If you listen to very early programmes when the chairmanship was rotated, you quickly realise how hopeless people like Clement Freud and Kenneth Williams were in that role. Just a Minute's success is mainly down to Nicholas Parsons' superb chairmanship - his pomposity always being deflated by the panelists, his generosity in allowing jokes to be made at his expense, his showmanship in knowing when to intervene in different ways to pick up the pace or cool things down. It's a masterclass of hosting. It's a shame Freud did not like him, especially as JAM lined his pockets with fees for years.
What a weird documentary. I’ve heard the audio of it many times on “The Jammer”, a stream of back to back editions of Just A Minute, interspersed with other content related to the programme of its participants. It was utterly bizarre without the pictures go with it, but even with the visual aids it’s a load of pretentious twaddle getting in the way of what could have been an excellent documentary. If the original production footage still exists in some BBC archive, a recut and updated version of this would be brilliant as a tribute to the late Cristopher Nicholas Parsons esq. May he rest in peace.
If you listen to very early programmes when the chairmanship was rotated, you quickly realise how hopeless people like Clement Freud and Kenneth Williams were in that role. Just a Minute's success is mainly down to Nicholas Parsons' superb chairmanship - his pomposity always being deflated by the panelists, his generosity in allowing jokes to be made at his expense, his showmanship in knowing when to intervene in different ways to pick up the pace or cool things down. It's a masterclass of hosting.
It's a shame Freud did not like him, especially as JAM lined his pockets with fees for years.
I went to one of the first recordings at the BBC Playhouse studio of the show back in 1967...
Who was on the panel that day?
a trick : you can watch movies on Flixzone. Me and my gf have been using it for watching loads of movies lately.
@Jaxson Jake yea, I've been using flixzone for years myself =)
DO NOT USE FLIXZONE DANGEROUS SCAM BOT. BOTH THESE COMMENTS ARE BOTS.
rip linda smith
listened when I was a teenager with my transistor radio, but when Ken williams died never bothered
What a weird documentary. I’ve heard the audio of it many times on “The Jammer”, a stream of back to back editions of Just A Minute, interspersed with other content related to the programme of its participants. It was utterly bizarre without the pictures go with it, but even with the visual aids it’s a load of pretentious twaddle getting in the way of what could have been an excellent documentary.
If the original production footage still exists in some BBC archive, a recut and updated version of this would be brilliant as a tribute to the late Cristopher Nicholas Parsons esq. May he rest in peace.
the whole show is pretentious twaddle, what is your point?
This could have been a really good documentary without the pretentious bits between the interviews
Brownalebelly Absolutely. Such a shame.
Very weird documentary. Such a shame.
The weird clock motifs and music are odd, but the content and interviews are good.