The Goon Show


The Goon Show is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The show ran for ten series, with an additional Vintage Goons series produced at the same time as series 8. Series 1 was titled Crazy People, while all subsequent series were titled The Goon Show. A one-off 1972 reunion episode, The Last Goon Show of All, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 with a simultaneous television broadcast on BBC Two.
The show's creator and primary writer was Spike Milligan, who performed in the series alongside Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of [|bizarre sound effects]. There were also light music interludes. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which were reused by other shows for decades. Elements of the show satirised contemporary life in 1950s Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, geography, the military, education, class structure, literature and film.
The show was released internationally through the BBC Transcription Services. It aired regularly from the 1950s in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, and Canada, although these TS versions were frequently edited to avoid controversial subjects. In the United States, NBC began broadcasting the programme on its radio network from the mid-1950s.
Subversive and absurdist, The Goon Show exercised a considerable influence on the development of British and American comedy and popular culture. It was cited as a major influence by the Beatles, the American comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre,:4,5,61 and the British comedy troupe Monty Python.

Background

The series was devised and written by Spike Milligan with the regular collaboration of other writers including Larry Stephens, Eric Sykes, Maurice Wiltshire and John Antrobus, initially under the supervision of Jimmy Grafton.
Milligan and Harry Secombe became friends while serving in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. Famously, Milligan first encountered Lance Bombardier Secombe after Gunner Milligan's artillery unit accidentally allowed a large howitzer to roll off a cliff, under which Secombe was sitting in a small wireless truck: "Suddenly there was a terrible noise as some monstrous object fell from the sky quite close to us. There was considerable confusion, and in the middle of it all the flap of the truck was pushed open and a young, helmeted idiot asked 'Anybody seen a gun?' It was Milligan." Secombe's answer to that question was "What colour was it?" After the war, Secombe met Michael Bentine at the Windmill Theatre, after which they met Peter Sellers at the recording of a BBC radio series titled Third Division. Bentine introduced Sellers to Milligan at the Hackney Empire, where Secombe was performing, and the four became close friends.:20
The group first formed at The Grafton Arms Pub & Rooms, 2 Strutton Ground, Victoria, London, Jimmy Grafton's London public house in 1948. Sellers had already débuted with the BBC. Secombe was often heard on Variety Bandbox. Milligan was writing for and acting in the high-profile BBC show Hip-Hip-Hoo-Roy with Derek Roy. Bentine had just begun appearing in Charlie Chester's peak-time radio show Stand Easy.
The four clicked immediately. "It was always a relief to get away from the theatre and join in the revels at Grafton's on a Sunday night," said Secombe years later. They took to calling themselves "The Goons" and started recording their pub goings-on with a Pickersgill aluminium disk recorder. BBC producer Pat Dixon heard a recording and took interest in the group. He pressed the BBC for a long-term contract for the gang, knowing that it would secure Sellers for more than just seasonal work, something for which the BBC had been aiming. The BBC acquiesced and ordered an initial series, though without much enthusiasm.
The series, under the title Crazy People, had its premiere in May 1951 and audience figures grew rapidly, from around 370,000 to nearly two million by the end of the 17th show. During each episode, musical interludes would be provided by the Ray Ellington Quartet and The Stargazers. No recordings of any episode of this series are known to have survived. The BBC commissioned a second series and a number of changes occurred. The show's title was changed to The Goon Show, musical interludes were shortened, Max Geldray joined the musical lineup, and the Stargazers left partway through the series.
Bentine left the show at the end of series 2, citing a desire to pursue solo projects, although there had been an increasing degree of creative tension between him and Milligan. As well as the departure of Bentine, series 3 brought a change of producer, with Peter Eton, from the BBC's drama department, replacing Dennis Main Wilson. Eton brought stricter discipline to the show's production. He was also an expert at sound effects and microphone technique, ensuring that the show became a far more dynamic listening experience. A few episodes into the series Milligan suffered a major nervous breakdown. He was hospitalised in early December 1952,:136-139 just before the broadcast of episode five, but it, and the following episode, had already been written, and the next 12 episodes were co-written by Stephens and Grafton. Milligan was absent as a performer for about two months, returning for episode 17, broadcast in early March 1953.
Milligan blamed his breakdown and the collapse of his first marriage on the sheer volume of writing the show required. His then ground-breaking use of sound effects also contributed to the pressure. All this exacerbated his mental instability that included bipolar disorder, especially during the third series. The BBC however made sure he was surrounded by accomplished radio comedy writers—Sykes, Stephens, Antrobus, Wiltshire, and Grafton—so many of the problems caused by his ill health were skilfully covered over by composite scripts.
Many senior BBC staff were variously bemused and befuddled by the show's surreal humour and it has been reported that senior programme executives erroneously referred to it as The Go On Show or even The Coon Show. The show's title was inspired, according to Spike Milligan, by Alice the Goon, a character from the Popeye comic.
Several of the Goons' nonsense songs were recorded in the late 1950s such as the "Ying Tong Song", number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1956. The radio show had high audience ratings in Britain at its peak; tickets for the recording sessions at the BBC's Camden Theatre in London were constantly over-subscribed and the various character voices and catchphrases from the show quickly became part of the vernacular. The series has remained consistently popular ever since, with the show being broadcast weekly by Australia's ABC network as late as 2012. The show is also broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
The scripts exist mostly in fan-transcribed versions via dedicated websites. Although three books were published containing selected scripts, they are out of print, and typically available only in libraries or second-hand. Some more recent biographical books contain selected scripts.
There were 10 series in total, plus an additional series called Vintage Goons, recorded at the same time as the eighth series, which comprised re-recordings of early shows which had not been recorded by transcription services. The first series had 17 episodes plus one special, Cinderella; the second series had 25 episodes; the third series had 25 episodes plus one special, The Coronation Special; the fourth series had 30 episodes plus one special, Archie In Goonland; the fifth series had 26 episodes plus one special, The Starlings; the sixth series had 27 episodes plus three specials; the seventh series had 25 episodes plus two specials; the eighth series had 26 episodes; the Vintage Goons series comprised re-performances of 14 episodes from series four; the ninth series had 17 episodes; and the tenth series had six episodes. A one-off reunion special, The Last Goon Show of All, was recorded and broadcast in 1972.

Format

Throughout its history, each episode of The Goon Show, which usually ran just under 30 minutes, was essentially structured as a comedy-variety programme, consisting of scripted comedy segments alternating with musical interludes.
The first two series were mostly produced by Dennis Main Wilson; none of the episodes was given an individual title and these early shows were loosely structured and consisted of four or five unconnected sketches, separated by musical items. According to later producer Peter Eton, the musical segments took up around half the programme.:113 In this formative phase the show co-starred Milligan, Sellers, Secombe and Bentine, with the latter playing the nominal 'hero' of each episode, madcap inventor Dr Osric Pureheart.:124 Musical performances were by virtuoso jazz harmonica player Max Geldray, singer Ray Ellington and his quartet and vocal group the Stargazers, but the latter left after Episode 6 of Series 2, and for the remaining episodes Secombe filled in, singing a straight vocal number.:124 Incidental, theme and backing music was provided by Stanley Black and the BBC Dance Orchestra.:127 Series 2 saw the show officially change its title from Crazy People to The Goon Show as well as featuring the first appearance of popular characters Minnie Bannister and Henry Crun. Bentine left the show after the second series.
From Series 3, The Goon Show gradually settled into its 'classic' format. Milligan, Stephens and Grafton began to work within a narrative structure and by the second half of Series 4 each episode typically consisted of three acts linked by a continuing plot,:143 with Geldray performing between Acts I and II and Ellington between Acts II and III. Almost all of the principal and occasional characters were now performed by Milligan and Sellers, with Secombe usually playing only Neddie Seagoon, who had replaced Pureheart as the hero of most of the stories. The closing theme, backing for Geldray and incidental music was now provided by a big band of freelance musicians under the direction of Angela Morley, who had been writing for the show since the first series.:127 After the end of Series 3, original announcer Andrew Timothy was replaced by Wallace Greenslade,:127 who provided spoken narrative links as well as occasionally performing small roles in the scripts.
From Series 3 onwards, the principal character roles were:
  • Neddie Seagoon
  • Eccles
  • Bluebottle
  • Henry Crun
  • Minnie Bannister
  • Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
  • Count Jim Moriarty
  • Major Dennis Bloodnok
Secondary characters were the "Indians", Banerjee and Lalkaka, the servant Abdul/Singez Thingz, Willium "Mate" Cobblers, Cyril, Jim Spriggs, Little Jim, Flowerdew and Chief Ellinga/The Red Bladder – both played by Ray Ellington. There were also occasional guest stars including senior BBC announcer John Snagge, and actors Valentine Dyall, Dick Emery, Kenneth Connor, Dennis Price and Bernard Miles. The traditional plots involved Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty getting Neddie Seagoon involved in some far-fetched plan, and meeting the other cast members along the way.
Many characters had regular catchphrases which quickly moved into the vernacular; among the best known are:
  • "He's fallen in the water!"
  • "You dirty, rotten swine, you! You have deaded me!"
  • "You can't get the wood, you know."
  • "You silly, twisted boy, you."
  • "You can't park 'ere, mate" – Milligan's dig at officious BBC commissionaires.
  • "Ying Tong Iddle I Po" – which became the basis for a novelty hit as "Ying Tong Song"