Just A Classic Minute Volume 6

Nov 17, 2024 1:46 PM

Author:Ian Messiter,Nicholas Parsons,Guests

Just as uproariously funny and terrifically popular today as when it first began on BBC Radio 4 in 1967, Just a Minute challenges contestants to speak for one minute on a given subject without repetition, hesitation or deviation. Its mix of irreverent fun and ferocious competition has always attracted stellar names from the world of comedy and theatre, all of whom pit their wits and their wit against regular players including Kenneth Williams, Paul Merton, Derek Nimmo, Clement Freud and Peter Jones. Each episode is preceded by extracts from a fascinating conversation between Nicholas Parsons and Paul Merton, in which they good-humouredly reflect upon the enormous appeal of the game, the various techniques for playing it, the numerous guest players who have taken part over the years, and their favourite moments in these particular episodes. Among the guests in these four archive programmes are Sheila Hancock, Eddie Izzard and Bernard Cribbins. The original transmission dates of these episodes are 11th April 1978, 23rd January 1982, 19th February 1994 and 8th February 1997.

Reviews

...witty, self-aware and poignant.

—— Observer

This droll and wise comedian's testament almost ends with a joke-free bout of acute necrotising pancreatisis (like "a mad rodent inside me"). As this book's existence hints, Arthur Smith - Daphne Fairfax, if you're from the tax office - survived, the better to redeem the clapped-out name of "alternative" comedy with a memoir that doubles as an acute slice of social history. Childhood with Syd and Hazel in London's tatty south merges HG Wells with Carry On.... UEA student years and Parisian scrapes lead into the stand-up heyday with mates such as Malcolm Hardee, "a debauched Eric Morecambe". Smith's tone of mordant pathos touches as much as it tickles. Greenwich, Balham, Bermondsey - be proud of him.

—— Independent

Dead Air is a real delight – innovative, inspired and quite easily the pick of the tenth Doctor audio exclusives.

—— E. G. Wolverson , http://www.doctorwhoreviews.co.uk

she writes so well

—— Daily Mail

no-holds-barred

—— List

very funny but also very moving

—— The London Paper

very funny

—— Hampshire View

there are moments here that shine with the genius for observational comedy for which Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (the Fatty of the title) are famous

—— Guardian

Dawn writes (with) tenderness, caring and oodles of charm. Well-paced, it's a reminder of why she has been a staple of the British comedy scene since the early 1980s

—— Guernsey Press

Anyone perparing for another dry, identikit celebrity autobiography is going to be delighted by these hilarious memoirs

—— She

French can still cut the comic mustard

—— Time Out

while much of the book's tone is that of the unassailably jolly Dawn we all expect ... other letters are tear-jerkingly poignant and none more so than those she writes to her late father Denys French

—— Daily Express

For all her honesty anyone hoping for a light-hearted romp will be delighted ... While her charm shines throughout, the more intense moments stay with you in a way that most celeb autobiographies can only strive for

—— Sunday Express

you'll be captivated by her witty and warm style

—— Prima

Self-depracating yet never self-pitying, irreverent yet never truly cynical, she comes across as a woman genuinely at ease with herself ... French is engaging company, and at her best she writes about heartbreak and elation with such grace that her book is impossible to dislike

—— Boston Standard

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