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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 (for the first two series) 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 Service (TS). 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, and the British comedy troupe Monty Python.
The series was devised and written by Spike Milligan, with the regular collaboration of other writers including; Larry Stephens (contributing to around 140 episodes), Eric Sykes (who co-wrote most of the episodes in Series 5), 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.
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.
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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 (for the first two series) 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 Service (TS). 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, and the British comedy troupe Monty Python.
The series was devised and written by Spike Milligan, with the regular collaboration of other writers including; Larry Stephens (contributing to around 140 episodes), Eric Sykes (who co-wrote most of the episodes in Series 5), 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.
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.