Happy birthday… Major Bloodnok?
Yes, today is the major’s birthday. Seagoon: Right. No mistakes this time. Put this bomb under it. Bloodnok: But they’ll hear it!...
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The Seagoon Memoirs
Chronicling a 21st century idiot's obsession with a 1950s radio comedy masterpiece.
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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.
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You can't get the wood, you know
The final episode of the fourth (and longest) Goon Show series was broadcast on 19 April 1954 – as proven by the Radio Times listing...
The crime of the century
Secombe: Every day sees new progress in the march of crime. Narrator (Sellers): Every 24 hours averages 367 robberies, 824 assaults, 942...
Mustard and cress sandwiches
Episode 24 of series four, broadcast on 8 March 1954, told the tragic story of ‘The Collapse of the British Railway Sandwich System’....
Goon mountaineering, pt. 94
‘The Greatest Mountain in the World’ was broadcast on 1 March 1954 as episode 23 of the fourth series. It is listed in the Radio Times...
Ink-apable, and other jokes
The Goons recounted the story of ‘The Great Ink Drought of 1902’ in episode 22 of the fourth series. Broadcast on 22 February 1954 at...
A French Greenslade and a disappearing library
Inspector Albert Secombe investigated ‘The Case of the Vanishing Room’ for the 21st episode of the fourth series of the Goon Show. The...
The Kippered Herring Gang
Back to our regular schedule today. We’ve made it to episode 19 of the fourth series: ‘The Kippered Herring Gang’, broadcast on 5...
The Mummified Priest
‘The Mummified Priest’ was episode 17 of the fourth series. It was originally broadcast on 22 January 1954, and is listed in the Radio...
The Missing Prime Minister
Episode 15 of the fourth series told the story of ‘The Missing Prime Minister’. Insert your own Boris Johnson jokes here. The episode was...
Canned Goons?
The Radio Times didn’t always ‘get’ the Goons. A case in point is this article from September 1958 previewing broadcasts of the Vintage...
The Dreaded Piano Clubber
Here it is folks! Series four, episode one: ‘The Dreaded Piano Clubber’. Broadcast on 2 October 1953, the Radio Times shows it at 9:30pm...
Vintage Goons and Japanese sparrows
The fourth series of The Goon Show launches tomorrow folks! A few notes about it before we get there. Several of these shows (14 in...
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