Your brain on Just a Minute

How come some people are born raconteurs while others struggle to speak in front of an audience? At the moment, neuroscience can't answer this question, but we aim to change that. This study investigates what differentiates the brain of fluent speakers from the rest of us.

Robin Ince: A night of Just a Minute

I was repetitively kicking myself within. Every time I snatched a subject from someone else, I managed to repeat something within seconds, though I have no idea how I clumsily repeated both DNA and Schopenhauer.

Video: Paul Merton talks for Just a Minute on Breakfast

For more than 20 years Paul Merton has been keeping us entertained with his quick witted comments and slightly surreal humour. But he describes himself as having been a shy child.

He accepted a Just a Minute challenge from BBC Breakfast the team. His topic - Breakfast.

In praise of ... Nicholas Parsons

The veteran host of Just a Minute has no plans to retire, and killed off all such speculation at the Cheltenham Literature festival.

I'm only 90, says Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons has reacted with indignation after being asked who might replace him on Just A Minute, the Radio 4 programme he has presented for 47 years. Parsons, who is 90, told an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival that he had never considered who might succeed him and berated a member of the public for asking "that bloody question".

Parsons: If I was on autopilot that show would be dead

Nicholas Parsons says that Just A Minute would have died long ago if he didn't keep "fresh as a daisy".

Radio Times review

If ever a programme needed no introduction it's this venerable panel game, which has been on air for nearly 47 years and here begins a 69th series.

The secret of its success? A deceptively simple concept that requires razor-sharp skill to execute. Debutante Vanessa Feltz does well enough to suggest she'll be back. She's up against Julian Clary. "It is the most difficult game in the world", the stalwart confirms. "To play it makes your brain hurt."

A great time to ride silver wave says Nicholas Parsons

Just a Minute's long-time host explains what keeps him so alert and healthy in his nineties.

Radio 4's Just a Minute spawns a junior version

No hesitation, repetition or deviation. It's a simple formula that has worked for Just a Minute since 1967. But now the Radio 4 show chaired by Nicholas Parsons is asking children to take up the challenge for a special version on The 4 O'Clock Show, a strand on Radio 4 Extra.

The magazine show includes a special week of broadcasts of Junior Just a Minute. Nicholas Parsons is a kindly, paternal host, but please don't expect the same heights of humour as Paul Merton and Graham Norton.