Spike and Eric
Eric Sykes first met Spike Milligan briefly at the Grafton Arms, where everybody in entertainment met, seemingly. However, it wasn’t...
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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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The Booted Gorilla
On 30 November 1954, the Goons investigated the mystery of ‘The Booted Gorilla’. Broadcast at 8:30pm on the Home Service, its footprints...
The Last Tram
Goonland’s last tram rolled back to the depot on 23 November 1954, as broadcast at 8:30pm on the Home Service and detailed on page 20 of...
Pull up a bollard
Seagoon: I just read your offer in the paper about the Marie Celeste. Grytpype: That was inserted in 1910, 44 years ago! Seagoon: My...
Musical Interlude - part 3
Introducing DJ Neddie Seagoon, playing some classic Goon music. First up, Bluebottle's faithful cover version of 'Unchained Melody'....
Musical interlude - part 2
As Moriarty tells us on regular occasions, "you've got to go owww". Play it, Eccles. Don't forget the words. According to this 1957 song...
Musical interlude - part 1
Owing to work commitments, our run-through of Series 5 is taking a short break. Instead, I am tasking DJ Bluebottle with my collection of...
The Running, Jumping, and Standing Still Film
This 1959 silent(ish) comedy last for just over 10 minutes and is packed full of brilliant visual gags, from a musician playing at the...
The dreaded Lurgy
Okay all you Covid-19 conspiracy nuts, this one’s for you. I’ve been looking forward to writing about this episode. Many readers will...
A mound of batter puddings
A few days ago I wrote of the Terror of Bexhill-on-Sea: 'The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler'. You'll remember the predicament that Neddie...
The Canal
Valentine Dyall’s distinctive baritone voice had already made him quite famous by the mid-1950s. He had become known as The Man In Black,...
The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk
In yesterday’s blog about ‘The Affair of the Lone Banana’, I skipped over a joke that I’ve come to find rather troubling. I’ll attempt to...
Going Round the Bend
On this day in 1958, the Radio Times carried a preview supplement letting readers know the entertainment highlights they could expect...
‘This is my banana night!’
Fred Nurke is missing! An over-ripe banana, in a deserted Cannon Street shipping office, is the only clue to his whereabouts. Inspector...
'Lo, he cometh to us!'
On this day in 1979, Monty Python's cult film Life of Brian premiered in the UK. There was a huge amount of ridiculous controversy about...
Front page news
We interrupt Series 5 temporarily to bring the front cover of the Radio Times from this week in 1958. As you can see below, it features...
Wallace Greenslade’s tobacco kiosk
Since joining the Goons near the start of the fourth series, BBC announcer Wallace Greenslade had thrown himself whole-heartedly into the...
The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler
The early episodes of the fifth series show the Goons at their best. Strong plots and settled characterisation allow Milligan’s...
Death in the desert
Ladies and gentlepong, the Goons, in direct conflict with the British Arts Council, present number 23 in their series of six: Crimes my...
Operation Explodable Boot
The crimes you are about to hear have all been specially committed for this programme. The year is 1954, and the English national...
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