Just A Minute

 
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The timing

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bobbyshaddoe3004May 21, 2007
 

 
this is something that more often than not causes a great deal of
hilarity and confusion as well as aggravation for audience and
panelists alike, in that Nicholas is usually the one that has to give
them the time about how many seconds have passed, are left, and so on.

amongst the most frequent things usually comes from the fact that
Nicholas at times would complain that he has to subtract from 60
because the BBC can't afford a watch that goes backwards, which
usually means that his subtractions end up being rather suspect or
that he'll sometimes stop the show to work out just how many seconds
are left. In fact one particular episode that occurred in the 1980's
I think was a prime example, to which I think the panelists were
Sheila Hancock, Kenneth Williams, Gyles Brandreth and Derek Nimmo, I
think, but I wouldn't swear to it. but anyway, Nicholas was again
getting the timing wrong, because he'd been hit with a number of
insults for the last few minutes, and he gets the time wrong and
Kenneth pretty much says 'He can't even add up.' and Nick shouts
out 'It's not the adding it's the subtracting' and then pretty much
has a nervous breakdown, his voice going higher and higher like he's
crying until his voice becomes completely unintelligible, and then
Ian Messiter blows the whistle.

another prime example of the hilarity created by others who pull up
Nicholas for getting the timing wrong comes from an episode from
1973, I believe the panelists were Sheila, Derek, Peter, and Clement,
and it happened to be on the subject of independence. Peter starts
off the subject, gets challenged after what Nicholas says was only 4
seconds, incorrectly, then says that Peter has 55 seconds left, to
which Clement decrees:

CF: You said he'd only been speaking for four seconds! And now you
make it 55... where has the other second gone?

a much earlier example comes from 1968, I believe the panelists were
Clement, Kenneth, Derek and Geraldine. I think the subject was 'Why
I've given up stockings in preference to tights', Geraldine was
speaking on the subject, doing exceptionally well also, and then was
challenged by Derek incorrectly, and when she started again she
couldn't get going. now, here's the strange thing.

Nicholas said she almost did the full 60 seconds, that she was only
speaking for 50 seconds, and then says there are only 5 seconds left,
now, this brings up something that is just mindboggling, where the
hell did the other 5 seconds go?

another perfect example i think came in an episode from the late
80's, I can't recall who was on the panel, or even what the subject
was, but I think someone else was speaking for quite a bit, then
Derek challenges on it, and Nicholas says that Derek has 60 seconds
to speak on the subject, and Kenneth goes into a tirade on 'How can
they're still be 60 seconds? that other bloke was speaking for ages,
he definitely used up some of the time, so how in the hell can there
still be 60 seconds for him to speak?'

granted this does showcase the humanity of Nicholas, in that, like
all of us mere mortals, he is prone to making mistakes. this is
specially true when he uses the word minutes instead of seconds
occasionally, but what gets my goat is when he tries to cover up his
fluff by saying that he did it deliberately.

another awesome moment I think came from I think 2003 or 2002, at the
Edinburgh festival where Dara O'Briain and Greg Proops were on the
panel, and there seemed to be an argument over how many seconds were
actually left, at one point it seemed like there were 42 seconds,
then there was 32 seconds, then 22 seconds, and Greg shouts out 'do I
hear 12?'

another fine moment seemed to be when Nicholas honestly didn't care
anymore because at one point the watch seemed to keep going and no
one actually stopped it and he had to guess how much time was
actually left, and I think Graham Norton commented 'Yeah, let's call
it 'Just a While' since it seemed everything was falling apart
towards the end of the program, or at one point the clock was going
backwards and Paul makes a comment 'Does that mean I've got
infinity?'

and also another point seemed to come from an argument Paul raised
with Nicholas, because Nicholas said that his watch doesn't do half
seconds, and he was speaking on something, and the whistle hadn't
gone he was challenged, and Nicholas said that the clock reads zero,
and Paul says 'So either I was finishing when the time expired, or
we've got ourselves a real problem' or words to that effect.

what always surprised me is that they never thought about getting a
digital watch, it would make time keeping more accurate, but then
again logic and accuracy really have no place on a show like 'Just a
Minute' anyway. *shrugs*

anyone else wish to comment on the timekeeping?

 
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