Nicholas Parsons

Who, which celebs did you have involved?

Uh, like people from Brookside, um, Nicholas Parsons.

I do remember Nicholas Parsons coming up to me and saying quietly to me, he's, he's dead now, I can say this, right?

Yeah.

He said, uh, he said, "I'm so glad that, you know, you're saying what everybody's thinking."

secret service yeah it's a an early jerry anderson thing i think you know he was lumbered with making puppets fucking decades so this is one of the earlier things he made as far as i can tell

And it's the cowboy and it is voiced by Nicholas Parsons.

That's right.

I remember reading that out now.

Yeah, magic guns.

That's impressive.

Nicholas Parsons has it written into every contract that his characters must have self-shooting guns.

Oh, really? I remember that in Sailor the Century.

He also passed away in 2003.

The Reverend Mr. Wainwright was paid by Nicholas Parsons.

This is the only Doctor Who acting credit for Nicholas.

His on Who credits include Happy as the Bride, Murder Ahoy, Too Many Crooks, Good Omens, and The Wotwots.

Of course, a massive thank you to all of our players, to Rachel Parris, to Gyles Brandreth, Lucy Porter, and Paul Merton.

And of course, we thank the legends of this game, Ian Messiter and Nicholas Parsons.

Big thanks to Katie Bourne for blowing the whistle so delicately in my ear.

The producer was Georgia Keating, and this was a BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

And whilst my many complaints about this are genuine...

I mean, fuck me, I've only got a look at Nicholas Parsons and the incredible work he's doing in this.

Yeah.

Well, this is not, you know, without redemption.

And I don't think there's any greater demonstration of that level of privilege than to say that my favourite show, television, radio or any other medium, was the Radio 4 panel show, Just a Minute, which has been running, I think, since the 1960s.

First hosted by Nicholas Parsons and then currently Sue Perkins and has had every single great comedian who could possibly think of from the UK.

But the old classic regulars were...

the likes of Kenneth Williams, then Paul Merton, lately the likes of Giles Brandreth, Marcus Brigstocke, you name them, they've been on it.

And I have a very good Nicholas Parsons story, and if you're a fan of Just A Minute like I am, then hang around to the end of this episode, and I will tell you my Nicholas Parsons story, but it's slightly niche, so I'll save it to the end.

Anyway, I thought that it would be such great fun to bring this format to the industry.

If you're not familiar with this, it's a panel show on the radio in which four contestants take it in turns to try and speak for 60 seconds about a subject that they're given, and they're not allowed to either hesitate, so stop and say um, ah, think about what they're going to say next.

And there was a slight stumbling of the words as well.

... who has played three and not won one yet.

That was done in a Nicholas Parsons style from the old-style Just a Minute leaderboard.

Um, so Ian and Ali are going to take turns this week, uh, to answer a question and give as many correct answers as they can in thirty seconds.

And because Ian is sitting with me in this room at Wembley Stadium, we won't have to have the usual carry on of who is going first and who's going second.