Just A Minute

First broadcast from 19671222 to 20100301. (* = BBC7).

Just a Minute was devised by the late Ian Messiter who came up with the idea on the top of a number 13 bus. He suddenly remembered being given the horrible task of speaking for one minute without hesitation or deviation by one of his school masters.

Producer David Hatch put the pilot show before a BBC development board who were sceptical that the series would run for more than six programmes.

Thirty-five years later, Chairman Nicholas Parsons continues to attempt - and mostly succeed - in keeping control over a roll-call of celebrity contenders attempting to talk on a subject for sixty seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.

• The unofficial standard is that the title is the first topic - I'm starting to add the name of the panelist to avoid accidentally merging duplicates.
• According to the BBC, the series starting on 2001229 is #54, but according to everyone else it's #57. This problem has continued on to 55/58.
• s58e01, the first after his death, included a short clip of Clement Freud on the topic of "My Epitaph"