Goons, but not forgotten
IT IS 70 YEARS SINCE THE GOON SHOW CHANGED THE FACE OF BRITISH COMEDY. MARION McMULLEN EXAMINES ITS LAUGHTER LEGACY
RICHARD Henry Sellers, Terence Alan Patrick Sean Milligan and Harry Donald Secombe seemed an unlikely trio on paper, but as Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe they brought the muchneeded comedy of The Goons to post-war Britain.
Prince Charles was among the many listeners who were fans of the irreverent radio show and it introduced the nation to gloriously eccentric characters like Eddie Seagoon, Bluebottle, Eccles, Ernie Splutmuscle and Hercules Grytpype-Thynne.
The ground-breaking show also made popular catchphrases like “you have deaded me”, “you can’t park here, mate” and “he’s fallen in the water” while the half-hour comedies made full use of Peter Sellers’ talent for voices, Spike’s off-beat comedy and Harry Secombe’s engaging personality and famous giggle.
The first episode of The Goon Show was actually broadcast as Crazy People and went out on May 28, 1951. Michael Bentine also appeared in the early episodes and the Radio Times described it as “Radio’s own Crazy Gang ‘ The Goons’.” Producer Dennis Main Wilson wrote “the series is based upon a crazy type of fun evolved by four of our younger laughter-makers”.
Spike Milligan himself once said: “If I hadn’t written myself into The Goon Show, I’d never have been heard of.” Unfortunately no recordings of the first series are known to exist, but future episodes featured titles like The Affair Of The Lone Banana, Ye Bandits Of Sherwood Forest and The Phantom Head Shaver Of Brighton.
Spike wrote most of the scripts and more than 200 episodes were broadcast until the comedy favourite finally came to an end in 1960. However the trio were persuaded to reunite 12 years later for a radio special in 1972 that won the approval of members of the royal family like the Duke Of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret and Princess Anne. The Goons were joined by the Ray Ellington Quartet, The Stargazers, jazz harmonica player Max Geldray and announcer Andrew Timothy.
Spike wrote in his memoirs about meeting Harry Secombe for the first time when they were serving in the Western Desert during the Second World War. Gunner Spike’s 25-pounder gun had come loose from its placement and the recoil had sent it down a hill, narrowly missing men from another unit. Spike ran after it asking “Has anyone seen a gun?” To which Secombe simply asked “What colour?”
Their paths crossed again as part of the Combined Services Entertainment unit and they met Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine after the war and quickly realised they shared the same joy for absurd comedy. Harry said: “I suffer fools gladly because I am one of them.”
Spike himself said: “I spent many years laughing at Harry Secombe’s singing until someone told me that it wasn’t a joke.” Spike always loved taking a different comedy look at the world and once anonymously placed an advert in Private Eye’s lonely heart section saying “Wanted – rich, elderly widow – object, murder”. He received several replies.
He also loved creating unusual sound effects for The Goon Show and once admitted he asked one of the cooks in the BBC canteen if she could make him some custard.
She carefully prepared the dish only to watch in horror as Spike promptly took off his sock, poured the custard into it and then smashed it against a table to create the sploshing sound he wanted for the show.
All the Goons went on to enjoy solo success in their careers, but never forgot their early radio days. Peter Sellers sent a telegram to Spike in 1980 saying: “Dear Spike, I am desperate to have some real fun again with you and Harry. Please can we get together and write some more Goon Shows? We could place them anywhere. I don’t want any money – I will work for the sheer joy of being with you both again as we were Love Peter.”
A few weeks later a reunion dinner was planned with his fellow Goons, but Peter collapsed from a massive heart attack in his suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London and later died in hospital before he could meet them. The star of the Pink Panther films was 54 years old.
Fellow Goon, Harry, sang a hymn at Sellers’ funeral in Golders Green Crematorium, but his friend said goodbye with one final joke of his own. At his request, band leader Glenn Miller’s song, In The Mood, was played. It was a tune that all his friends knew he hated.
Spike once pointed out: “There is a time to live, a time to die, a time to laugh, and at no time are the three of them very far apart.”