Just A Minute blog

A blog on the BBC radio programme Just A Minute

Name:
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

November 19, 2013

Junior Just A Minute

was on last week, five days of JAM. I really enjoyed them! The junior panellists I thought were very good. I can't imagine how many must have auditioned to find 10 such confident, articulate, fluent and witty kids. If any are reading this, congratulations! You were excellent and I thought there wasn't a dud among you.

I thought Jenny Eclair and Josie Lawrence were both in great form, especially Josie, who is becoming a top player of the game. They also struck exactly the right note with their junior colleagues, I thought.

This really was an interesting experiment and it raised the question again - should JAM widen its net past the stand-up comics who make up most panels. If these very confident kids can sound so good... maybe otehrs could too.

Again if these kids are reading - I was really struck by how good you were!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Dean, There are 6 recording dates already arranged for the next series. December 18th, January 12th & 18th. The Christmas show was a hoot. Pam's a delight. Gyles is his own man but if I had to classify him in the JAM archetype way I'd say he is a hybrid between Derek & Kenneth who swings this way and that - and I really mean swing !
The books going well.All the research I've been doing over the last dozen or so years has been coming in very handy. Nicholas is still on a high after his 90th birthday celebrations and he's very pleased how Junior Jam's been recieved. JAM is so unique. I can't think of another entertainment format that is so adaptable. 'One Minute Please' proved what could happen when you mixed professional performers with other types. As long as they're not shrinking violets and can achieve a good standard of fluency anything is possible. Look at Gerard Hoffnung, Jack Sherry and Margot Holden. Jack Sherry was an Irish groundsman at the Highgate Golf Course who wrote in to Ian and asked for an audition for 'One Minute Please'. Because of his ability to speak very fast indeed he became a regular guest. The final series (the fourth) of O.M.P. is interesting. Ian Messiter was a regular player on the men's team for all but 2 of the shows recorded. That means the only people who played both O.M.P. and J.A.M. were Ian, Richard, Jacqueline McKenzie (Jackie Forster), Anona Winn, Renee Houston and Jean Marsh. Teddie Beverley as you know has been on J.A.M. but she and her singing sisters made a one-off appearance as the 3 women jurists for difficult decisions that Roy Plomley couldn't make on O.M.P. .
Take care of yourself, don't work too hard and will write soon.
Best wishes Keith.

6:15 am  

Post a Comment

<< Home