{{Short description|English radio producer (1920–1999)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2012}} '''Ian Cassan Messiter''' (2 April 1920 – 22 November 1999) was an English BBC Radio producer and the creator of a number of panel games, including ''Just a Minute'',<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book|last= Stevens|first= Christopher|title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams|publisher= John Murray|year= 2010|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5|page=370}}</ref> ''Dealing With Daniels'' and ''Many a Slip''. Messiter brought the successful ''twenty questions'' format to BBC Radio<ref name="Stevens"/> and was programme associate for ''Family Fortunes''.
== Biography == Ian Messiter was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, and educated at Winton House School, near Winchester, and Sherborne School in Dorset.
In his autobiography, ''My Life and Other Games'' (1990), Messiter described how an incident during a history lesson at Sherborne School became the inspiration for the ''Just a Minute'' radio panel-game.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-01-03|title=Just a Minute & Mr Parry-Jones|url=https://oldshirburnian.org.uk/just-a-minute-mr-parry-jones/|access-date=2020-10-10|website=The Old Shirburnian Society|language=en-GB}}</ref>
Messiter acted as whistle-blower on ''Just a Minute'', and its predecessor ''One Minute, Please''. He appeared in the first series of BBC science-fiction quiz show ''The Adventure Game'' in 1980 as the Rangdo, the leader of the alien Argonds, and contributed ideas for puzzles in the series. He published his autobiography ''My Life and Other Games'' in 1990.
Nicholas Parsons stated that ''Just a Minute'' is "perhaps the most deceptively simple, enduring, popular and much-copied comedy game on radio or television anywhere".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ian-messiter-1128686.html|title=Obituary: Ian Messiter|date=1999-11-26|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2019-05-12}}</ref> In each edition, Messiter is acknowledged as the inventor of the game.
==Family== Messiter married Enid, née Senior. They had two children: a daughter, Susan, who lives in Cambridgeshire, and a son, Malcolm Messiter, who is an oboist.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/534931.stm Messiter's game show magic, Obituary of Ian Messiter] ''BBC News'' *[https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,3934437,00.html Obituary of Ian Messiter] in ''The Guardian''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Messiter, Ian}} Category:1920 births Category:1999 deaths Category:People from Dudley Category:BBC radio producers Category:English radio producers Category:People educated at Sherborne School