As soon as I heard the word today, I thought of “without hesitation, repetition, deviation” – the three cornerstones of an institutional UK comedy radio quiz called “Just a Minute”.

The plan was that one of the celebrity contestants had to speak for a minute on a particular subject (given to them by the host). It was very near impossible to speak for a whole minute (my mother could have done it 😉), although the attempts made for a hilarious show.

The BBC now has several radio stations, one of which is a talk station called Radio Four. This is the original format, reminiscent of a hundred years ago, and it is probably the most highbrow station in the UK today, but each weekday evening, from 6:30PM – 7PM, they have a Comedy Half Hour. Just a Minute fitted into this slot, once a week. I don’t know whether it still does – its longtime presenter, a guy called Nicholas Parsons (a legend in the UK) died earlier this year, aged 96.

There are many clips of this show on YouTube, but most of them are full, half-hour shows. But I found this short clip (under a minute), just to give a taster. We’ve all heard of Graham Norton, right?

for Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC), deviate.