Just a Minute unit of time). The recording used for the theme is of David Haines. In 2018, Nicholas Parsons was unable to attend the recording of two editions of the programme as he had the flu. This broke his uninterrupted run of fifty years as a performer on the programme. The episodes were recorded on 1 April 2018 with Gyles Brandreth standing in for Parsons and were broadcast on 4 and 11 June 2018. The panellists are invited, in rotation, to speak for one minute on a given subject (which they are normally not informed of in advance), without "hesitation, repetition or
Today (BBC Radio 4) department in 1963, and started to become more news-orientated. The two editions also became longer, and by the end of the 1960s it had become a single programme two hours in length that enveloped the news bulletins and the religious talk that had become "Thought for the Day" in 1970. In May 1977, Radio 4 controller Ian McIntyre cut it to two 25-minute parts, filling the gap with "Up to the Hour". The new format was unpopular with BBC staff, including Peter Donaldson who on at least one occasion openly ridiculed the programme on air. It also provoked comments in