Two milestones in a week - and the same milestone!
Last
Monday Gyles Brandreth made his 100th JAM appearance (radio and TV
shows combined) and this week Graham Norton also makes a 100th
appearance.
After today there will be 10 JAM centurions
- Nicholas Parsons, Clement Freud, Paul Merton, Kenneth Williams, Peter
Jones, Derek Nimmo, Tony Hawks, Sheila Hancock, Gyles and Graham.
It's
interesting that two such contrasting personalities cam have appeared
so frequently in the show, but both are in the traditions of the show.
Graham
is in the high camp tradition pioneered by Kenneth Williams. He doesn't
have Kenneth's erudution or the need to show off and put others down -
but then no-one will ever be a copy of Kenneth. But the campness and
slow delivery style is there. Graham is a famous man in the UK with his
TV chat show attracting the world's top celebrities. He's adorable,
quick-witted and a bit naughty. Although there are others who are camp
on JAM such as Julian Clary, Graham's style is unique and memorable. I
always look forward to his appearances.
Gyles is more
in the traditions of Derek Nimmo - competitive, literate, erudite and
just as Derek was an inveterate place-dropper, Gyles is a great
name-dropper. He's plummy and a little pompous, but is also one of the
best on JAM at laughing at himself, perhaps the best ever on JAM. The
criticism of him on JAM used to be that he relied on old rhymes and
jokes which were brought out regularly, but to my ears anyway, he has
cur back on that a lot and these days he is much more original. He
usually does eight to 10 shows a year, and is on the show far more
regularly than anyone else after Nicholas amd Paul. In a way, he has
also taken over Clement Freud's role of being curmudgeonly about the
rules, although he challenges Nicholas in a more light-hearted way than
the great Clement did.
So we now have five living
highly experienced panellists - Paul, Tony, Sheila, Gyles and Graham.
Contrasting styles which demonstrate how varied the pleasures of JAM can
be.