Parsons made an extraordinary contribution to film, TV and radio over a 74-year career which saw him host the BBC Radio 4 programme since its inception in 1967 and the long-running ITV game show Sale Of The Century.
The broadcaster, who had been married to his second wife Ann since 1995 and received a CBE in 2014 for services to charity, become a television regular on The Benny Hill Show following his acting debut in 1946.
Fellow BBC presenters lined up to pay tribute, with Graham Norton saying his death was 'the sound of the final whistle', referring to the end of a round on Just A Minute, and Nick Robinson calling him a 'broadcasting giant'.
Parsons, who was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, was best known for the long-running Radio 4 show where panellists have to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition.
There have been more than 900 episodes of the show – and he missed a recording for the first time ever in June 2018 because of flu, and then another in August last year due to a back problem.
His last episode first aired on September 16 last year and the show is currently between series. The broadcast was episode eight of series 85, and it was last broadcast on Radio 4 Extra on October 1 last year.
Today, his agent Jean Diamond said: 'Nicholas passed away in the early hours of January 28 after a short illness at the age of 96. He was with his beloved family who will miss him enormously and who wish to thank the wonderful staff at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital.'
Among those paying tribute was BBC Director-General Tony Hall, who said: 'Very few people have done so much to entertain audiences over the decades, and no one deserves to be called a broadcasting legend more than Nicholas Parsons.
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