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Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game and was first broadcast on the BBC on December 22, 1967.
Rules
The four panelists are challenged to speak for one minute on a given subject without (a) repetition, (b) hesitation, or (c) deviation from the subject. Over the years, the application of these rules has changed considerably. Repetition originally meant not repeating a particular idea or concept, but is now applied rigidly to prevent repetition of any word (except a word or words in the subject under discussion), although challenges based upon very common words such as "and" are deprecated. Hesitation is watched very strictly: even a momentary pause before resumption of the subject can give rise to a successful challenge. Challenges for deviating from the subject have not changed much.
Scoring
Panelists score a point for making a correct challenge against whoever is speaking, whilst the speaker gets a point if the challenge is deemed incorrect. However, if an "incorrect" injerjection amuses the audience then both the challenger and speaker gain a point. A player who makes a correct challenge takes over the subject for the rest of the minute, or until he or she is in turn subject to a successful challenge. Finally, panelists score a point for being the person speaking on the subject when the 60 seconds is up.
The difficult part of the game is to speak within the rules for as long as possible, whilst at the same time being amusing and interesting. But the points system means that the greatest rewards go to those who make challenges, even if they do not speak for very long. The most rewarded challenge, indeed, will be seconds before the minute expires, because then there will be a point for the challenge followed by a point for speaking as the minute finishes, although very little needs to have been said between the two.
Inventor
The premise of the game came to Ian Messiter as he rode on the top of a number 13 bus, recalling a particularly cruel headmaster from his school days who punished him with the task of speaking for sixty seconds without hesitating or repeating himself. To this, he added a rule preventing players deviating from the subject presented by the show's chairman, as well as a scoring system based on panelists' correct and incorrect challenges.
Regular participants
The long-suffering but good-natured host of Just a Minute is Nicholas Parsons. He has held this position since its inception, although at one stage he also swapped the chair with one of the participants as an experiment which was not pursued.
Until 1989, Ian Messiter sat quietly on the stage with a stopwatch and blew a whistle when the speaker's minute was up. Ian Messiter died in 1999.
In the early years of Just a Minute the four guest spots were generally taken by regulars:
Clement Freud (politician, food writer, grandson of Sigmund, brother of Lucian, and father of Emma) whose favourite strategies were to slowly rattle off lists, and to present a challenge moments before the whistle was due to sound;
Derek Nimmo, who improvised descriptions of his experiences abroad nearly every week;
Peter Jones, who once said that in all his years of playing the game, he never quite got the hang of it; and
Kenneth Williams, the indisputable star of the show, whose flamboyant tantrums, arch putdowns, and mock-sycophancy made him the audience favourite. He also stretched out his speeches by extending every syllable to breaking point.
Freud is still a regular competitor, but Nimmo, Jones, and Williams have all now died. Paul Merton is now a regular on the show, and often wins by challenging just before the whistle. He also makes frequent comic interjections. Other recurring guests include Stephen Fry, Tony Hawks, Ross Noble, Graham Norton, Linda Smith, and Julian Clary alongside many other occasional guest comedians, such as Jenny Eclair.
Theme tune
The show's theme music is a very fast rendition of Frédéric Chopin's piano Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, nicknamed the "Minute Waltz".
Swedish version
A Swedish version of the show, called Pĺ minuten, is broadcast on Sveriges Radio P1.
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