'Just a Minute' Game

When I was first introduced to this, it was called "Just a Minute", but it's not the same as the TV / radio show of that name and is probably more accurately described as "Who Is This?" or "The Name Game". 

An email was sent out, a couple of weeks ago, asking for people to send me the names of two famous people; they could be dead or alive, recent or historical, but had to be real people. The responses were an eclectic mix of authors, actors, sportsmen, explorers and royalty amongst others, although musicians / singers and politicians dominated; there was only one duplicate (Beethoven).  I added some scientists, chefs, fashion designers, artists, entertainers, TV personalities and historical figures, plus some more authors and actors, to the list, ensuring there were male and female names in each category where possible. Each was printed on individual squares of paper.  

This evening - 31st August 2025 - the group divided into two teams, with each sat in a row, facing the other team. To determine which team would go first, I gave a clue to someone chosen by myself (cigar-smoking, p****, who was actively involved with Stoke Mandeville) - which was correctly guessed by the team on my left as Jimmy Saville. The first person in Team A was handed the first piece of paper and had to describe the named person so that their team guessed who it was. Saying "sounds like" or "rhymes with" isn't allowed and nor can you pass so, if you have no idea who the person is or what they did, you have to be creative with your clues to guide your team to the correct name. As soon as the correct answer was guessed, another piece of paper was handed over. After one minute, time was up and the unguessed name went to the bottom of the pile. The first person is Team B was given the next name to describe to their team. Again, one minute to successfully describe as many people as possible. We then came back to Team A and person two in the row, and so on until all 54 names had been correctly identified.  Some were easy, but who knew that Steve Redgrave is a cyclist? (actually, Trevor did, as he guessed that his team mate knew nothing about sport and shouted out the sportsperson that he'd actually suggested) or that Stevie Nicks is male? or that Julius Caesar was Greek?  Walter Raleigh also got the bicycle treatment, Princess Charlotte was linked to fruit with no-one thinking to say she's William and Kate's daughter, Ellen Terry was described using nappies and Billy Joel may now forever be associated with goats. It took a few rounds before Elon Musk was correctly identified, possibly because no-one mentioned Tesla. 

For round two, the papers were shuffled and we continued down the line, alternating between Team A and Team B, for one minute each - but this time the person standing at the front could only use one word and their team was only allowed one guess. If they got it wrong, the piece of paper went back to the end of the pile and another name was passed over to describe in one word. It helps to have paid attention to the clues given (and the answers) in the first round, but at least you can pass in this round if you have no idea. In my example, I pointed out that 'cigar' for Jimmy Saville wouldn't help much as it could also apply to Groucho Marx so 'Mandeville' would be a better clue. Clearly my suggestion didn't sink in though, as 'author' gave the team a 1 in 5 chance, 'chef' didn't help narrow it down between Delia Smith or Gordon Ramsey (yet Norwich and 'swears' had both been mentioned in round one), 'clothing' could be Ralph Lauren or Coco Chanel (again, 'Polo' and 'dress' were mentioned in round one and that's how they were eventually identified), 'French' could be Claude Monet, Coco Chanel, Brigitte Bardot or Marie Antoinette and 'beheaded' applied to Anne Boleyn and Marie Antoinette.  We also learned who hadn't paid attention in the first round when answers such as Charles Dickens and Vincent Van Gogh were shouted out - they weren't ever on the list. 

In round three, you had to mime. Richard crawling on the floor, trying to be a 'cat in the hat' for Dr Seuss was hilarious, blowing the bl**dy doors off for Michael Caine was mistaken for Guy Fawkes, smoking a cigarette (tobacco) for Walter Raleigh was guessed as Groucho Marx (should have gone for the cycling action!), attempts at miming a crown on the head for Queen Elizabeth II and for Princess Charlotte might have worked if a similar headpiece mime wasn't also used for Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Julius Caesar and, oddly, Dawn French (presumably linked to the Vicar of Dibley). Miming writing was variously used for Dick Francis, Bill Bryson, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace and Carol Vorderman, so wasn't a huge help.  An asp biting Cleopatra was well acted (if you knew the answer) but obviously wasn't clear the first time round - when it came round again and was mimed to the same team, the person who'd acted almost the exact same mime was able to guess it immediately. At least Lewis Hamilton was relatively easy, once Jeremy Clarkson had been discounted and so were Charles Darwin (ape to man), Bruce Lee (karate kick) and Martina Navratilova (I should have added a male tennis player to the list!).  

We didn't quite get through them all - Michelle Obama, Tony Blair, Ellen Terry and Nelson Mandela proved too difficult to mime - before our evening had to be brought to an end, but it was good fun and I'd certainly like to thank all the participants for making me laugh so much, even if that wasn't the intent.  One person's idea of 'famous' isn't the same as another's and there were a few names in the pile that were unknown to many in the group, which made it very interesting. However, I can't criticise as I had no idea who Ellen Terry was.  

Jill S., 31st July 2025