History Radio / JustAMinute

-->So it only remains to say thank you to these four delightful players of the game, This Troper, Report Siht, That Troper and The Other Troper. I also thank JustForFun/TropeTan for helping me with the score, and blown her whistle with such elegance. Thanks to our producer, Tropers/FloatingRootBeer who had the idea to make this a [[Self-Demonstrating Article]] and we are as always indebted to Ian Messiter who created this wonderful game. Until then from me Nicholas Parsons, and our audience, and our team, good-bye, tune in the next time we play Just A Minute!

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Tropers/RegShoe, will you begin the next round please, 60 seconds on the subject of "the origins of ''Just a Minute''", starting now.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': JustForFun/ReportSiht has challenged.
-->'''JustForFun/ReportSiht''': "Radio 4" twice.
-->'''Tropers/RegShoe''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Radio 8?]]
-->'''Report Siht''': I mean you repeated yourself.
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Ah, yes. There was too much "Radio 4" in your speech, not that you can ''have'' too much Radio 4, so that's [[ThePointsMeanNothing a point]] to Report Siht, you take over the subject, and you have 50 seconds to explain ''Just a Minute'', starting now.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': chrisboote has challenged.
-->'''@/{{chrisboote}}''': Repetition of "subject". We can't start having two subjects, that way madness lies!
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Well, we do have multiple subjects each show, but I see your point. So we give chrisboote a point for a correct challenge, but we'll leave the subject with Report, 35 seconds on ''Just a Minute'', starting--

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Trope-tan has challenged.
-->'''JustForFun/TropeTan''': Repetition of "deviating".
-->'''Report Siht''': "Deviation" and "deviating"... two different words...
-->'''Trope-tan''': Ah, yes.
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Yes, yes, two different words. So we give Report another point for an incorrect challenge, he's still got the subject, 35 seconds on ''Just a Minute'', starting now...

-->'''Report Siht''': How was that hesitation?

-->'''Report Siht''': That was clarifying, and ''[[BerserkButton don't type in]] [[GrammarNazi capital letters!]]''
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Gentlemen, please, let's not argue. As long as he doesn't pause for any length of time, it doesn't count as hesitation. So Report gets another point for an incorrect challenge, he keeps the subject, 20 seconds on ''Just a Minute'', starting now.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': And Trope-tan has challenged.
-->'''JustForFun/TropeTan''': I'm sorry, but you were repeating the word "challenge".
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Yes, too many "challenges". Well spotted, Trope-tan. So you...
-->'''Report Siht''': Oh, ''come on''! I was ''talking'' about ''the rules'', [[UnusualEuphemism for crumbs' sake!]]
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Report, I'm sorry, but that is the peril of this game. Trope-tan gets a point, and she has 12 seconds to talk about ''Just a Minute'', starting now.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Oh, That... That Troper, you haven't won any friends in this audience with that challenge! No, I think a history of the panelists is a very important part of ''Just a Minute'', so Trope-tan gets a point for an incorrect challenge, she keeps the subject, there are 2 seconds left to talk about ''Just a Minute'', starting now.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': So Trope-tan was speaking as the whistle went, gained that extra point, and she's moved into the lead with that final display of incredibly fast speaking.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': And logbat99 has challenged.
-->'''@/{{logbat99}}''': Repetition of "Parsons".

----

--> "[[UsefulNotes/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] wrote play after... script."

* WrittenInAbsence: Hilariously inverted in a 2004 episode where Charles Collingwood is stuck in traffic and the recording has to begin without him. At the beginning of the second round Nicholas (at Paul's suggestion) asks Charles to begin with the next subject in spite of the fact that he still isn't present; by the time Charles does show up, ''he's already in second place'' because of incorrect challenges: deviation because he isn't speaking, and...
--> '''Paul Merton''': Repetition of "zoological gardens"? No, I'm sorry, I panicked!

** In an episode of the 2012 television series, the opening subject was "Pardon my French", and the opening speaker was Gyles Brandreth - who, as a young boy, attended the Lycée Français de Londre, and took the opportunity to show off his fluency in the language. When Tony Hawks successfully challenged him, he also spoke his first few sentences in (slightly less fluent) French, and even Nicholas joined in (although, in contrast to Gyles and Tony, Nicholas' French was not subtitled as it was a mixture of French and gibberish).

** Two pilots were shot in 1969 and 1981, but apart from furnishing footage for documentaries on Kenneth Williams (who participated in both pilots)[[note]]The ''Just a Minute'' scene in the television movie ''Fantabulosa!'' with Michael Sheen as Williams and Nicholas and Clement Freud as themselves is a recreation of a round from the 1969 pilot, albeit presented as a radio episode[[/note]], neither has ever aired.
** A television adaptation did air for two 14-episode series on ITV in 1994-95 and one 20-episode series on the BBC in 1999, but mostly with guests who were visibly unfamiliar with the game[[note]] Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, and Creator/PeterJones made a handful of appearances each across all three series, while Paul Merton was completely absent[[/note]] and with various peculiar gimmicks (such as having the panellists talk about a mystery object or, in the second ITV series, dividing them into teams captained by Tony Slattery and Dale Winton).

* WrittenInAbsence: Hilariously inverted in a 2004 episode where Charles Collingwood is stuck in traffic and the recording has to begin without him. At the beginning of the second round Nicholas (at Paul's suggestion) asks Charles to begin with the next subject in spite of the fact that he still isn't present; by the time Charles does show up, ''he's already in second place''.
--> '''Paul Merton''': ''[while Charles, who's supposed to be speaking, is absent]'' Repetition of "zoological gardens"? No, I'm sorry, I panicked!

--> "Shakespeare wrote play after... script."

''[Paul nods, as Sue facepalms.]''\\

'''Nicholas Parsons:''' Metalwork's not the subject, liaisons is. You did a metalwork version and the audience loved it, we all loved it. You got both points...\\
'''Paul Merton:''' Repetition of maybe.\\
'''Nicholas Parsons:''' No he didn't say maybe, no, no, he didn't.\\
'''Paul Merton:''' Hesitation.\\
'''Nicholas Parsons:''' Or the fact he wasn't speaking in French? Ah right, 13 seconds still with you Clement starting now.\\
'''Clement Freud:''' ''(speaks in German)''

* OrphanedPunchline:
-->'''Paul Merton:''' The microphones weren't working particularly well when we did the sound-check for this particular programme, but now they're... ''(goes silent for several seconds)'' ... and there was half a pound of mince left at the end of the evening!

The future of the show was unclear following the death of Nicholas Parsons, who had chaired over 900 editions and missed only four episodes over 52 years, in January 2020. (If one includes the various television adaptations over the years, then Parsons hosted just over 1,000 episodes of the programme in total.)

In February 2021 an announcement was broadcast: the show would return with a series of guest hosts including Creator/StephenFry, Paul Merton and Gyles Brandreth; one of them, Sue Perkins, was later revealed to be programme's permanent host beginning with the [=87th=] series in September of that year.

You score a point for a correct challenge (as well as all the rest of time left on that subject), being incorrectly challenged and for talking whilst the bell goes. You may also be awarded a bonus point for an incorrect challenge, if the audience likes it enough. The most common cause of a correct challenge is...

The future of the show was unclear following the death of Nicholas Parsons, who had chaired over 900 editions and missed only four episodes over 52 years, in January 2020. (If one includes the various television adaptations over the years, then Parsons hosted just over 1,000 episodes of the programme in total.) Following a year out, it was announced that in February 2021 the show would return with a series of guest hosts including Stephen Fry, Paul Merton and Gyles Brandreth; one of them, Sue Perkins, was later announced as the show's permanent host beginning with the [=87th=] series in September 2021.

-->'''JustForFun/chrisboote''': Repetition of "subject". We can't start having two subjects, that way madness lies!
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Well, we do have multiple subjects each show, but I see your point. So we give chrisboote a point for a correct challenge, but we'll leave the subject with Report, 35 seconds on ''Just a Minute'', starting now..

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Yes, yes, two different words. So we give Report a point for an incorrect challenge, he's still got the subject, 35 seconds on ''Just a Minute'', starting now...

-->'''That Troper''': HESSITATION

If you don't believe how hard this is then try it for yourself. Talk for one minute about "[[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears Lawyers]] I have known", without repeating yourself, hesitating, or deviating from the subject in a significant way.

-->[''The subject is "mutton dressed as lamb", and Sue Perkins has just resumed a description of such a person'']
-->'''Sue Perkins''': Boobs like spacehoppers-- [''buzz'']
-->'''Paul''': That's not true, boobs don't like spacehoppers! They see them as rivals!

* BrickJoke: The last subject of the last episode of the 1972-73 series was "Making a spectacular exit". When ''Just a Minute'' returned five months later for the 1973-74 series, the first subject of the first episode was "Making a spectacular entrance". The two episodes even featured the same panel (Clement Freud, Creator/PeterJones, Derek Nimmo, and Kenneth Williams).

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Usually Paul Merton, who was once allowed to speak for 1 minute and 15 seconds, with no-one buzzing in, while he recounted the story of a dolphin he met on a number 47 bus.

*** "(Famous sexy woman) was once in my bed. Maddeningly, I was elsewhere at the time."

** Creator/KennethWilliams had an unfortunate tendency to overuse "Of course" when he had the subject, and would try to argue that it constituted "parts of speech" when he was inevitably buzzed for repetition after using it twice or even three times in under 20 seconds. Jones was also prone to peppering his speeches with "Of course", though less liberally than Kenneth.

--> '''Paul Merton''': Repetition of "zoological gardens"?