Just A Minute

> Dean,
>
> You've said elsewhere that Kenneth Williams sent at least one female
> guest home in tears following a recording and that on another occasion
> he tried to get a bit of a recording edited out when he made what he
> saw as a serious factual faux pas on a subject he was supposed to know
> a lot about.
>
> Details?

On Monday, December 3, 2007, at 11:46 AM, lapsedcat wrote:

> Dean,
>
> You've said elsewhere that Kenneth Williams sent at least one female
> guest home in tears following a recording and that on another occasion
> he tried to get a bit of a recording edited out when he made what he
> saw as a serious factual faux pas on a subject he was supposed to know
> a lot about.
>
> Details?

We've already discussed the woman in tears incident in this group, the
woman involved was Nyree Dawn Porter. The show was recorded in 1969, it
was never broadcast.

The other one is revealed in the Kenneth Williams Letters Book. in 1969
he wrote after a recording to producer Simon Brett asking him to take
out Kenny attributing the theory of gravity to Darwin (rather than
Newton). He says in the letter that if it had been funny or produced
comedy he wouldn't have minded - but as it didn't, it just made him look
stupid. He also says in the letter that he was terrible as chairman....
I think he's being a bit hard on himself there.

---

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--- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:
>
> He also says in the letter that he was terrible as chairman....
> I think he's being a bit hard on himself there.
>

>
> This comment from Dean from the KW letters is a springboard for an
> opportunity to stick up for Nick as chairman. I would agree that he
> was a bad chairman from the episode I listened to (and also that

> was not a good panelist).
>
> KW did not seem to be listening - he basically agreed with a

> or asked the speaker whether they had repeated or not. Nick does
> seem(mostly)to listen and (whether or not he is being 'clever dick
> parsons' as noted by derek) often mentions repeats that panelists

> missed
>
> I would also agree that often his decisions are made with an

> of keeping the flow going or leaning towards someone who seems to be
> doing a bit better
>
> plus his inconsistency is not surprising over so long with such fast
> decisions to make - I am still not sure about hyphenated words or
> homophones or whether you can use sub-sections of the topic [eg if

> was harmony could you use harm? to be extreme!]
>
> Jeremy
> who gets annoted by Nick but think he is great overall
>
>
> --- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@>

> >
> > He also says in the letter that he was terrible as chairman....
> > I think he's being a bit hard on himself there.
> >
>

Nicholas Parsons has come in for a lot of stick on JAM. Mostly it has
been pretty light-hearted mockery, but on occasions panellists (Derek
Nimmo in particular) could be quite bilious about him.

Parsons always held it up as a virtue that he could laugh it all off
and emerge unscathed by the criticism.

This is accepted as fact by most serious scholars of Messiter. The
fact that he went home after every recording, drank a pint of gin and
beat the kittens half to death to assuage his bitterness is a less
well-known fact but deserves a wider audience.

See this Saturday's Daily Express for an exclusive serialisation of
my forthcoming tell-all book, "Nicholas Parsons: Booze, Birds &
Blazers" (Harper Collins)

--- In just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com, "jeremy_keens"
<jeremy.keens@ ...> wrote:
>
> This comment from Dean from the KW letters is a springboard for an
> opportunity to stick up for Nick as chairman. I would agree that he
> was a bad chairman from the episode I listened to (and also that
Nick
> was not a good panelist).
>
> KW did not seem to be listening - he basically agreed with a
challenge
> or asked the speaker whether they had repeated or not. Nick does
> seem(mostly) to listen and (whether or not he is being 'clever dick
> parsons' as noted by derek) often mentions repeats that panelists
had
> missed
>
> I would also agree that often his decisions are made with an
objective
> of keeping the flow going or leaning towards someone who seems to be
> doing a bit better
>
> plus his inconsistency is not surprising over so long with such fast
> decisions to make - I am still not sure about hyphenated words or
> homophones or whether you can use sub-sections of the topic [eg if
it
> was harmony could you use harm? to be extreme!]
>
> Jeremy
> who gets annoted by Nick but think he is great overall
>
>
> --- In just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com, Dean Bedford <dbedford@>
wrote:
> >
> > He also says in the letter that he was terrible as chairman....
> > I think he's being a bit hard on himself there.
> >
>

---

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

>
> The reason he seems to emerge unscathed by the insults is because

>
> For example, there was an episode I think from the early 80's, I

>
>
>
> lapsedcat <lapsedcat@...> wrote:
> Nicholas Parsons has come in for a lot of stick on JAM.

> been pretty light-hearted mockery, but on occasions panellists

> Nimmo in particular) could be quite bilious about him.
>
> Parsons always held it up as a virtue that he could laugh it all

> and emerge unscathed by the criticism.
>
> This is accepted as fact by most serious scholars of Messiter. The
> fact that he went home after every recording, drank a pint of gin

> beat the kittens half to death to assuage his bitterness is a less
> well-known fact but deserves a wider audience.
>
> See this Saturday's Daily Express for an exclusive serialisation of
> my forthcoming tell-all book, "Nicholas Parsons: Booze, Birds &
> Blazers" (Harper Collins)
>
> --- In just-a-minute@..., "jeremy_keens"
> <jeremy.keens@> wrote:
> >
> > This comment from Dean from the KW letters is a springboard for an
> > opportunity to stick up for Nick as chairman. I would agree that

> > was a bad chairman from the episode I listened to (and also that
> Nick
> > was not a good panelist).
> >
> > KW did not seem to be listening - he basically agreed with a
> challenge
> > or asked the speaker whether they had repeated or not. Nick does
> > seem(mostly)to listen and (whether or not he is being 'clever dick
> > parsons' as noted by derek) often mentions repeats that panelists
> had
> > missed
> >
> > I would also agree that often his decisions are made with an
> objective
> > of keeping the flow going or leaning towards someone who seems to

> > doing a bit better
> >
> > plus his inconsistency is not surprising over so long with such

> > decisions to make - I am still not sure about hyphenated words or
> > homophones or whether you can use sub-sections of the topic [eg

> it
> > was harmony could you use harm? to be extreme!]
> >
> > Jeremy
> > who gets annoted by Nick but think he is great overall
> >
> >
> > --- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > He also says in the letter that he was terrible as chairman....
> > > I think he's being a bit hard on himself there.
> > >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
>

> Nick does
> seem(mostly)to listen and (whether or not he is being 'clever dick
> parsons' as noted by derek) often mentions repeats that panelists had
> missed
>
> I would also agree that often his decisions are made with an objective
> of keeping the flow going or leaning towards someone who seems to be
> doing a bit better
>
> plus his inconsistency is not surprising over so long with such fast
> decisions to make - I am still not sure about hyphenated words or
> homophones or whether you can use sub-sections of the topic [eg if it
> was harmony could you use harm? to be extreme!]

On Monday, December 3, 2007, at 09:48 PM, jeremy_keens wrote:

> Nick does
> seem(mostly)to listen and (whether or not he is being 'clever dick
> parsons' as noted by derek) often mentions repeats that panelists had
> missed
>
> I would also agree that often his decisions are made with an objective
> of keeping the flow going or leaning towards someone who seems to be
> doing a bit better
>
> plus his inconsistency is not surprising over so long with such fast
> decisions to make - I am still not sure about hyphenated words or
> homophones or whether you can use sub-sections of the topic [eg if it
> was harmony could you use harm? to be extreme!]

These are all good points Jeremy.

If you carefully read back the yo-yo excerpts I posted a week ago, you
notice that Maureen Lipman had been going a while and was really just
filling time, while Gyles had been going only a few seconds and was
already being witty and clever.

In terms of fairness to the audience Nicholas is usually pretty good...

---

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

> fairness to the audience?  Oh right, telling them to shut up and
> chastizing them for being fickle and partisan, having to remind them
> time and time again when they disagree with a interruption that 'it is
> the game', yeah that's really being fair I must say. 

If I wanted uptight hoity-toity crap like what I’m reading, I’d listen to Quote, Unquote!

That’s my tuppence.

Ant

---

From: just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com [mailto: just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com ] On Behalf Of Dean Bedford
Sent: 07 December 2007 22:50
To: just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Sticking up for Nick was: Re: Two Kenneth Williams questions - for Dean

On Saturday, December 8, 2007, at 07:57 AM, Robert Torres wrote:

fairness to the audience?  Oh right, telling them to shut up and chastizing them for being fickle and partisan, having to remind them time and time again when they disagree with a interruption that 'it is the game', yeah that's really being fair I must say. 

And the audience laughs when Nicholas says these things. They recognise he doesn't mean it, just as we recognise you don't mean what you write here.

Unless you have a fresh point to make on Nicholas, let's let someone else enter the discussion, your viewpoint and mine are now clear.

---

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>
> Well, the one thing that obviously does work in Nicholas' favor is

>
> Anthony Hobson <antster@...> wrote: If I wanted uptight

>
> That�s my tuppence.
>
> Ant
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> From: just-a-minute@...

> Sent: 07 December 2007 22:50
> To: just-a-minute@...
> Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Sticking up for Nick was: Re: Two

>
>
> On Saturday, December 8, 2007, at 07:57 AM, Robert Torres wrote:
> fairness to the audience? Oh right, telling them to shut up and

>
> And the audience laughs when Nicholas says these things. They

>
> Unless you have a fresh point to make on Nicholas, let's let someone

>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.

>