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Image: The original line up of Ian Hislop, host Angus Deayton and Paul Merton, series 1 September 1990

The satirical news quiz Have I Got News for You began on 28 September 1990. Loosely based on the Radio 4 show The News Quiz, it was chaired by Angus Deayton and the team captains were Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Other panellists on the first show were Sandi Toksvig and Kate Saunders. The success of the programme prompted a move from 大象传媒 Two to 大象传媒 One in 2000 and provided the inspiration for an explosion of comedy quiz shows that continues to this day.

The guest panellists on Have I Got News for You are drawn from the varied worlds of entertainment, journalism and politics. They are frequently the object of ridicule themselves, if they are at all newsworthy. Deayton was replaced as chairman in 2002 after his private life became a tabloid news story. However the programme continued to thrive with a spectacular mixture of guest presenters, from Boris Johnson to Bruce Forsyth.

Merton and Hislop’s mutual admiration remains at the heart of the continued popularity of Have I Got News For You, whoever the guests are. The programme is generally merciless in its attack on public figures, but was praised for its sensitive tribute following the death of former Lib Dem Leader Charles Kennedy.

In 2011 Have I Got News for You won the British Comedy Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, the first time it had been given to a programme rather than an individual.