As the sound of Chopin's Minute Waltz - played at breakneck speed by Arthur Rubinstein - faded away on 22 December 1967, the first edition of Just a Minute began.
The basic idea came to him when he was at school. Told off for inattention, he was asked to repeat what his master had been saying for the previous minute, without repetition or hesitation. The programme has thrived for over forty years with the benefit of contributions from Peter Jones, Kenneth Williams, Linda Smith, Paul Merton, Ross Noble, Stephen Fry, and Graham Norton, amongst many others.
Just a Minute has remained essentially unchanged, with Parsons remaining as host and straight man for almost every episode until his death in January 2020. Sue Perkins then took on the mantle as host in 2021, for its 87th series. The show’s simple but flexible format has been reinvigorated with each generation of comedians, and it remains one of Radio 4's most popular programmes, with tickets for recordings are in such demand they are allocated by ballot.
Links
- Just a MinuteProgramme page with clips from the series
December anniversaries
Ireland: A Television History
2 December 1980
Start of The BBC Television Shakespeare
3 December 1978
The World About Us
3 December 1967
Edward VIII Abdication speech
11 December 1936
