One Minute Please
Contents |
Host
Broadcast
BBC Light Programme, 25 August? 1951 to April 1952? and 24 September to 19 November 1957
Synopsis
The forerunner of Just a Minute, this was played in a very similar fashion but with two teams of three instead of four individual panellists.
Ian Messiter described his inspiration in a radio interview: "Well, it came from school. I was looking out of the window. Suddenly the cane came down on my desk, like thunder - it was quite the most extraordinary noise, like a gun going off. The master in charge said 'Messiter, stand up! Would you repeat what I've been saying without repeating yourself?'"
One of its most famous contributors was Gerald Hoffnung, a humourist, cartoonist and tuba player, who sadly died at an early age due to a brain haemorrhage. Other regulars included actress Yvonne Arnaud, Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Gilbert Harding (once thrown off the show for being drunk), and Windmill girl Margot Holden.
