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
Tex Arcana town, bringing with him a hideous secret. The complete series was 271 pages long in its initial form of publication. The first two arcs were later edited together and published in paperback by Catalan Communications (1987) with an introduction by "Heavy Metal" editor Julie Simmons-Lynch. "Tex Arcana" returned to "Heavy Metal" in the tenth anniversary issue (July 1987). This was a self-contained ten page story titled "The Ballad of the Witch's Daughter". In 2006, the entire series was edited by the author into a single volume titled "Tex Arcana: a Saga of the Old West" published by BookSurge. The series