Confessions of a Secret Senna Pod Drinker
Seagoon: Help me. Help me. I'll make a clean breast of it. I'm an addict. I take three cups of senna-pod tea a day. Grytpype: Senna-pods...
top of page
The Seagoon Memoirs
Chronicling a 21st century idiot's obsession with a 1950s radio comedy masterpiece.
Home: Welcome
A digital
time capsule
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.
---
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.
Home: Text
Search
That tiger's got flu
In early 1955, Britain was in the grip of a “big freeze” that saw thick blankets of snow covering much of the country. Many villages were...
Problematic synopses
As the Goon Show’s popularity increased, the Radio Times decided to publish episode synopses and character/cast lists along with each...
Yehti
Greenslade: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, here is our usual warning to those of a nervous disposition, those without a nervous...
The (Goon) Siege of Sidney Street
You’ll remember, dear reader, that Wallace Greenslade was desperately trying to get the Goons to perform ‘The Six Ingots of Leadenhall...
Fireballs and crispy bacon
Wallace Greenslade is delighted to announce that, unlike the last episode of series five that we covered, this one is as billed in the...
Judd Proctor
A belated happy birthday to Judd Proctor, born on 2 January 1931. Proctor was the guitarist with the Ray Ellington Quartet, which...
Documenting Spike
Happy New Year to you, dear reader. What better way to soothe that Hogmanay hangover than with some documentaries about our beloved...
Happy birthday, Norma Farnes
A happy birthday to the late Norma Farnes, born on this day in 1934. Norma played a crucial role for decades in preserving the work of...
More Christmas puddings
On 15 November 1955, the Goons prepared everyone for the festive period by regaling them with the dramatic tale of 'The International...
Operation Christmas Duff
“This is a story of a great endeavour. A story of land, sea and air. And in some cases, both.” It’s a well-known comedic fact that...
I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas
With festive best wishes, here is the only Christmas song any of us needs.
The 12 Days of Goonmas
Courtesy of Larry Stephens (kind of), here's a merry Christmas tune. 12 Peter Sellers drumming 11 Grytpypes piping 10 whats...
Christmas 1953
The Christmas period of 1953 was a busy one for the Goons and their associates, as a thumb through the Radio Times listings will show....
Interviewing Spike
In case this headline is misleading, no I have never interviewed Spike. I was about 15 when he died, and I'm not sure he would have had...
The valuable hand-carved oil-painted valuable floating pier
Those of you with a copy of the Radio Times published on 11 February 1955 will note that the episode scheduled to be broadcast on Tuesday...
Nineteen-Eighty-Five (again)
Such was the immediate success of the Goons’ spoof of George Orwell’s 1984 that the team revisited the script again just a few weeks...
Those Studio Audiences
When writing about The Starlings and The Reason Why, the two non-Goon-Show Goon Shows recorded without an audience, I stated that both...
The Lost Music of Purdom
On 1 February 1955 the 19th episode of the fifth series of the Goon Show was broadcast, as per page 24 of the Radio Times. Unusually for...
Beau Geste, Goon-style
On 25 January 1955, the Goons once again turned to classic literature for inspiration. ‘Under Two Floorboards – A Story of the Legion’ is...
Home: Blog2
bottom of page