Welcome to Just a minute!

As its 900th episode approaches, Just a Minute has consistently entertained BBC Radio 4 listeners, and many others around the world, since its first broadcast in December 1967. Inspired by a school punishment, the show's creator Ian Messiter devised a deceptively simple and versatile set of rules that has allowed the game to adapt and thrive as each new era of comedy emerges. Over forty-eight consecutive years, fans have laughed along with Kenneth Williams' outrageously funny 'battles' with Sheila Hancock ('It's a disgrace!! You shouldn't have women on the show!), Clement Freud's acerbic wit, Graham Norton's celebrity 'gossip', Sue Perkins infectious enthusiasm and Paul Merton's surreal flights of fancy to name only a handful of the two hundred plus entertainers who have braved the Just a Minute panel. In this official celebration, chairman Nicholas Parsons, the only person to have appeared in every programme, recalls the very best (and occasionally awkward) moments that have lit up the comedy airwaves over six decades. Magical minutes, verbal dexterity, sharp one-liners and witty challenges can all be enjoyed once again as Nicholas tells the Just a Minute story from it's inauspicious pilot episode, through television and stage versions, and on to the present day, without hesitation, repetition, or deviation. Well, not too much deviation"--Publisher's description.