Parsons: Just a Minute pilot was a "disaster"

Sir Nicholas Parsons has described the "great essence" of the success of Radio 4's Just A Minute as "having fun".

"I try to orchestrate things so we do have fun. I will throw out lines to people like Paul Merton and he will come out with the most outrageous comments...mostly about my age."

He also explained that the programme was fortunate to have been commissioned, saying "the BBC didn't want it, they weren't going to commission it, but we had a brilliant young producer who put his job on the line".