Ian Cassan Messiter (2 April 1920 – 22 November 1999) was a BBC Radio producer and the creator of a number of panel games, including Just a Minute, Dealing With Daniels and Many a Slip. Messiter brought the successful twenty questions format to BBC Radio and was programme associate for Family Fortunes. 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), Ian Messiter described how an incident during a history lesson at Sherborne School became the inspiration for the Just a Minute radio panel-game. Ian 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" 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 External links Messiter's game show magic, Obituary of Ian Messiter BBC News Obituary of Ian Messiter in The Guardian 1920 births 1999 deaths People from Dudley BBC radio producers English radio producers People educated at Sherborne School