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)
