The simple panel game that for 40 years and counting, has been one of radio's classic comedies.
The idea of Just a Minute came to its creator Ian Messiter when he was on a bus, recalling an old Latin teacher from his schooldays in the 1930s whose punishments had entailed speaking on a given subject for 60 seconds without hesitation or deviation.
Twenty years later, while working at the BBC, Messiter used this as the basis for a new improvised radio comedy game (adding an extra rule of no repetition).
Until 1989, he participated directly as the show's 'whistleblower' and continued to set the (often bizarre) weekly subjects until his death in 1999.
In its early years, some contestants applied the game's rules rather strictly, which detracted from the comedy, but the seeds of a classic were already sown and gradually a regular line-up evolved in the form of Kenneth Williams, Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo and Peter Jones.
Freud and Nimmo enjoyed a playful, sibling rivalry while Jones would often take a back seat to allow Williams, the real star of the show, his limelight.
With flamboyant monologues mixing mock outrage and sycophancy, Williams was a firm fan favourite and as the show began to outlive this talented quartet, there was concern over whether it could continue without them.
Nicholas Parsons attributes much of the game's reinvigoration to the introduction of Paul Merton as a new, regular contestant.
Just a Minute is said to be the only programme to which Merton ever wrote asking to appear and although the producers were initially wary, he took the show by storm with his razor-sharp wit and surreal flights of fancy adding a much-needed new energy.
As well as sparring regularly with the ever-engaging Clement Freud (the last survivor of the original ‘Gang of Four’), he also paved the way for a raft of younger comedians to appear on the show, such as Stephen Fry, Graham Norton, Linda Smith and Ross Noble.
Each comedian brings an individual style to the format, with Fry quick to correct his own mistakes (and thereby continue with the subject, according to the rules), while Norton delights in innuendo and Noble will gleefully dive into a trademark stream of rambling surrealism.
A massive and often underrated reason for the show's continued success is Parsons himself: a perfect chairman.
His frequent misreadings of the rules are a consistently strong source of humour and the contestants will often eat up seconds by playfully directing lengthy insults his way, but Parsons occasionally shows he can give just as good as he gets.
Moreover he possesses a seemingly effortless ability to judge the pace of the show, knowing exactly when to chivvy the team along or to indulge their interjections, or even occasionally to force an unknowing speaker to continue struggling way beyond 60 seconds.
Since its launch in 1967, recordings of Just a Minute have migrated away from London and now take place in theatres across the country.
A spin-off television version (also hosted by Parsons) appeared intermittently in certain ITV regions during the 1990s, but radio remains the show’s natural home, where it has legions of devoted fans both in Britain and (thanks to its broadcasts on the BBC World Service) across the globe.
