Summer ’56 (part II): Everyone’s a Goon
The Goons truly were everywhere in the mid-1950s. Even when they weren’t there, anything mildly chaotic or confusing was compared to the...
top of page
The Seagoon Memoirs
Chronicling a 21st century idiot's obsession with a 1950s radio comedy masterpiece.
Home: Welcome
A digital
time capsule
Welcome, dear reader - pull up a bollard.
On 28 May 1951, four young men took to the airwaves on the BBC's Home Service to launch their unique brand of comedy on an unsuspecting world.
In the mid-1990s, an even younger idiot was introduced to recordings of their broadcasts - and there began a strange obsession crossing decades and generations.
The Seagoon Memoirs is an attempt to channel this obsession into something creative, chronicle the show's history, development and legacy, and in some small way contribute to preserving this masterpiece of British radio comedy.
Listen to me waffle on about the Goons on the excellent Goon Pod here. Alternatively, listen to more interesting people on other episodes of Goon Pod, including Jane Milligan, Al Murray, Dirk Maggs, and the cast of 'Spike!', the new Milligan/Goon-themed play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman.
Home: Text
Search
March in Goonland
Orme Court update - Michael Bentine - Griff Rhys Jones on Goon Pod - Hancock's Half Hour - Spike Down Under - Angela Morley - An Album...
Summer ’56 (part I): The Goons take over
With the top-notch musical gag that ended ‘The Man Who Never Was’ still echoing in the public’s ears, series seven of the Goon Show drew...
The Man Who Never Was
April the first, 1944. For the Allies, the first hope of victory was almost in sight. North Africa has been won with the aid of Lance...
My boots have exploded!
Greenslade: We present the awesome, fearful and, on the admission of the authors, incomprehensible story of... Milligan: Scradje! The...
Bringing Spike's poems to life
Spike Milligan once lamented that the Goons would be seen as his only achievement, leading his obituary to read: “Wrote the Goon Show and...
2023 in Goonland (so far)
Metal underwear up for sale – Spike in Stroud – Seagoon Down Under – Bentine in Watford – A Sellers movie revived – Sabrina! – Raquel...
Put down that sake
At 8:30pm on Tuesday 6 March 1956, the Goons told the story of ‘The Fear of Wages’ – an episode that Spike Milligan later named as his...
November in Goonland
This is a new idea - a monthly summary of Goon-related activity I've come across on the interwebs. Let me know in the comments below if...
The Treasure in the Lake
Episode 24 of the sixth series of the Goon Show was broadcast on 28 February 1956. The listing is in the significantly abridged...
I’d like to see them try that on television
By September 1956 the UK had experienced about a year of two television channels, ending the BBC’s post-war monopoly of the nascent...
There’s a song that I recall…
“There’s a song that I recall” – at least I thought I did until those crazy characters the Goons up and murdered it. The latest lunacy of...
Striking musicians and the birth of a hit single
In early 1956, television was reshaping the media landscape in the UK. As more and more households bought sets and commercial stations...
Eccles the Poodle
There are many curious things I've stumbled upon during my research for this blog, but this probably tops them all. It's true. In an...
Changes afoot
‘Tales of Old Dartmoor’, the 21st episode of the Goon Show’s sixth series, was also Peter Eton’s last as producer – at least for now....
The Choking Ho-*cough cough cough*
Warning: I started writing this while suffering from the Covid-type lurgy. Please wash your eyes before and after you read this, and...
Tales of Old Dartmoor
Sellers: What is a jail break? Milligan: Answer – a brake used for stopping jails! [FX: Pistol shot] Time to turn our attentions to one...
The Golden-Voiced Goon
On this day in 1955, mayhem came to Morecambe... Harry Secombe headlined a show at Morecambe's Winter Gardens, billed as "The...
Baffling the journalists
We’re rapidly approaching the 71st anniversary of the first Crazy People broadcast, on 28 May 1951. As the Goons and producer Dennis Main...
Happy birthday KOGVOS
On this day in 1916, Jimmy Grafton was born. During the war he was a major in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, and was...
Home: Blog2
bottom of page