The Goon Show

The Goon Show was a hugely popular and extremely influential British radio comedy programme, which was originally produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1951 to 1960 on the BBC Home Service.

Later revivals

The future members of Monty Python were fans, and they have on many occasions expressed their collective debt to Milligan and The Goons, but ironically their famous TV series over-shadowed Milligan's later anarchic TV efforts (such as the "Q" series) – even though the Python team have credited Milligan and especially Q as being the source of two key Python features – sketches didn't have to be "about" real subjects and they didn't have to follow conventional structures, particularly in respect to ending sketches without the traditional punchline.

Related Topics:
Monty Python - Q - Punchline

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However although Python now seems to be the more quoted, it is fair to say that virtually all British alternative comedy in its modern form is based on the model created for The Goon Show by Milligan. The Goons also had a considerable influence on the humour of The Beatles, and especially the writing of John Lennon. Interestingly, The Goons and The Beatles both worked considerably with record producer George Martin.

Related Topics:
The Beatles - John Lennon - George Martin

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The Telegoons (1963–1964) was a 15-minute BBC puppet show featuring the voices of Milligan, Secombe and Sellers and adapted from the radio scripts. The series has not been repeated since its original run although some episodes are known to survive (having been unofficially released on the Internet).

Related Topics:
1963 - 1964 - BBC

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In 1964, Milligan, Secombe and Sellers lent their voices to a comedy LP, How to Win an Election (or Not Lose by Much), which was written by Leslie Bricusse. It was not exactly a Goons reunion because Sellers was in Hollywood and had to record his lines separately. The album was reissued on CD in 1997.

Related Topics:
1964 - Leslie Bricusse - Hollywood - 1997

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They made a number of records including "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas" (originally sung by Milligan in the show to fill in during a musicians' strike), "Bloodnok's Rock and Roll Call" (the first British record with the word "rock" in its title) and its B-side "The Ying Tong Song", which was reissued as an A-side in the mid-1970s and became a surprise novelty hit.

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In the movies the following were a product of Goon activity:

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• Let's Go Crazy (1951)
• Penny Points to Paradise (1951)
• Down Among the Z Men (1952) (with Bentine)
• The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (1956) (a two-reeler starring Milligan, Sellers and Dick Emery)
• The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959) (a surreal one-reeler short subject starring Milligan and Sellers and directed by Dick Lester)

In 1972, the Goons reunited to perform The Last Goon Show of All for radio and television, before an invited audience that didn't, however, include long-time fan HRH The Prince of Wales (who was out of the country on duty with the Royal Navy at the time). The show was broadcast on BBC television and radio, and eventually released in stereo on a CD.

Related Topics:
1972 - HRH The Prince of Wales - Royal Navy - Stereo

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The last time all three Goons worked together was in 1978 when they recorded two new songs, "The Raspberry Song" and "Rhymes". Sellers died in 1980.

Related Topics:
1978 - 1980

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In 2001 the BBC recorded a "new" The Goon Show, Goon Again, featuring Andrew Secombe (son of Harry), Jon Glover and Jeffrey Holland, with Christopher Timothy (son of Andrew Timothy) announcing, based on two unpreserved series 3 episodes from 1953, "The Story of Civilisation" and "The Plymouth Ho Armada", both written by Milligan and Stephens.

Related Topics:
2001 - Andrew Secombe - Jon Glover - Jeffrey Holland - Christopher Timothy

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