THE HIGHLY ESTEEMED GOON SHOW

An expedition to climb down the world's tallest underwater mountain. A search for Scradge, the substance which lies beneath the earth's surface and prevents boots from exploding. A long term plan to rob the Bank of England. The discovery of the paradise of Shangri 'la.

These are all adventures from the inspired insanity that is the Goon Show.

Most Itonians probably won't have heard of this English radio program (which is why I'm writing a bit about it for SToTM). The Goon Show starred Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan and it was popular in 1950s England and Australia. Its fame even spread to America.

Written by Spike Milligan, the Goon Show was primarily about the adventures of Neddy Seagoon a well meaning quintessentially English idiot. Neddy was constantly the target of Grtypype-Thyne and his French side-kick Count Jim Moriarty in their money making schemes. Neddy encountered (and was often hindered or assisted) in his travels other Goons characters such as the famous Eccles, East Finchley boy scout type fellow Bluebottle, the ever monetarily challenged Major Dennis Bloodnok, absent-minded geriatric inventor Henry Crun and the saxophone playing and modern rhythm type music fan Minnie Bannister.

The first Goon Show was broadcast on BBC radio on the 28th of May 1951. It quickly became famous and ran for ten series. The show finished in the early 1960s, but the three Goons - Sellers, Secombe and Milligan - were reunited for one final Goon Show on the 30th of April 1972 to mark the 50th anniversary of the BBC. The Goon Show was famous for its brand of abstract and downright insane humour. The show provided the inspiration for such classic comedy teams as The Goodies and Monty Python. It was a ground breaking radio show which taxed BBC sound technicians and baffled BBC officials. The lunacy of the Goons' adventures around the world (and occasionally through time) was often accompanied by unique sound effects. Spike Milligan frequently scared BBC sound technicians by requesting sound effects such as 'a wall traveling at speed' and 'a Wurlitzer organ accelerating in the Sahara desert'.

With episodes titles like 'Scradge', 'The Vanishing Room', 'The Mysterious Punch Up The Conker', 'The Affair of the Lone Banana', 'Mount Fred' and 'Napoleon's Piano' it's possible to get a slight idea of what the Goon Show was about. In each half hour show the Goons went on insane missions, solved crimes (some of them committed by criminals), encountered some great puns and some absolutely terrible jokes.

Despite being originally produced in the 1950s, the humour of the Goon Show doesn't date. It is impossible to fully describe a Goon Show experience so I've given you some facts and hopefully sparked something there, even if it's only curiosity to see what I've been raving about. To find out more about the Goons and their adventures, listen to Radio National - they play episodes of the Goon Show at 3.30pm on Saturday afternoons. So tune in to Australia's national broadcaster and listen to a half hour of lunacy. What are you waiting for?

(To find out the frequency for Radio National where ever you live, go to this address:

http://abc.net.au/rn/freq/map.htm

They also have a Goon Show page and they link to the BBC Goon Show page if you want to find out more about a great comedy show).