Ian Messiter
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Ian Cassan Messiter (2 April 1920 – 22 November 1999) was an English BBC Radio producer and the creator of a number of panel games, including Just a Minute,[1] Dealing With Daniels and Many a Slip. Messiter brought the successful twenty questions format to BBC Radio[1] and was programme associate for Family Fortunes.
Biography
[edit]Ian Messiter was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, and educated at Winton House School, near Winchester, and Sherborne School in Dorset.
In his autobiography, My Life and Other Games (1990), Messiter described how an incident during a history lesson at Sherborne School became the inspiration for the Just a Minute radio panel-game.[2]
Messiter acted as whistle-blower on Just a Minute, and its predecessor One Minute, Please. He appeared in the first series of BBC science-fiction quiz show The Adventure Game in 1980 as the Rangdo, the leader of the alien Argonds, and contributed ideas for puzzles in the series. He published his autobiography My Life and Other Games in 1990.
Nicholas Parsons stated that Just a Minute is "perhaps the most deceptively simple, enduring, popular and much-copied comedy game on radio or television anywhere".[3] In each edition, Messiter is acknowledged as the inventor of the game.
Family
[edit]Messiter married Enid, née Senior. They had two children: a daughter, Susan, who lives in Cambridgeshire, and a son, Malcolm Messiter, who is an oboist.
References
[edit]- 1 2 Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 370. ISBN 978-1848541955.
- ↑ Hassall, Rachel (3 January 2019). "Just a Minute & Mr Parry-Jones". The Old Shirburnian Society. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
- ↑ Gifford, Denis (26 November 1999). "Obituary: Ian Messiter". The Independent. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
External links
[edit]- "Messiter's game show magic". BBC News. 24 November 1999. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
- Barker, Dennis (25 November 1999). "Obituary | Ian Messiter". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
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