Just a Minute of the show, all created by Messiter, include a 1952 version on South African radio, and a television version on the DuMont network in the United States. The pilot for the show was recorded in 1967, featuring Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, Beryl Reid and Wilma Ewart as panellists. The chairman was originally planned to be Jimmy Edwards but he was unavailable on Sundays, the proposed recording dates, and was replaced by Nicholas Parsons who was originally supposed to be a panel member. Parsons did not want the job and only reluctantly took it, just for the pilot episode. After the
Ian Messiter Ian Messiter Ian Cassan Messiter (2 April 1920 – 22 November 1999) was a BBC Radio producer and the creator of a number of panel games, including "Just a Minute", and "Many a Slip". Messiter also brought the successful "Twenty Questions" format to BBC Radio. He was also the Programme Associate on "Family Fortunes". Messiter was born in Dudley, Worcestershire and educated at Sherborne School in Dorset. He acted as whistle blower on both "One Minute Please" and "Just a Minute". He appeared in the first series of the BBC science-fiction quiz show "The Adventure Game" in 1980 as the