Just A Minute

Well, this is a very interesting combination. When asked for his ideal dinner party guests, Winston Churchill named Oscar Wilde among them. He regretted that he had never met the legendary conversationalist.

Quite how brilliant Oscar Wilde was at spontaneous repartee was confirmed by George Bernard Shaw, who thought him 'incomparably the greatest talker of his time', and then went on to say, 'perhaps of all time'. Churchill's mother famously told a story of being at some soiree where she announced that Oscar was so brilliant he could talk on any subject. Someone suggested the Queen, whereupon Wilde declared that the 'The Queen is not a subject'. I remember reading this story years ago in Hesketh Pearson's biography which is probably the most entertaining and captures a sense of what this man must have been like. Winston Churchill was no mean conversationalist. Apparently he worked hard at it. No doubt, so did Wilde; the art lies in concealing all the hard work, but it is there.

Think of Kenneth Williams and his wild expostulations. This man kept a diary all his life. He wrote myriad letters. To everyone. He absolutely loved language. Same with Spike Milligan. Brilliant, but the hard work is concealed underneath the enormous work rate. Which was expensively bought.

Williams diary is brilliant by the way and I heartily recommend it. I read it years ago but bought a copy on Amazon last week for 1p. Can't go wrong.

So, to go with Wilde and Churchill, I propose Joyce Grenfell. She would undoubtedly be a wonderfully enchanting guest. Able to speak fluently, elegantly, humorously, and spontaneously; I have no doubt.

My final guest is one that if I was the producer of Just a Minute, I would seriously do all I could to make him appear on the show. Including kidnapping (Maybe not). His name is Clive James. Man of the people and poet. What a sparkling combination. Someone so erudite yet so light-hearted and entertaining. I think Gyles would be quite put out. It must happen. I think this thread has stumbled on the next phase of Just a Minute. Blimey, I sound like Gyles there (I do like him by the way).

Anyway, that's my contribution.

Martin