Just A Minute

Geraldine Jones is perhaps one of the most underappreciated females to appear on the program.  She was part of a quartet of regular females brought in to mix it up with the three regular fellas during the late 60`s along with Andree Melly, Sheila Hancock and Aimi MacDonald.  She was absolutely wonderful, as she was very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects.  She was also given the honor of being the first female chairman before Andree Melly.  Much like Andree Melly i feel she wasnt given the benefit of the doubt often enough and was also treated rather shoddily in some respects.  Example, during the subjrect of "Getting the Best of an Argument", no sooner does she open her mouth to say that no one gets the best of an argument by arguing is she challenged for deviation by Clement Freud and even after she tried to defend what she was trying to say, she still had the subject wrongly taken away from her.  Amongst some of my favorite moments involving Geraldine had to be when she spoke on 'The Times I Wear My Bikini', and seemed rather modest about her good looks, and comparing the moments of wearing a bikini to when nuns mortify their flesh with those whips and belts of thorns.  I loved her brand of observational humor during 'Buying Lipstick', in talking about the terrifying experiences of trying to get lipstick by confronting the Great Dragon at the cosmetics counter.  She also showcased a pension for utilizing surreal imagery and poetic language when talking on subjects like 'Castles in the Air' or even 'My Adventure'.  What I didn't like was how she essentially put down for deviation during that subject for talking about having a set of wax wings.  Although it was nice for Kenneth to defend Geraldine so admirably, pointing out that she hadn't deviated from the subject and was at liberty to talk about wax wings, and whether or not someone believes that what she was saying is true or not is completely irrelevant. I also loved how I think it was during her final appearance, she was given full reign during the subject of 'My Worst Moment' and spoke from the heart about how unfair she had been treated on the program in the past.  Geraldine looked to be set for a long run with the program as it entered the 1970's... unfortunately, she mysteriously disappeared in early 1970, one year before another Jones named Peter was brought onto the program, and she has never been heard from since.  This is definitely a real shame because people remember people like Kenneth Williams, Derek Nimmo, Peter Jones and Clement Freud, and even now Sheila Hancock, but no one speaks with any reverance or fondness or even pays lip service to the early pioneers of the program, like Geraldine Jones.  She was the original Jones to appear on the program before Peter, and the fact that no one seems to know anything else about her after her mysterious disappearance is just a crime and a real shame.