Nicholas Parsons is “on the mend” and will return to the stage next month after time off from work due to a bad back.
The 95-year-old broadcaster missed a recording of his BBC Radio 4 Just A Minute show for only the second time in more than 50 years earlier this month.
He also pulled out of his three scheduled Happy Hour performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and was replaced by Just A Minute panellist Fred MacAulay.
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who acts as a stand-in presenter for Parsons on Just A Minute, tweeted: “Good news. The great Nicholas Parsons is very much on the mend.
Good news. The great Nicholas Parsons is very much on the mend. He's taking a couple of weeks' break from Just A Minute, but on Saturday 14 September he'll be back to stage at the Richmond Theatre for a special matinee in the run-up to his 96th birthday: https://t.co/1JFA22Tl6N
— Gyles Brandreth (@GylesB1) August 19, 2019
“He’s taking a couple of weeks’ break from Just A Minute, but on Saturday 14 September he’ll be back to stage at the Richmond Theatre for a special matinee in the run-up to his 96th birthday.”
Parsons and Brandreth are due to appear in a show called Nicholas Parsons And Gyles Brandreth – Just A Minute Or Two!, which will celebrate their 50-year friendship with “varied tales from their different careers”.
Parsons was replaced by Brandreth for the recording of two episodes of the comedy radio programme in Edinburgh.
It was only the second time in 52 years that the veteran broadcaster had been absent from the programme.
Parsons has fronted the show, where panellists have to speak for one minute without hesitation, deviation or repetition, since its inception in 1967.
He missed an episode for the first time last year due to a bout of flu.