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Re: Four special/exta shows with different chairs?

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texywolfJan 11, 2013
 

 
Thanks for the reply. Here is the direct quotation of what Nicholas Parsons said in the interview with Ed Doolan:

"Yes, we did four shows -- a number of years ago -- they suddenly wanted four specials, well, four extras -- and they said, I know what we'll do, because we had four regulars then -- KW, PJ, DN and CF -- and so, I know, he said, the producer -- for these four extra shows we're doing, which are going out as a separate little entity, we'll put Nicholas on the panel for four shows and each of those four regulars will take the part of the chairman. There were four shows which were utterly different from anything you've ever heard and Kenneth didn't have a clue of what was going on ..."

What do you think?

--- In just-a-minute@..., Clitheroe Kid wrote:
>
>
> You've misunderstood, texywolf.
>
> You are perhaps thinking that, because _we_ use the expression 'regular foursome' in connection with Clement, Kenneth, Derek and Peter, that any reference by Nicholas to 'regulars' must also mean that foursome. But that ain't necessarily so.
>
> In the beginning, the regulars were Clement, Kenneth and Andre. And when Nicholas speaks of 'the regulars' - in the anecdote you're quoting - he means those three, who, for one entire series early in the programme's history, were in every show. Those three did each substitute for Old Nick, as chairman, as Emile points out. But they weren't as good, in chairing the game, as they were as panellists. So in the end those experiments were stopped - the players had found out, by trying it, that being chairman was harder than it looked.
>
> Basically, they were all rubbish at it, and it showed how good a chairman Nick really was. Despite the oft expressed humorous jibes, implying that it was a job anyone could do, they had found to their surprise that it actually wasn't.
>
> In 1977, Ian Messiter subbed for Nicholas so that Nick could appear as a panellist, in an emergency, when bad weather prevented one of the contracted panellists from reaching the studio in time for the recording. Clement was trapped in Suffolk by a snowstorm, IIRC, and couldn't appear. But this was not an instance of trying out a new chairman, as on the earlier occasions, it was just purely an emergency.

 
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