Nicholas Parsons

Johnny Vegas used to be the ubiquitous clown of the moment but, having been promoted as the most unpredictable man in light entertainment, became slightly too unpredictable and now seems required to attempt reinvention as a character actor. The acute afternoon play he co-wrote, Chequebook and Pen, conjured up the ghost of Les Dawson, with Vegas doing an impassioned impression of the comedian in his awkward Blankety Blank days. Nicholas Parsons, who happily seems to have forgotten where self-parody lies, was the dame of the piece, playing himself as a devious game-show host rival.

Vegas's play discovered a moral of its own in the compromises Dawson was forced to make to become a prime-time star; in a bravura closing argument, he put the case that creativity had nothing to do with packaging or consumers but was all about "doing what you believe is right and doing it your way". Try telling that to Simon Cowell.

Does that title ring a bell? Can you hear Les Dawson saying it as he presented the humble prizes on Blankety Blank? This play, starring Johnny Vegas, co-written by him with Andrew Lynch, imagines how the BBC might have engaged the great Les (played by Vegas) back in the 1980s, to host the prime-time show. Nicholas Parsons plays Farson, embodiment of traditional forces at the BBC, opponent of all the comic subversion Les stood for, his nemesis. It's fiction. How I wish the late Mike Craig, comedy producer, were still around to discuss it on Front Row.

Nicholas Parsons joins Radio Academy Hall of Fame

Video of Nicholas Parsons being inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.

Watch: Radio 4 comedy in Edinburgh

Here's the quite lovely video that the Radio 4 comedy gang shot on The Royal Mile at the beginning of the Edinburgh Festival. You'll see Paul Merton, Mark Watson, Nicholas Parsons, Susan Calman, Stephen K Amos and others entertaining festival-goers on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Nicholas Parsons celebrates decade at Edinburgh Fringe

An afternoon nap everyday is all this showbiz veteran needs to pull his Happy Hour slot in the Festival.

Invented by Ian Messiter in 1967, now starting its 57th season, still brilliantly chaired by resourceful Nicholas Parsons (who got the gig when Jimmy Edwards, the original choice for chairman, said he'd rather play polo than turn up on a Sunday to record the pilot episode). Messiter, who also invented Many a Slip and other fondly remembered amusements, used to wear red socks at recordings, for luck. Perhaps "red socks" could be a subject for tonight's panel, Graham Norton, Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth and Jenny Eclair, as they strive to fill their 60 seconds.

The regeneration of the host of I'm Sorry I Haven't Got A Clue is complete: Jack Dee has finally fully transformed into the grouch we know and ... the grouch we know. Just A Minute returns next week, a handover Jack celebrated with a game entitled Just A Minim - "the teams' musical version of the longrunning wireless favourite hosted by Nicholas Parsons. I never miss him."

Earlier the teams had supplied us with some new definitions - internet is what the England team didn't do at the World Cup, asterisk is the chances of being hit by an asteroid and fallacy is "like a penis". The last gag was from David Mitchell - brilliant panel guest as ever, but I'm beginning to worry about him. Hasn't he got a home to go to? And if he has, does it contain a panel show in every room?

Nicholas Parsons: That's what life's about - having fun

After 43 years at the helm of 'Just a Minute', nothing can keep the all-round entertainer down. Andrew Johnson meets Nicholas Parsons.

If you prefer your comedy straight up this week's Just a Minute sees panellists Tony Hawks, Josie Lawrence, Justin Moorhouse and Dave Gorman at Derby University this week, talking about mature students, Derby, paying off student loans and Zanzibar (which happens to be the name of the student bar in Derby). The players' verbal dexterity is amusing, but it's their petty squabbling and Nicholas Parsons's exasperation that provide the belly laughs. And if this show doesn't snap you out of the January blues, there's probably no helping you until spring arrives.

As safe as houses

People giggled when I said I was going to be reviewing The Many Faces of June Whitfield. What was it? The mismatch between the fusty bombast of the first half of the title and the slightly parochial connotations of the subject? Would the name June Whitfield have done it on its own - as a marker of a very Middle English type of comedy - or did it need the mildewed showbiz-bio description as well? It is, you'd have to admit, the kind of title that keys you up for a spoof. It's got something of "Balham - Gateway to the South" about it, an association that wasn't exactly dispelled by the opening line of the voiceover: "For more than 60 years, one woman has been at the beating heart of British comedy". But while Steve Coogan - the Inside Story took the very wise precaution of sending itself up now and then, The Many Faces of June Whitfield was played absolutely in earnest. Tongue and cheek never met once as a parade of approbatory clichés ("consummate professional", "pin-sharp timing", "joy to write for") filed past. If this documentary had been a person it would have been wearing a Pringle sweater and a silk cravat, just as Nicholas Parsons was, in fact, when he popped up to hymn June's indispensability to the string of top-of-the-bill comics she'd worked with.