Nicholas Parsons 4 June 2018 (when regular guest Gyles Brandreth replaced him for 2 episodes), and has presented the show in six different decades. The programme's longevity is arguably due in part to the host's ability to be a chairman, create laughs and to act as a straight man to the comedians who participate. In the 1950s, Parsons provided the non-singing voice of Tex Tucker in the children's TV puppet series "Four Feather Falls" at the suggestion of his then wife, actress and voiceover artiste Denise Bryer, who was in the show. During the late 1960s he created and presented a satirical
Nicholas Parsons entitled "The Straight Man: My Life in Comedy", which was published in 1984, and he produced a book of memoirs in 2010 called "Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation". He appears annually at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe presenting his comedy chat show "The Happy Hour" at the Cabaret Bar at the Pleasance, and has done so since 2001. Parsons is the oldest intermittent broadcaster on BBC Radio (4). Sir David Attenborough is the next oldest intermittent broadcaster on BBC TV and radio. From 1988 to 1991, Parsons served as Rector of the University of St