, best known for playing Dave Lister in the British cult-favourite science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf...

, Clement Freud, Mariella Frostrup, Liza Goddard, Jeremy Hardy, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Helen Lederer, Carolyn Marshall, Graham Norton, Su Pollard

Su Pollard

Susan Georgina "Su" Pollard, 7 November 1949, Nottingham) is an English comedy actress, most famous for her roles in the sitcoms Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang, M'Lord?. She is also well known for her unusual and flamboyant dress sense and her abrupt voice....

, Wendy Richard, Arthur Smith, Jim Sweeney and Richard Vranch. Both this series and the series before were produced by Mike Mansfield

Mike Mansfield

Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...

.

In 1999, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

televised the show, with 20 episodes recorded during a single week in Birmingham. Nicholas Parsons was again the chairman. There were no regular panellists but those appearing were Pam Ayres, Clare Balding

Clare Balding

Clare Balding is a BBC sports presenter, journalist and jockey.-Early life:In 1989 and 1990, Balding was a leading amateur flat jockey and Champion Lady Rider in 1990....

, Isla Blair

Isla Blair

Isla Blair is an India-born actress of British descent. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and her first credited film appearance in the 1965 horror film Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.- Biography :Isla Blair...

, Jo Brand, Gyles Brandreth, Ken Bruce

Ken Bruce

Kenneth Robertson Bruce is a British broadcaster known for his programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30am until 12 noon.-Early life and career:...

, Michael Cashman

Michael Cashman

Michael Maurice Cashman is a British former actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.- Acting :...

, Barry Cryer, Stephen Frost, Liza Goddard, Tony Hawks, Peter Jones, Maria McErlane, Richard Morton, Tom O'Connor, Su Pollard, Steve Punt

Steve Punt

Stephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...

, Wendy Richard, John Sergeant, Brian Sewell

Brian Sewell

Brian Sewell is an English art critic and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art...

, Linda Smith, Richard Vranch and Gary Wilmot

Gary Wilmot

Gary Wilmot is an English actor, writer, comedian, impressionist and singer. He rose to fame in the 80s through a number of television appearances, and subsequently moved into theatre.- Career :...

. The series was produced by Helena Taylor.

14th November 2011 marked the beginning of a recording of a new TV series. The series will appear for ten episodes in BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

's daytime schedule and will be broadcast in March 2012.

Other formats

A Swedish version of the show, called På Minuten

På Minuten

På Minuten is a radio entertainment program in Sweden similar to BBC's Just a Minute. It is broadcast in Sveriges Radio P1 Saturdays at 3:03 pm in front of a live audience. The taping is often located at Sveriges Radio, but sometimes the taping is done at Stockholm City Theatre's...

, has been broadcast on Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...

P1 (Swedish radio station)

P1 is a national radio channel produced by the Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio.P1, which subtitles itself "The spoken channel" , is the principal radio channel in Sweden for:* news...

since 1969. It has also been mentioned in other BBC panel games: the similarly long-running I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...

includes a musical parody entitled "Just a Minim

Half note

In music, a half note or minim is a note played for half the duration of a whole note and twice the duration of a quarter note...

", in which the contestants must sing a song, but sticking to the rules of Just a Minute. Clue also mocks (albeit affectionately) Just a Minute and especially Nicholas Parsons frequently. The Unbelievable Truth

The Unbelievable Truth

The Unbelievable Truth is a BBC radio comedy panel game made by Random Entertainment, devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith. It is very similar to the occasional I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue game "Lies, All Lies", which was first played in 1985...

also mentions Just a Minute on several occasions; usually when panelists who are meant to buzz in to reveal truths instead buzz in for the rules of Just a Minute (hesitation, deviation or repetition). This is often met by mock-outrage by host David Mitchell

David Mitchell (actor)

who deducts points from panelists for playing the wrong game.

External links

Just a Minute fansite
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/may/17/just-a-minute-stephen-fry Profile of the programme in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

just after the series's sixtieth series began

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