I’d like to see them try that on television
By September 1956 the UK had experienced about a year of two television channels, ending the BBC’s post-war monopoly of the nascent...
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The Seagoon Memoirs
Chronicling a 21st century idiot's obsession with a 1950s radio comedy masterpiece.
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Welcome, dear reader - pull up a bollard.
UPDATE: JUNE 2024
I am in the process of transferring this blog to Substack. You'll find me at theseagoonmemoirs.substack.com, where you can read for free and sign up to receive new posts (twice a week) direct to your email.
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On 28 May 1951, four young men took to the airwaves on the BBC's Home Service to launch their unique brand of comedy on an unsuspecting world.
In the mid-1990s, an even younger idiot was introduced to recordings of their broadcasts - and there began a strange obsession crossing decades and generations.
The Seagoon Memoirs is an attempt to channel this obsession into something creative, chronicle the show's history, development and legacy, and in some small way contribute to preserving this masterpiece of British radio comedy.
Listen to me waffle on about the Goons on the excellent Goon Pod here. Alternatively, listen to more interesting people on other episodes of Goon Pod, including Jane Milligan, Al Murray, Dirk Maggs, and the cast of 'Spike!', the new Milligan/Goon-themed play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman.
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The House of Teeth
With ‘The Mighty Wurlitzer’ (Series 6 Episode 16), the Goons had demonstrated just how far they could push the BBC’s sound effects...
The Canal
Valentine Dyall’s distinctive baritone voice had already made him quite famous by the mid-1950s. He had become known as The Man In Black,...
Valentine Dyall’s lost weekend
Episode 13 of the first series was broadcast on 23 August 1951. Find it on page 28 of this week’s Radio Times below a rather fetching...
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