Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation

Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation

My Life in Comedy

Summary

Nicholas Parsons enjoyed a long and varied career encompassing theatre, television, film and radio. He was perhaps best known as the straight man to Arthur Haynes in the '60s, as the presenter of Sale of the Century in the '70s and as the chairman of the long-running Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute.

Along the way, he performed impersonations in the lavatories of a Clydebank engineering yard during the war, was the voice of a Gerry Anderson Texan sheriff, roller-skated in Charlie Girl at the Victoria Palace and appeared in a series of Doctor Who. His comedy chat show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ran for eighteen consecutive years.

In My Life In Comedy, Nicholas recalls an extraordinary career that led him to star on the West End stage, work with some of Britain's finest comedians, including Kenneth Williams, Tony Hancock, Benny Hill and Paul Merton, and appear in stockings and suspenders in The Rocky Horror Show.

Funny, thoughtful and at times moving, Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation celebrates a fascinating life in comedy.

About the author

Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in 1923 and moved to London with his family at the age of eight. His career in entertainment spanned eight decades and, in 2004, he was awarded an OBE for his services to drama and broadcasting. He died in January 2020 after a short illness.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more