Just a Minute usually by mistake or for laughs. The game rewards those who make entertaining challenges, even if they do not speak for very long. If successful, last-second challenges can be especially rewarding, as they allow one to speak for a short time but earn two points—one for the challenge and one for being the last speaker. The game is then scored and a winner declared, but the attraction of the show lies less in the contest than in the humour and banter among participants and the chairman. Nicholas Parsons has chaired the show since its inception. On nine occasions he has
Just a Minute significant historical events. He also often wins points by challenging just before the whistle or for humorous challenges, another technique being to say the same word in the singular and the plural, for inexperienced panellists to challenge falsely. Over the 50-year history of the show, there have been many other panellists. Those to have appeared frequently, more than 20 times each, are Pam Ayres, Gyles Brandreth, Marcus Brigstocke, Julian Clary, Alun Cochrane, Charles Collingwood, Barry Cryer, Jenny Eclair, Stephen Fry, Sheila Hancock, Tony Hawks, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Josie Lawrence, Aimi MacDonald, Andree Melly, Chris Neill, Ross Noble, Graham Norton, Sue Perkins,