The Goon Show was a British radio comedy program, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast between May and September 1951, was titled Crazy People; all subsequent series had the overall title The Goon Show.

The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. 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 afterward. Many elements of the show satirised contemporary life in Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military, education, class structure, literature and film.

The show was released internationally through the BBC Transcription Service. It was heard regularly from the 1950s in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Canada, although these TS versions were edited to avoid controversial subjects.NBC began broadcasting the programme on its radio network from the mid-1950s. The programme exercised a considerable influence on the subsequent development of British and American comedy and popular culture. It was cited as a major influence by the Monty Python team and the American comedy team The Firesign Theater.

Background

The series was devised and written by Spike Milligan with the regular collaboration of other writers including (singly) Larry Stephens, Eric Sykes, Maurice Wiltshire and John Antrobus, initially under the watchful eye of Jimmy Grafton (KOGVOS - Keeper of the Goons and Voice of Sanity). There were ten series overall, plus an additional series called 'Vintage Goons'. The 1st series had 17 episodes plus 1 special, Cinderella (1951); the 2nd series had 25 episodes, (1952); the 3rd series had 25 episodes plus 1 special - The Coronation Special (1952-53); the 4th series had 30 episodes plus 1 special, Archie In Goonland (1953-54); the 5th series had 26 episodes plus 1 special - The Starlings (1954-55); the 6th series had 27 episodes plus 3 specials,(1955-56); the 7th series had 25 episodes plus 2 specials, (1956-57); the 8th series had 26 episodes, (1957-58); the Vintage Goons were re-performances of 14 episodes from series 4; the 9th series had 17 episodes, (1958-59); and the 10th series had 6 episodes, (1959-1960).

Milligan and Harry Secombe became friends while serving in the Royal Artillery during World War II. Famously, Milligan first encountered 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 see a gun?' It was Milligan..." Spike met Peter Sellers after the war at the Hackney Empire, where Secombe was performing, and the three became close friends.

The group first formed at Jimmy Grafton's London Pub called "Grafton's" in the late 40's. Sellers had already dιbuted 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, and 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 tape recorder. The BBC producer, Pat Dixon heard a tape and took interest in the group. He pressed the BBC for a long term contract for the boys, knowing that that would secure Sellers for more than just seasonal work, (something the BBC had been aiming for), and the BBC acquiesced and ordered a series - though without much enthusiasm. Milligan proceeded to deconstruct and reconstruct the conventional radio comedy.

The listening figures grew rapidly throughout the series, from an average of 370,000 to nearly 2 million by the end of the 17th show. The BBC commissioned a further series and then a series of changes occurred. Michael Bentine left the show citing a desire to pursue solo projects (although there had been an increasing degree of creative tension between himself and Milligan) the musical interludes were shortened and Max Geldray joined the line up. The arrival of Peter Eton from the BBC's drama department also brought a stricter sense of discipline to the show's production. He was an expert at sound effects and microphone technique and ensured that the show became a far more dynamic listening experience. The third series was the first series officially called 'The Goon Show'.

Spike blamed the collapse of his first marriage on the sheer volume of writing the show required, which also exacerbated his mental instability that included manic-depressive psychosis, especially during the 3rd 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 health problems were skillfully covered over by composite scripts written in a very convincing Milliganesque style. Many senior BBC staff were bemused 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.

This show was very popular in Britain in its heyday; tickets for the recording sessions at the BBC's Aeolian Hall studio 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 – as of October 2008 it is still being broadcast once a week by the ABC in Australia, as well as on BBC 7; and it has exerted a singular influence over succeeding generations of comedians and writers, most notably the creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Beatles' movies.

Unfortunately, the BBC as part of its archival policy, destroyed most of series 1, 2, 3 and some of 4. All of series 5 - 10 exist, and the Corporation is gradually releasing them, remastered and restored by Ted Kendall. Bootleg copies of all extant episodes exist on the web - (the show was widely recorded by devotees), including the first 2 episodes of series 2, which the BBC had destroyed. The extant copies, and released discs are confused by the show existing in 2 formats - the original, and the Transcription Service edition. The TS version was the most widely circulated until the recent series of re-releases.

The scripts exist mostly in only transcribed versions via dedicated websites.

Format

The principal parts were performed by Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. The first two seasons also featured Michael Bentine, the singing group The Stargazers, but both left during the second series. The show went on to feature musical intermissions from singer Ray Ellington and his quartet, and virtuoso jazz harmonica player Max Geldray. The BBC announcer Andrew Timothy, succeeded by Wallace Greenslade in the 3rd series, provided spoken links as well as occasionally performing small roles in the scripts.

The principal roles were - Neddie Seagoon - Secombe; Eccles - Milligan; Bluebottle - Sellers; Henry Crun - Sellers; Minnie Bannister - Milligan; Grytpype Thynne - Sellers; Moriarty - Milligan; Major Bloodnok - Sellers. Secondary characters were the Indians Banerjee and Lalkaka, the servant Abdul/Singez Thingz, Willium, Cyril, Jim Spriggs, Little Jim, Flowerdew and Chief Ellinga/The Red Bladder - both played by Ray Ellington. The traditional plots involved Grytpype and Moriarty seducing Neddie Seagoon into participating in some far fetched plan, and meeting the other cast members along the way.

Surrealism

Broadly the Goon Show engaged in 'sound cartooning'. That is creating cartoons by means of sounds - voices, sound effects -(FX), gramophone recordings of noises - (GRAMS), orchestral effects etc, all performed live in front of a studio audience. In the scripts themselves, Milligan explored the use of 'subject transference'. Particularly he used three methods - transference of time, transference of place and transference of utility.

Examples are; Transference of time. If time causes calendars, calendars can cause time. If you drop a bundle of 1918 calendars on German troops in 1916, then they will all go home, thus shortening the war. (World War One, 22nd episode/ 8th series.) Two other shows with extreme examples of time transference are The Treasure in the Tower, 5th episode/8th series; and The Mysterious Punch Up the Conker, 19th episode/7th series. (The famous 'What time is it Eccles?' scene.)

Transference of place; if one lives in a house, and one can say that someone lives in their clothes, then the two are interchangeable. Therefore a recurring theme in the shows is of someone living in the basement of someone else's clothes, or of someone taking the lift up and down inside someones suit. (eg: "What are you doing in my trousers?? - 'Slumming!') The best example of this is in The Policy, 9th/ 8th series. Doors give you entrance into a different place, so a door can transport you anywhere. A door in the Himalayas can take you back to London etc.

Transference of utility is one of the great delights of the show. Milligan swapped functions between objects haphazardly and to great comic effect. Pianos become vehicles of transportation, theatre organs become divining machines, two bananas become binoculars, Eccles becomes an omnibus (Rommel's Treasure, 6/6th - "My, he's running well.") gorillas become cigarettes, ("Have one of my monkeys - they're milder."), photographs of money become legal tender etc.

Additionally, Milligan played games with the medium itself. Whole scenes were written in which characters would leave, close the door behind themselves, yet still be inside the room. Further to this, characters would announce their departure, slam a door, but it would be another character who had left the room. That character would then beat on the door for readmittance, the door would open and close and again the wrong character would be locked out. Spike also specialised in writing long scenes where a pair of characters would discuss a subject in a circle, coming back to the point they started. The best example is in The Great Tuscan Salami Scandal 23rd episode/ 6th series, in a scene between Minnie and Henry.

The settings for the shows were a revolution in themselves. Rather than the tepid everyday world of Britain in the 50's, Milligan set most of the shows in foreign locations, especially India, North Africa, South America, the Wild West, even the south-east coast of England, places where he had lived or had been posted during WWII, or had been fascinated with when a boy. It gives the shows a 'boys-own-story' atmosphere to the plots, and also an extraordinary sense of realism. The episodes set during wartime, and those located in India are particularly poignant, highlighting the absurdist humour played out against the realistic backdrops they provide.

Apart from the background, and the scripts, is the question of violence. Milligan had been blown up at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the war, and weekly he would blow up either Bluebottle, Eccles, or the whole cast.(The whole cast is blown up in - eg: The Sale of Manhattan, 11th episode/6th series.) Bombs, cannons, dynamite, TNT; anything and everything was used. Eccles breaks his leg in Shangri La Again, 8th/6th series. How? "I just got a big hammer and went WHACK!" This was weekly fare. The most violent episode is considered to be The Last Tram, 9th/5th series, where the cast and announcer belt each other with shovels for the last 2 minutes of the show.

The Goon Show paved the way for surreal and alternative humour. Many of the sequences have been cited as being visionary in the way that they challenged the traditional conventions of comedy.

Music and sound effects

Orchestral introductions, links and accompaniment was provided by a picked group of 12 - 13 London session musicians working casually for the BBC. The arrangements and musical direction was done by Wally Stott (later known as Angela Morley), from the 3rd to the 10th series. She produced some excellent arrangements and link passages, made better by the first class sound quality the BBC engineers managed to achieve.

Musical intermissions were provided by the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray, who performed mostly middle of the road numbers, plus many classics from the 30's and 40's. But it was in the sound effects department that the show broke the most new ground. Long and acrimonious shouting matches occurred between Spike and the BBC as he tried to get his own way. Was he a diva? "I was in the Goon Show days," he told Dick Lester. " I was trying to shake the BBC out of its apathy. Sound effects were 'a knock on the door and tramps on gravel' - that was it, and I tried to transform it." Using techniques already developed by the drama department, he went on the give the show an indelible sense of reality, going out of his way to achieve maximum believability by the use of FX and GRAMS, making the show the first comedic show of its kind to try actively to persuade the listeners that the happenings were real.

Many of the sound effects created for later programs featured innovative production techniques borrowed from the realm of musique concrθte, and using the then new technology of magnetic tape. Many of these sequences involved the use of complex multiple edits, echo and reverberation and the deliberate slowing down, speeding up or reversing of tapes. One of the most famous was the sound effect created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to represent the sound of Major Bloodnok's digestive system in action, which included a variety of inexplicable gurgling and explosive noises. This effect kept turning up on later comedy shows, and can even be heard on a track by The Orb.

Cast members and characters

• Harry Secombe's Characters

Major: Neddie Seagoon

Minor: Uncle Oscar • Private Bogg • Nugent Dirt • Izzy • Welshmen • Yorkshiremen

• Spike Milligan's Characters

Major: Eccles • Minnie Bannister • Count Jim Moriarty

Minor: Throat • Little Jim • Spriggs • Yakamoto • Cor blimey • Thingz • Hugh Jampton • Fu Manchu

• Peter Sellers' Characters

Major: Major Bloodnok • Hercules Grytpype-Thynne • Bluebottle • Henry Crun

Minor: Cynthia • Willium "Mate" Cobblers • Mr Lalkaka • Eidelberger • Flowerdew • Cyril • Fred Nurke • Gladys • Lew/Ernie Cash • Churchill • Hearn • And more...

• Michael Bentine's Characters

Prof. Osric Pureheart and more

• Other cast members
• Guest cast members