(Is it possible that, just as Gareth Southgate caused a sales bump for waistcoats after he wore them on the World Cup touchlines, so the death of Nicholas Parsons might provoke a spike in neckwear sales? Even on Just a Minute, Parsons’ sweetness was his weakness. While Williams often snarlingly put down Parsons and threw needy mock-tantrums, the host remained unruffled, or at least appeared so. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nicholas Parsons (centre) with Aimi McDonald, Peter Jones, Kenneth Williams and Clement Freud for Radio Times in 1971. Photograph: Radio Times/Getty ImagesIndeed, Parsons’ persona on radio – the posh straight man, the nice but somewhat dim public schoolboy (Parsons attended St Paul’s School) – was once commonplace in British broadcasting.

Source: The Guardian January 28, 2020 15:45 UTC