Now that
Peter Jones,
Derek Nimmo, and
Kenneth Williams are no longer with us,
Paul Merton is one of the regular panellists, along with some
probs.
A noteworthy achievement, however, is that its chairman Nicholas Parsons is the only person to have been in every programme for almost 30 years.
The game is shown on BBC Radio 4 and was devised by Ian Messiter.
A further explanation of the rules follows:
One of the panellists is given a subject to talk on, for instance What to do with the hole in the doughnut. They have to talk on this subject for a minute without repeating any words apart from those included in the subject (although small words are generally overlooked), without hesitating, and without deviating from the subject.
All four players have buzzers, and if the rules are infringed, the first player to buzz can challenge. A correct challenge means that you can continue with the subject and that you get a point. An incorrect challenge means that the interrupted person gets a point. In addition, whoever has the subject when the whistle goes at the end of the minute gets another point, unless they have been going for the whole minute in which case they get a bonus point as well.
Bonus points are also awarded at the chairman's discretion for unusually funny challenges.