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
Supermarionation Supermarionation Supermarionation (a portmanteau of "super", "marionette" and "animation") is a style of puppetry devised in the 1960s by British television production company AP Films (APF). It was used extensively in the action-adventure puppet series produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, of which the best known is "Thunderbirds". The term was coined by Gerry Anderson. The term "Supermarionation" was expressive of Gerry Anderson's preference for artistic realism and his desire to make APF's puppet-filming techniques "more and more life-like". According to Sylvia Anderson, it was created "to distinguish the pure puppetry of the stage from our more sophisticated filmed-television version".