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Hello everybody. 
I'm standing outside a flat 

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roofed murder pub somewhere in 
the provinces and my guest this 

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week is inside, but he doesn't 
know I'm here. 

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Everything's been carefully 
arranged to ensure that it's all

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been kept a secret from him. 
And he he's actually been 

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brought here under false 
pretences. 

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He's been told they're doing 
Kinvig cosplay here tonight. 

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So I hope he's not disappointed 
to see me. 

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So I'm, I'm now going to, I'm 
going to go in and I'm going to,

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I'm going to give him the shock 
of his life as I walk up to him 

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and I tap him on the shoulder 
and I say, John Williams, this 

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is your goon pod. 
Oh my goodness, I didn't expect 

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this. 
I didn't expect this. 

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Are you going to embarrass me in
a stilted fashion? 

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You're going to be subjected to 
some horny old anecdotes 

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delivered very badly. 
By some people who aren't in 

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showbiz and are very awkward at 
expressing themselves. 

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That's. 
The. 

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Way to do it I think. 
Well, let's drop the pretences. 

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This is obviously Goon Pod and 
this is returning guest John 

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Williams, him off of World of 
Telly. 

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Indeed. 
Which is, you've not dropped an 

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episode for a while. 
What's going on there? 

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We've moved to every three 
weeks. 

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It was just the fortnightly 
schedule was a bit too much, 

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what with all the research. 
And then on top of that, the 

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fact that Neil does the editing 
on the audio and the video 

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podcast as well, it was all just
getting a bit much. 

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And so this should have been an 
episode released yesterday, but 

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apparently Audacity has a bit of
an issue going on at the moment,

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or at least for Neil's purposes.
Apparently there's a problem. 

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So it's not going to drop until 
later today. 

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It's Friday the 28th as we 
record. 

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So it'll be about 7:00 tonight. 
And then we've got a Christmas 

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episode coming up on I think the
18th, which has got a nice 

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surprise for people in that one.
Very good, very good, very good.

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By the way, would you have been 
up for Kim Vig cosplay? 

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I'm up for anything, Tyler, you 
know me or or triangle. 

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Definitely triangle. 
Definitely triangle. 

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I like the sailor outfit. 
Yeah. 

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OK. 
So John, we were last speaking 

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about, well, what would you call
it, a Spike Milligan 

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embarrassment, I suppose it's 
really where you can describe it

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carry in chips. 
But we had a great conversation 

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about it, about a terrible 
program. 

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Yeah, it was good, wasn't it? 
It was good and I'm sure much 

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appreciated by your listeners. 
It went down extremely well and 

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you've come back to talk about 
Spike again, Spike on telly 

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again. 
Can't stay away. 

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But it's in the form of, say, 
Spike appeared as, what do you 

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call them, subjects. 
Yeah. 

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Victims. 
Victims on on television's This 

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Is Your Life. 
He appeared twice. 

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He was first approached by 
Eamonn Andrews in April 1973 and

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then again by Michael Aspel. 
And when was that? 

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That was February 95. 
And he was, he was a hell of a 

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lot older. 
Yes, it's. 

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Quite a whiplash but when you 
watch 2 episodes consecutively. 

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Yes, yes, and I must admit and I
what I wouldn't mind before we 

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talk about Spike on on this is 
your life is is talking about 

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this is your life in general, 
John, because I'm it's not 

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something that I grew up with 
having been brought up in the 

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colonies. 
We didn't get This is your life.

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So my, in fact, I'll tell you 
what, my first real knowledge, 

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OK, in the comics I used to 
read, I used to read Wizard 

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ships and Buster and and Whoopi 
and all those British comics 

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when I was a kid. 
And very often there'd be little

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gags featuring someone who I 
presume was like a cartoon 

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version of Eamonn Andrews with a
big red book going up to China 

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or Roger the Dodger or whatever 
and saying this is your life. 

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So that that's how I knew about 
This is your life. 

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And also there's an episode of 
IE being served in which who was

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it? 
Is it young Mr. Grace? 

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I think young Mr. Grace, they do
a mock This is your life for him

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because it's his 80th birthday 
or something. 

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So that was my knowledge of this
is Your life pretty much until I

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came to this country. 
But I'm aware of it in the 

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round. 
But can you give us a bit more 

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background to it? 
Yeah, I can do, but you've just 

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distracted me about mentioning 
Roger the Dodger. 

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I used to. 
I used to love the fact that all

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of his Dodgers were in bound, 
leather bound volumes. 

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I'm serious. 
Where did he get the money to 

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bind them? 
This is one of the great 

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mysteries. 
Yeah. 

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This is your life. 
It started off in America. 

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It's a kind of late 40s, I think
it was radio programme and then 

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it went to TV around to kind of 
early 50s. 

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People famously on that with 
people like Laurel and Hardy 

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were on it, amongst others. 
It was created by a guy called 

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Ralph Edwards and the IT was 
then taken up in the UK. 

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It was on the BBC initially 
hosted by Eamon Andrews, though 

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I think he was the first subject
of the program and then he ended

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up then he presented it from 
then on. 

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Also, so who presented that 
first show? 

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Do you know? 
I. 

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Can't remember the same thing 
happened in the early 70s when 

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Andrews was was the subject 
again and that was David Nixon 

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presented that program. 
They didn't with the double 

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whammy. 
Apparently Ralph Edwards, the 

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American guy who started it all 
off threatened his his 

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colleagues and staff with the 
sack if they ever did the same 

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thing to him. 
Which is quite revealing that 

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the guy who created it would 
never wanted to be a subject of 

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it. 
Which is which is which is 

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interesting, but Amon Andrew 
Amon Andrews moved to ABC 

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television and the BB and the 
program stopped. 

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But when it really sort of 
became big was when Thames TV in

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the UK started up again in 1969.
And I think the examples you 

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mentioned there of just a Big 
Red Book and Eamon Andrews just 

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speak to the kind of cultural 
import of the program. 

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It was so massively popular that
it's actually, you know, it's 

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frankly bizarre now that you 
when you think about it, but it 

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was I think if you've everybody 
should have the book televisions

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greatest hits. 
It's a very, very useful book 

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about top rated TV programs, all
the top 20 TV programs 

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throughout from about 1955 to 
and I can't remember when the 

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calf date is because it it lays 
aside a lot of the myths about 

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because, you know, actors in 
particular say things like, oh, 

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there were 30 million people 
watching it and the churches 

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were empty. 
But actually it was something 

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like 9 million or such thing. 
And you can always turn to the 

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book to get that. 
But it's it's picked out. 

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This is your life for a special 
accolade because from 1969 to 

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1983, it always had at least one
of its shows got to number one 

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in the ratings. 
And indeed, despite Milligan, 

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well, 1973 was the most watched 
show of that week. 

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You know, more than, yeah, more 
than Coronation Street. 

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Again, it's not that uncommon 
because the following week after

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as Fight Milligan, it was Jackie
Palo, the wrestler was on and 

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equally that was top of the 
charts as well. 

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So it was the kind of cultural 
impact of everybody watched it. 

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Basically. 
The BBC didn't put much 

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competition up against it 
really. 

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I think opposite the spikes. 
First one was ask the family in 

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Tomorrow's World, you know, not 
the kind of like huge audience 

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thing. 
So I think I'm right in saying 

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when I had quick look at the BBC
used to produce these things 

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called at a glance kind of all 
TV barometers, audience 

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barometers and and he used to 
have all the ITV stuff in there 

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as well. 
And basically 27.3% of the UK 

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population watch that Spike 
Milligan show which is. 

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Wow. 
And it and it was it was 

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catastrophic as well, wasn't it?
That yeah it. 

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Was it was, yeah, I'm sure 
we'll, we'll get on to the, to 

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the catastrophic nature of it. 
It's a, it's a total shambles. 

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But the the the this is your 
life is interesting because 

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you'd think it would be a very 
rich source for DVD extras and 

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things like that. 
And some extracts from the shows

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have have, you know, 
occasionally been used. 

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But I believe the rights cost to
fortune. 

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So it's not something that 
normally people can afford to 

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include in full on on DVD. 
There's obviously some tangled 

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kind of. 
Rises Is the Ralph Edwards 

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estate still? 
Yeah, I believe so, Right, OK. 

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And it's so it's so it's sort of
faded away as a thing. 

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And I think, you know, if there 
are any of the TikTok generation

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listening and Tyler, as I'm sure
there are, there are it's it's. 

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You have to listenership. 
It's hard. 

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It really is hard to 
overestimate how you know, 

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everybody watched it used to get
parodied all the time and the I 

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know that it kind of in people's
lives, you know, the stars as 

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well, the celebrities. 
It was a it was a bit of a mixed

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blessing getting that this is 
your life. 

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In some respects. 
I there's the the actor dead 

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now, sadly, Richard Thorpe, who 
played, amongst other things, 

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Alan Turner in Emmerdale for 
many, many years. 

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I was once kind of assigned and 
hoped to be the shadow, what 

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they call them, author of his 
autobiography. 

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And I met him quite a few times 
to do interviews and he told me 

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his story of when he was on This
Is Your Life. 

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And it culminated in and going 
to the hotel and Richard having 

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a massive heart attack on the 
same day that he'd had his This 

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Is Your Life experience. 
Because he feels that it was 

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just like such a weirdly 
stressful thing and such a 

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surprise. 
They used to get get a lot of 

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criticisms. 
I remember later on when they 

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were doing people you thought 
were ludicrously young. 

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I remember Peter Davidson 
getting the treatment when he 

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was Doctor Who and that that got
quite a few complaints because 

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he was, especially because they 
were going to end with Beryl 

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Reed coming on as a star guest 
at the end. 

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And Peter Davidson had worked 
with us for two days only in his

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life. 
Oh. 

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For God's sake, yes. 
I must say, when I I saw him I 

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thought I must have a little 
nibble. 

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No, there's celery on the. 
You, you understand. 

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It was, it was pretty. 
And then Stephen Hendry of all 

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people, when he was about 21 was
featured on it, which was crazy.

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But then I guess sometimes that 
was good because Richard 

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Beckinsale was on it. 
And that was, I guess, in the 

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nick of time because poor old 
Richard died so young. 

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It also loomed large in terms of
people who turned it down. 

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Richard Gordon of the Doctor 
books fame, he he turned it down

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but eventually did it. 
The most famous one, an 

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00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:12,880
intractable one, was Danny 
Blanchflower. 

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00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:15,320
Because in those days, in the 
old days, in the 60s, they used 

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00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,480
to do it live. 
And Danny Blanchflower just said

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00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,640
get lost, walked off. 
And they had, fortunately they'd

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00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,800
already prepared for this and 
they had this a spare one kind 

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of set up so they could do a 
recorded a pre one they'd done 

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00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,000
on a pre record in. 
So Danny Blanchfield was very 

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famous for that. 
Danny Blanchard, the footballer,

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Spurs footballer. 
The other thing I think people 

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00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,160
you know who are not familiar 
with Eamon Andrews and and this 

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00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:44,400
is your life. 
Eamon Andrews is, is a baffling 

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00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,320
figure to me. 
He, he was right there 

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throughout my childhood. 
He's the least suited person to 

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00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,680
be ATV presenter I have ever 
seen in my life. 

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00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:58,160
I think he he like, he looks 
terrified all the time. 

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00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,400
He sweats like nobody's 
business. 

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00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:03,840
He has he was kind of fatal. 
It's like he's got a flop sweat 

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00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,160
on from the moment he goes out 
there and he's frequently seeing

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00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,720
mopping his brow and he's got no
repartee He's got he's not quick

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00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:13,760
witted. 
He can't react to what's going 

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on in front of him. 
And he, it's just, you know, he 

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looks like he's going through 
all the agonies that you could 

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00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:20,480
possibly. 
Have. 

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00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,400
Well, yeah, and on the evidence 
of the 73 spike, this is your 

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00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:26,080
life. 
He could get a bit tetchy 

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00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,720
occasionally, mind you, I 
suppose, if you've got Milligan 

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trying to keep Milligan in 
check. 

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For half an hour. 
But that's the exact I think 

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00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:36,600
that's the example. 
I think the reason he gets 

225
00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,320
tetchy is because he doesn't 
like anything spontaneous 

226
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,480
happening and basically because 
he knows he can't deal with it. 

227
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,960
And the I mean, this was the man
who in the 60s when he was on 

228
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,560
ABC television had a chat show 
on Sunday night. 

229
00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:51,040
It's called the Eamonn Andrews 
Show. 

230
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:57,280
And famously, Marty Feldman and 
Barry Took were on that program,

231
00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:01,320
and they could not believe that 
Andrews would ask a question, 

232
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,120
get an answer, and then he would
say something that completely 

233
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,240
revealed that he'd not listened 
to a word that the person had 

234
00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,200
said. 
And so they went off after that 

235
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,440
experience and they were writing
around the horn at the time, and

236
00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,000
they created the character of 
Seamus Android. 

237
00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,520
Android. 
Played by Bill Pertwee, who does

238
00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,600
exactly that. 
He just says random things that 

239
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,000
have no sense and linked 
together at all because they 

240
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,680
just. 
Yeah. 

241
00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,760
So that's the sort of that's 
that's this is your life, but it

242
00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:34,360
carry, you know, until Andrews 
death in 1987. 

243
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,320
I mean, as I say, up to 1983, 
always at least one of the 

244
00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:42,000
programs hit the top of the 
ratings and it was often quite a

245
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,920
few that did that because it 
wasn't especially in the kind of

246
00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,800
late 60s, early 70s, it wasn't 
quite the dominance dominance 

247
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:49,840
that some people think that 
Coronation Street had. 

248
00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,560
It was always a high rater, but 
things like Crossroads as well 

249
00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:57,400
and the old sitcom would would 
get in there as well. 

250
00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,520
And This is Your Life was 
another one that would 

251
00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,160
classically kind of get in 
there. 

252
00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,080
There's quite the other thing 
about This Is Your Life, which 

253
00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,440
periodically, not very often, 
they'd have what they called an 

254
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,400
unsung hero on the programme. 
So they would not have a 

255
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,120
celebrity on, they'd have just 
someone who had done good things

256
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,760
in a particular community. 
And so I did have a kind of 

257
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,160
random non famous person on and 
it's quite a good episode of 

258
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:23,200
Selwyn Froggit. 
I don't know, it's Selwyn 

259
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,080
Froggit, written by Alan Plater,
where Selwyn is convinced that 

260
00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,280
he's going to be the subject of 
This Is Your Life and constantly

261
00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:36,960
goes around doing the theme tune
all the way through, all the way

262
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,280
through the program. 
And then and that's the other 

263
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,280
thing, I guess, isn't it the 
famous theme tune? 

264
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:44,360
Yes, which? 
Which is, which is? 

265
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,480
You can't dance to it, can you? 
It's not catchy. 

266
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,040
Well, it's by the man who at 
least Larry Johnson, isn't it? 

267
00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:51,880
The man who wrote the 
Professionals theme, which you 

268
00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,440
absolutely can dance to. 
At least I do every time I hear 

269
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:55,520
it. 
It's an involuntary thing. 

270
00:14:57,920 --> 00:14:58,920
Yeah, it's called, what is it 
called? 

271
00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,280
Gala performance. 
Yes, Gala performance, it's 

272
00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,160
called. 
And it's, it's, it's, it's 

273
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:05,880
really because they play it over
and over again. 

274
00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,480
Don't they use the refrain from 
it whenever anybody comes on? 

275
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,280
Yes. 
So it becomes even more of a 

276
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,360
weirdly contrived kind of 
programme. 

277
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,800
It's just such an old looking 
programme now I think. 

278
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,560
Didn't Bill Oddie turn it down 
and then get persuaded to do it?

279
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,320
Yeah, that was, I think that was
in the Michael Asple years, 

280
00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:24,600
wasn't it because. 
Oh, of course it. 

281
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,400
Was because I think it was 
anyway, ITV carried on after 

282
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,240
Eamon Andrews died with with 
Michael Aspel, but then they 

283
00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,880
dropped the program and then it 
got picked up again by the BBC, 

284
00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:40,240
which is where it was when 
Spike, when Spike was was done 

285
00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,200
again, as it were. 
But the I think it ended really 

286
00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:47,320
because firstly, some 
celebrities were just not having

287
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:49,000
it. 
You know, modern day celebrities

288
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,480
didn't really want to be on it. 
And I think famously, Noel 

289
00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,600
Gallagher found got whiff of it 
and said absolutely not. 

290
00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,040
And the nature of celebrity had 
changed somewhat. 

291
00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,680
I suppose when it first started,
it was a way of getting people, 

292
00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:07,280
getting to know the celebs and 
otherwise would be completely 

293
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:08,600
unknown. 
But it led to all sorts of 

294
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,800
embarrassing things, like they'd
have people on, you know, I 

295
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,400
think John the measurer was 
living in his wife's spare room 

296
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,480
because his wife was having an 
affair with someone else when he

297
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,560
was on it. 
It was. 

298
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,880
It was Hattie Jakes, wasn't it? 
Yeah. 

299
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,200
Hattie Jakes, yeah. 
Yeah, and it just sort of ran 

300
00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,600
out of time. 
I mean it was still popular on 

301
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,960
the BBC but nothing like the 
behemoth it was in the 70s in 

302
00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:31,240
particular. 
Just reeks of the 70s. 

303
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:35,360
That kind of show I think. 
I don't suppose it would. 

304
00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,880
It would work today as well, 
because one of the attractions 

305
00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:43,240
of certainly watching it in the 
70s would be that you'd get 

306
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,000
clips, you'd get archive 
material, yeah, that you 

307
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,360
wouldn't see otherwise unless 
it's on looks familiar or 

308
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:50,920
whatever. 
That's yeah, that's a good, it's

309
00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,200
a good point because we were 
totally starved of archive stuff

310
00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:57,080
in those days, weren't we? 
Whenever there was, as you say, 

311
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,080
looks familiar and then I think 
there was, what's it called? 

312
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,840
It was Chris Searle doing a 
programme, wasn't it called, Was

313
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:04,520
it Plunder or was it there was 
another one? 

314
00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,440
Anyway, anything that had clips,
even things like telly addicts. 

315
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,800
Telly addicts, yeah, yeah, said 
said that before and recently on

316
00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:11,960
Game Pod. 
Yeah. 

317
00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,400
That was that was, that was. 
If you were, if you were like 

318
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:19,280
us, that was your weekly fix. 
I remember seeing the telly 

319
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,119
goons for the first time on 
telly addicts. 

320
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:24,119
You always remember that 
particular trauma. 

321
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,760
Yes, as I described them looking
like they'd be dragged from a 

322
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:35,160
canal, Those puppets. 
OK, so Michael Aspel. 

323
00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:36,920
Why was why was Michael Aspel 
chosen? 

324
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,360
Was there any particular reason?
Because he's affable or I, I. 

325
00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:43,520
Just think he was Mr. Well, I 
mean, The thing is, Aspel's got 

326
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,720
a a deserved reputation for 
actually being quite a smart 

327
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,480
character as well, quite witty, 
you know, almost exactly the I 

328
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,480
feel bad about Eamon, Eamon 
Andrews. 

329
00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,560
But yeah, Eamon Andrews couldn't
deal with that. 

330
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,920
And I think you see in the 
second Spike, one Spike is 

331
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,720
again, trying to sort of 
deconstruct the whole experience

332
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:05,880
and undermine everything that's 
going on to an extent. 

333
00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,880
But I think Aspel's more of a 
match for that and sort of keeps

334
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,840
him a bit on the straight and 
narrow where Eamon just kind of 

335
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,560
like just looks either grumpy or
all at sea. 

336
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,440
Well, I've seen Aspel staring 
him down staring Spike down 

337
00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,560
during rounds of Give us a clue 
so he knows how to handle him. 

338
00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:34,040
Absolutely. 
Well, the cameras aren't just 

339
00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:38,560
here for the reunion, but 
because tonight, ex Bombardier 

340
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:40,720
Spike Milligan, this is your 
life. 

341
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:52,760
You call this your life. 
I wonder why they waited till 

342
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,400
73. 
Do we? 

343
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,600
Do we know? 
I'm guessing it was because he 

344
00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,040
was possibly because it was an 
he was an awkward customer, if 

345
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,400
there was any. 
I think 11 time the producer 

346
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:05,560
Malcolm Morris said to Norma 
Farne, is there any way we can 

347
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,600
guarantee he'll be so we can 
pounce as it were, and do the 

348
00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,640
program And she, you know, 
didn't you know for for a long 

349
00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:12,400
time? 
I think that was quite a 

350
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,360
difficult thing. 
The only thing, that very 

351
00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:16,680
mercurial character that it was,
the only thing he definitely 

352
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,960
turned up to was his army 
reunion, which is why you get 

353
00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,960
the chaos that you get in the 
1973 episode. 

354
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,080
Yes, maybe. 
I don't know how much clout 

355
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:32,080
Eamonn had in terms of guest 
selection, but maybe he'd been 

356
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:33,880
sort of putting it off and 
putting it off because he knew 

357
00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,600
that Spike would just reduce him
to a quivering mass. 

358
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,600
Yeah, yeah, maybe. 
I don't know. 

359
00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,880
I think, I think Andrews was 
liable to be a quivering mass in

360
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,120
the face of anyone, even Stephen
Hendry. 

361
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:52,640
But but of course, by this 
point, by by 73, Spike was so 

362
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,560
omnipresent because it was Adolf
Hitler. 

363
00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,240
My partner's downfall had just 
been published. 

364
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,120
He was appearing in the early 
70s for Spike. 

365
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,240
It was a real purple patch for 
him in terms of films. 

366
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:12,920
He was in so many films in the 
early 70s and when when he was 

367
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,840
on This is Your Life in in April
73, Alice's Adventures in 

368
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,040
Wonderland. 
Was showing the cinema at the 

369
00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,240
cinemas in the cinemas where he 
played the Griffin and Sellers 

370
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:28,840
of course was in that as well. 
But but he was he was obviously 

371
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,080
he was on TV at his TV shows. 
He was guest on chat shows. 

372
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,160
So it was inevitable that he 
would be, you know, they 

373
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,400
couldn't they couldn't avoid 
having Spike on This is Your 

374
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:40,920
life. 
See, I would have thought he 

375
00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:46,440
would would have been the prime 
type to say no, bugger off when 

376
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,000
Eamon stretched out the Big Red 
Book, but nobody seemed to 

377
00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,120
acquiesce quite happily. 
Really didn't. 

378
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:54,920
They I suppose, I think there's 
a kind of, there's the kind 

379
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:56,960
which is going to be 
uncomfortable about programme 

380
00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,080
that some people have expressed,
I think who'd even even the 

381
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,560
people who've been on it, 
there's a kind of moral 

382
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:02,920
blackmail thing going on, isn't 
there? 

383
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,440
That's the other thing. 
You're sort of being strong 

384
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,120
armed into it. 
And particularly because Spike 

385
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:11,920
was at the Armoury reunion in, 
you know, in Bexhill, it would 

386
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,720
have been quite a, a weird one 
to storm out of, wouldn't it? 

387
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,040
I suppose since he was there 
with all of his friends. 

388
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,360
It's yeah, it's, it's maybe he 
was just flattered. 

389
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,080
Sometimes people are. 
Even though he did, he disguised

390
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,720
it well. 
Also, it's it's luck of the jaw 

391
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,200
what spike you get day by day 
because you could have 

392
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,080
effervescent spike, over the top
spike, happy Spike basically. 

393
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,280
Or you could have taciturn 
Spike. 

394
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,560
But I guess he was cheered up 
generally by the Army reunion 

395
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,480
anyway, and he's probably had a 
few drinks, I'm sure. 

396
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,800
Yeah, and it's it's the other 
thing I suppose it's always in 

397
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,520
the back of mind. 
They did used to go to great 

398
00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,760
attempts to try and stop the 
subject finding out. 

399
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,680
Because basically the the idea 
was, and this is always what's 

400
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,480
been kind of trotted out is that
if the subject found out they 

401
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,120
were going to be on it, then it 
would be cancelled. 

402
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,000
And I think I forget now. 
Shame on me for not not trying 

403
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:04,960
to find it out again. 
But there's definitely at least 

404
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:08,560
one example of that happening. 
But on the other hand, I think 

405
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,160
one of the biographies intimates
that Spike might have known it 

406
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,480
was coming. 
Maybe Norma, knowing what he was

407
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,960
like, didn't want to risk it. 
But she doesn't say that. 

408
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,480
I think it said in one of the 
other ones that he might have 

409
00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:22,520
found out because as we'll go on
to talk about, there was all 

410
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,400
sorts of shenanigans just before
it happened as well. 

411
00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:31,160
So it's, it's it's possible. 
I guess it's hard to, it's hard 

412
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:35,120
to say. 
When it comes to preparing This 

413
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,840
is your life program, let's say 
and Eamon Andrews error, this is

414
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,920
your life program, do you know 
how many weeks of and what the 

415
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,400
process was and the shared 
workload involved? 

416
00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:48,800
There was a lot, I think, and 
I've certainly again, can't put 

417
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,400
my finger on where I've read 
about it, but there's certainly,

418
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,120
I think there's, I think there 
is a book about the history of 

419
00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:56,440
the show actually, it was they 
had obviously it ran for a lot 

420
00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,040
of the year. 
I think there were about 26 

421
00:22:58,040 --> 00:22:59,560
episodes a year, something like 
that. 

422
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,000
Good, good half year years worth
of programming. 

423
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,040
And they had obviously, I mean 
it was at a time when the 

424
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,600
commercial TV channels had, you 
know, almost literally money to 

425
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:12,240
burn. 
They were really loaded at the 

426
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:13,800
time. 
And so I think they had a very 

427
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,280
large production office which 
was doing subjects in parallel, 

428
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,760
obviously. 
And it would be a lot of kind of

429
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,160
swearing people to secrecy, 
going through lots of agents, I 

430
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,920
guess to get the various celebs 
booked in and to do and also to 

431
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,080
fly people over from Australia 
and things like that, which they

432
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:34,400
did on a frequent basis. 
But I think the, the, the other 

433
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,440
thing that's the, the real irony
about this is your life in terms

434
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,520
of the ratings. 
You know, as I said, Spike 

435
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,760
Milligan's 1973 episode topped 
the ratings. 

436
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,720
But of course, it's nothing to 
do with who the subject of the 

437
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,440
program is the ratings, because 
the whole point was it was kept 

438
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:49,720
secret. 
So it was. 

439
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:51,320
That's true. 
It wasn't like you were going to

440
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,320
say, oh, we'll watch This is 
your life tonight. 

441
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,800
Spike Milligan on You didn't 
have a clue who was going to be 

442
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,040
on. 
So it was like, you know, that's

443
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,600
why Spike Milligan and Jackie 
Paulo, not that I'm dissing 

444
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,000
Jackie in terms of his 
popularity because he was huge 

445
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,000
at the time and wrestling was a 
very big deal in those days. 

446
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:07,640
But it wasn't anything to do 
with the subject. 

447
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,280
It was just simply to do with 
the fact that everybody just put

448
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,480
this is your life on. 
Part of it was, oh, who's it 

449
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,600
going to be? 
And then there was a general, oh

450
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:18,640
God, it's him. 
I can't stand that person or, or

451
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:20,600
oh great, he's one of my 
favourites. 

452
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,280
But I don't think you were 
guaranteed to have a good time, 

453
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,080
whether you like the subject or 
not really. 

454
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,600
No, but I think, I think you'd 
stay for the first, you'd know 

455
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,040
within the first minute who it 
was going to be. 

456
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,040
So you'd switch over if it was 
Stephen Hendry? 

457
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,080
Stephen's getting in the neck, 
isn't he? 

458
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,400
You've mentioned already, you've
touched on the fact that Norma 

459
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,760
had to organise all this. 
Yep. 

460
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:50,720
Choreograph it if you like and 
and manoeuvre things so that so 

461
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,520
that Spike was going to be, they
knew where he was going to be 

462
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,200
and he was in Bexhill. 
Yep, at the zombie reunion D 

463
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,680
battery. 
But it would appear that that so

464
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:06,000
when Spike left home that 
morning on his on route on his 

465
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:11,080
way to the to the Army reunion, 
he thought he was being tailed, 

466
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,120
according to Norma. 
According to Norma, we always 

467
00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:17,120
have to put it through through 
the Norma filter. 

468
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,560
But yeah, the Spike, you know, 
apparently this researcher 

469
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:25,840
wasn't very clever about 
covering his tracks. 

470
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,600
And Spike spotted him and drove 
to the cop shop and said he was 

471
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,280
being tailed. 
And the police arrested the 

472
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,040
researcher because I think the 
producer of This Is Your Life 

473
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,720
wanted eyes on Spike at all 
times because of the fact that 

474
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,640
they needed him to be where he 
was meant to be because of the 

475
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:43,800
whole camera setup was going to 
be there. 

476
00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:47,920
But then it ended up apparently 
this kind of farcical situation,

477
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,680
while the police didn't believe 
what he did, this poor 

478
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,520
researcher was saying he was 
going, I'll work for this is 

479
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:55,760
your life. 
And they were saying pull the 

480
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,080
other one. 
So he was desperately trying to 

481
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,920
get hold of his producer, 
Malcolm Morris, to get him to 

482
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,000
confirm. 
But then Malcolm Morris didn't 

483
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,200
want to tell the police because 
he didn't want to reveal the 

484
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:12,040
secret. 
So but in the end, they did it. 

485
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:13,960
He let the police into into the 
secret. 

486
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:18,160
It seems odd to me that he would
even even hesitate for a second 

487
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,640
if if enormous to be believed, 
but they put out an alert over 2

488
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,000
counties to trace Spike 
Millingham. 

489
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,800
I mean, did Spike seriously 
think that somebody ordered a 

490
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,600
hit on him or something? 
Well, it begs the question, 

491
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,920
doesn't it? 
I mean, I know that he was 

492
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,800
paranoid at times, but that 
seems, that seems extraordinary.

493
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,520
I guess he might have just 
thought it was somebody. 

494
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,840
Still, he was famous, and he was
being. 

495
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,320
Paparazzi's. 
Could be paparazzi as well. 

496
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,280
Yeah, I guess it put in, but in 
the end the reason, as I say, 

497
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,120
that they did it at the at 
Bexhill at the reunion was which

498
00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:54,680
again would make it, there was 
always an element of outside 

499
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,800
broadcast in it because the 
program typically started at the

500
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,880
subjects workplace usually or 
some event that they were going 

501
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,640
to Eamonn Andrews would sneak 
out with his Big Red Book. 

502
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:12,280
And then basically they'd they'd
spirit the people away to TVA 

503
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,200
theatre somewhere or ATV studio 
where they'd all sit. 

504
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,560
And that would be just normal 
kind of studio stuff. 

505
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,920
But in this case, of course it's
all OB because it's all in some 

506
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:26,600
function room in Bexhill. 
Yeah, and it's, it's, they've 

507
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,440
not really dressed the set for 
the for this, aren't they? 

508
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,080
It's Scott. 
It's one of the biggest 

509
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,720
shambles. 
I think I've seen a programme of

510
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,440
that, you know, because 
standards were were held pretty 

511
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,040
high for those kind of 
programmes really. 

512
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:41,360
You know, it's a well ordered 
machine. 

513
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,960
But apart from the, I mean, it's
the sound is so bad. 

514
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:46,280
That's the bit that they can't 
get right. 

515
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,800
It's a echoey, echoey room, 
echoey location. 

516
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,160
And it's just, it's just 
everybody's just talking because

517
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:58,080
it's like a party. 
Eamonn will not underline, not 

518
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:02,200
be knocked off his tight 
schedule. 

519
00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:07,400
He will plow on despite the 
chaos going on around him. 

520
00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:13,440
Paddy Spikes, wife at the time, 
comes out with Laura Seeley, 

521
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,200
Sean and Little Jane Jane guest 
of the show. 

522
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,840
Absolutely. 
He keeps shouting where's Prince

523
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,000
Philip, keeps asking where 
Prince Philip is. 

524
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:24,720
That's quite, that's quite 
funny, isn't it? 

525
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,200
That's one of the funniest bits 
of it, just says it all the 

526
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,640
time. 
I mean, the funniest bit I think

527
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,680
is right at the start when, 
well, after, you know, when 

528
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,160
they're about to start the show 
proper. 

529
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,000
And Eamon Andrews starts. 
And I think genuinely Spike 

530
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,040
Minigan's saying has it started?
Because I don't think he can 

531
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,160
quite believe it's starting 
because there's so much noise 

532
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,920
going on from everybody else 
that it's almost like you can't,

533
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,200
you can't be serious that we're 
starting now when there's still 

534
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,080
this chaos going on. 
But as you say, Eamon, he plows 

535
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,600
on. 
Plows on, plows on. 

536
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:59,120
There's a couple of instances in
the 73 episode when you and I 

537
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,800
were speaking before recording 
where Spike appears underwhelmed

538
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,080
by some of the guests and 
overwhelmed by others. 

539
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:14,360
And his his mum Florence flew 
over, especially from Australia.

540
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:18,840
And I thought he he didn't look 
that bothered that she was 

541
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,160
there. 
No, it was, I mean, I guess he 

542
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,280
saw her a lot because he used to
go over there most years, didn't

543
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,800
he, to see her, I suppose. 
But no, it's it's it's the 

544
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:32,320
general spike kind of doesn't 
look like he's wildly 

545
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,800
comfortable, but then very few 
people did on this is your life 

546
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,680
in my memory of it anyway. 
And but he seems to have a real 

547
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,840
urge to talk over everyone all 
the time, doesn't he as well. 

548
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,640
It's like people are talking 
like his poor brother starts to 

549
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,240
try and tell something and in 
Spites just basically basically 

550
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,240
alluding to the fact that he's 
not telling the story right. 

551
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,400
I want to ask you about this. 
What was it? 

552
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:56,080
The Lamanian army, Yes, yes, 
they. 

553
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,320
I suppose you would say he was 
the genius behind it all. 

554
00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:06,080
He concocted the idea, this 
marvelous imagination he has, He

555
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,880
even thought of a national 
anthem for it. 

556
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,600
It was based on the early Ben 
Hur film. 

557
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:24,000
That was the silent one. 
Because of the way that the 

558
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,040
programme is set up, I just 
don't think it makes for 

559
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:30,000
appealing television. 
It's kind of, it's just an 

560
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,600
uncomfortable watch. 
I find it, I, I generally always

561
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,760
found it even even when I was a 
kid. 

562
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:38,040
But now it looks. 
It just, it's, it just looks, 

563
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,400
you know, you're kind of like 
people are talking over each 

564
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:42,080
other. 
It's terribly, badly miked up. 

565
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,480
I I wonder about everybody else 
who was at the reunion. 

566
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,320
It's kind of that that reunion's
been completely ambushed. 

567
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,200
They're like, yeah, absolutely. 
And it's all suddenly it's all 

568
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,960
about Spike, which must be, you 
would have thought, must be a 

569
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,640
slight tension anyway, because 
he's obviously become very rich 

570
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:02,280
and famous and you know, and 
this kind of just exacerbates 

571
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:02,840
it. 
But maybe I'm. 

572
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:07,440
Open and written about them all 
very recently as well. 

573
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,800
Exactly. 
But I'm just thinking, right, if

574
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,520
if I was a celebrity, John, 
which I'm not, I'm. 

575
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,200
Getting there. 
You are to me, Tyler, You are to

576
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:17,160
me. 
Thank you, thank you. 

577
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:18,960
If This Is Your Life was still a
thing. 

578
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,120
They would be relying on people,
my loved ones and people who 

579
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:31,760
know me to to decide guest 
selection and that sort of 

580
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,160
thing. 
Whereas if I was asked myself, 

581
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,240
I'd probably come up with a 
slightly different list if it 

582
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,480
was down to me as to who I 
wanted to turn up on my episode 

583
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,120
of This Is Your Life. 
I'm sure my list would be 

584
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,480
different from my wife's. 
You know what I mean? 

585
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,320
Yeah, I think that's possibly 
one of the failings of This is 

586
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:56,040
Your Life, is that maybe some of
the guests are not going to be 

587
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,880
embraced so much by the actual 
subject as they are by the the 

588
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,960
people that that know him and 
love him or her, you know? 

589
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:05,280
Yeah. 
And there was I, no, I totally 

590
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,200
agree. 
And the there was some really 

591
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,160
kind of awkward moments in the 
past. 

592
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:13,880
I mean, there was one very, 
really famous one. 

593
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,960
Well, there was a Peter Davidson
one which I well mentioned 

594
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,720
earlier about Barrel Reed. 
And basically that was really 

595
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,680
the producer of Doctor Who 
basically getting Barrel Reed to

596
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,920
be the star guest at the end 
because there were there was ATV

597
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,880
program coming up called Earth 
Shot with them in because she'd 

598
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,160
been in Doctor Who. 
And when Sandra Dickinson found 

599
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,760
out that they were going to have
Barrel Reed, she actually went 

600
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:37,800
to the people behind the 
program, said absolutely not, 

601
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,600
Surely you can do better than 
that. 

602
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,480
And he ended up flying over his 
aunt or something like that. 

603
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,080
So certainly the family could 
intervene. 

604
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:50,640
I mean, the really famous one 
was poor odd Alec Mccowan who 

605
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,880
was ambushed and he wanted, he 
wanted the show to be scrapped 

606
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,440
afterwards because his partner, 
Geoffrey Burridge, who's the 

607
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:02,200
people who watched Blake Seven, 
He was Dorian in Blake Seven. 

608
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,560
He died of AIDS and he'd been 
his partner for years and they 

609
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:08,840
just didn't mention him at all. 
Yes, I heard about. 

610
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,960
That and he also didn't like it 
because he was in a Jeffrey 

611
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,640
Archer play at the time and he 
thought it was just cooked up 

612
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,280
for publicity for the play. 
And I think the fact that 

613
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,160
sometimes the reason that they 
were done at particular times 

614
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,880
was a was sometimes for 
publicity purposes. 

615
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:26,720
And he did, he really resented 
that and he didn't want it to be

616
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,160
to be transmitted. 
But in the end, they sort of 

617
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,520
after the fact edited a 
reference to Jeffrey Burridge 

618
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,200
into it. 
But I mean, Can you imagine that

619
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,200
you're going all the way through
and your main partner in your 

620
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,440
life who's died a couple of 
years ago, he's not mentioned 

621
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,720
once. 
Yeah, I mean, there's there's 

622
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:45,720
bound to be other instances 
where closeted gay men or women 

623
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,280
have been subjects of this is 
your life have have partners out

624
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,400
out of the public eye and and 
that they have not been featured

625
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,240
on the program, I'm guessing. 
Yeah, and I think there was, 

626
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:56,560
there's a famous, what was the 
other one? 

627
00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,040
That was Vincent Price. 
I must have read a book about 

628
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,320
this at some point, but I can't 
remember when there was AI think

629
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,240
Vincent Price came back, did the
American one, I think came back 

630
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:06,440
from England where he'd been 
making Theatre of Blood and he'd

631
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,639
fallen in love with Colin Brown 
and went back home. 

632
00:34:09,639 --> 00:34:12,000
And his wife in the meantime, 
have been working with the 

633
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,480
people behind This is Your Life 
to do it. 

634
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:15,199
This is Your Life as soon as he 
got back. 

635
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,480
And so that was mega awkward. 
So I think there's there's lots 

636
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:25,120
of and The thing is, I suppose 
the idea is it's a nice thing 

637
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,920
and it also gives you some 
publicity for, you know, just in

638
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,239
your general career. 
And it was a sort of you've 

639
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:33,400
reached a part of your career 
where you can be on this is your

640
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,120
life. 
But then why would celebrities, 

641
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:39,000
you know, even at the time, 
after a while, why would they 

642
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:40,480
think, what am I getting out of 
this? 

643
00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,679
And potentially there's lots of 
kind of pitfalls as we've talked

644
00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:48,080
about. 
So yeah, it's, it's, I think, I 

645
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,520
just think as I say, it's 
reflected in the actual program.

646
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,679
I mean, it's strange. 
Then it it sort of felt because 

647
00:34:53,679 --> 00:34:56,000
you didn't, as you say, you 
didn't get clips very often. 

648
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,920
And it was a sort of look inside
of the celebrity life, which 

649
00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:02,160
didn't wasn't as ubiquitous as 
it is now. 

650
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,200
And you know, now that 
celebrities have things like 

651
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,160
hello magazine, social media and
all of those kind of things, but

652
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,400
it just looks very odd now. 
And just as I say, it's a kind 

653
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,280
of, I mean, you know, I'm so 
young, people like it, but you 

654
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,400
just get this. 
I thought it was funny when the 

655
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,880
brother comes out and then they 
introduce separately Spike's 

656
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,560
sister-in-law, Nadia. 
And I thought, no, I thought. 

657
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:29,160
Nadia looked quite slightly 
weary of Spike, I thought. 

658
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:38,560
She did and and that the then 
their son young Michael. 

659
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,240
Am I right in thinking that 
Spike had not met his nephew up 

660
00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:43,560
to that point? 
That was the first. 

661
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,520
Time, I'm not sure I was going 
to ask you that, actually I'm 

662
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,960
not sure, but he certainly he 
gets him to rugby tackle him, 

663
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:50,760
doesn't he? 
Yeah, he pretend he's scoring a 

664
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:51,800
try. 
Yeah. 

665
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:56,280
Which if it is the first time 
that this whatever 10 year old 

666
00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,240
boy has met his famous uncle, 
that that must have been 

667
00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:03,880
mortifying or fun, I suppose. 
I don't know if you're a 10 year

668
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:04,880
old, maybe. 
I don't know. 

669
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,680
And there's some good guests on 
here, don't get me wrong. 

670
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,880
And, and, and the sort of guests
that you would expect, but also,

671
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,400
I mean, who decided to get a 
woman who ran the canteen when 

672
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:20,360
Spike was was in military 
prison? 

673
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,000
Yeah, back in the 40s. 
And the heavy implication is 

674
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:24,720
that he shagged her as well. 
Yeah. 

675
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,200
Pearl Chapman. 
Yes, that, that that's just, 

676
00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:32,040
yeah, that's, that's just the 
kind of thing I, I mean, I, I 

677
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:34,400
don't understand. 
I mean, I do think it's a 

678
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,120
totally shambolic program, but 
there are, there are some nice 

679
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,200
moments. 
And also, we should add, it's 

680
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:42,840
edited to bits at times. 
There's God, you can tell. 

681
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,480
Yeah, there's loads in fact. 
In fact, that Pearl Chapman, I'm

682
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,440
sure it's her, her bit, she 
starts out telling a story and I

683
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,200
think she gets halfway through 
and even says, thank you, Pearl 

684
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:56,200
Chapman. 
And it and yeah, and obviously 

685
00:36:56,720 --> 00:36:59,920
you get, I think, I think he 
looks genuinely, which is 

686
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,720
interesting considering their 
their slightly frosty 

687
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:04,480
relationship at times. 
I thought you look really 

688
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,640
pleased to see Michael Benti 
when Michael did, which yes, 

689
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:10,640
which I thought was that that 
was nice. 

690
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,320
That was a nice moment, I 
thought. 

691
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,040
And the and obviously your your 
favorite, of course, Tyler 

692
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:24,040
Sellers in his German helmet. 
Tell us about Well, we had. 

693
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:27,520
He used to live up in an attic. 
He was known as the prisoner of 

694
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,600
Zender. 
You see, Jimmy Grafton had an 

695
00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:33,400
attic in the pub right up the 
top. 

696
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,800
He used to have to push this 
door that was in the floor. 

697
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,520
Actually, the door was very 
dangerous. 

698
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,560
He decapitated a cat. 
One day he came down and you had

699
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:43,720
to watch your feet and 
everything. 

700
00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:45,120
We had it for dinner. 
Yes, they. 

701
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,320
Were really bad. 
And also in this pub, they had a

702
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:55,960
mad bulldog called Bulla, you 
see, and this bulldog used to go

703
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,920
ape, you know, completely mad 
because they had a monkey there 

704
00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:01,440
as well. 
Zoo, you see. 

705
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,760
Right, Yes. 
And the monkey used to leap on 

706
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,000
the bulldog's back in the bar 
and ride it around like a 

707
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,120
jockey, you know. 
And he would try to throw it off

708
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,680
and he'd go smack into the wall,
you see. 

709
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,960
And the monkey would leap off 
and wouldn't you know, it wasn't

710
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:18,920
harmed, but the bulldog very 
dazed, you see, and start off 

711
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,120
the monkey again. 
Now, I had seen this program 

712
00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:24,880
before many years ago. 
I've seen it a few times and 

713
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,760
watch that a few or watch clips 
of it at least over the years, 

714
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:29,520
Right. 
So I knew that Sellers was 

715
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:35,360
turning up on it, but it was 
quite unexpected, I suppose. 

716
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,560
And maybe if it had been a 
couple of years later, Sellers 

717
00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:39,840
wouldn't have turned up or he'd 
have come. 

718
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:43,560
He'd have been on Vt. 
Yeah, because this was Sellers 

719
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,240
wilderness years, period. 
Really. 

720
00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:48,160
He was. 
He wasn't really working much at

721
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:50,520
this point of 73. 
I think he was filming. 

722
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,040
That must be soft bedside 
battles, wasn't he? 

723
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:55,360
Yes, he was. 
Yes he was. 

724
00:38:55,360 --> 00:39:01,280
And he turns up in this in his 
habitual garb of the the long 

725
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,040
leather trench coat and the 
German army helmet. 

726
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:05,440
Do you think he used to sleep in
that? 

727
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,720
Well, we remember we talked 
about the film I Love You LSB 

728
00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:15,000
Tockless, didn't we? 
A few years ago. 

729
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,600
And there's a scene in that of 
Venice Beach where his character

730
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:25,160
is at this hippie market and 
there's a German army helmet for

731
00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:29,320
sale and Sellers eyes just rest 
upon it fraction too long. 

732
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,880
The I mean that that's a good 
moment when Sellers comes on 

733
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:36,840
because, and again, it's like 
it's cut together like 

734
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,200
experimental film, isn't it? 
Because the edits are all over 

735
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:41,560
the place. 
They're jumping around. 

736
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,360
Spike drops his trousers as soon
as Sellers comes on, and there's

737
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,840
a general uproar in the in with 
the guests, isn't there as well.

738
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,160
So, so so that that is a funny 
moment. 

739
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:57,640
But then, of course, like a like
a snowflake, suddenly Sellers is

740
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:01,280
gone. 
Well, yeah, so so the moment 

741
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:09,080
sellers comes out mad bounce and
and then sellers who I'm sure 

742
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:10,720
I'm not. 
Positive. 

743
00:40:10,720 --> 00:40:14,760
I'm sure Sellers was under the 
influence of something here. 

744
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:17,480
He just seemed a little bit a 
little bit zoned out. 

745
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:21,120
And at one point when he's 
telling his story about 

746
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,800
Grafton's, he's staring straight
down the camera lens, isn't he? 

747
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:26,720
Yes. 
And he's doing that classic 

748
00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:30,240
because he whenever he tells an 
anecdotes, you see at the end of

749
00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:32,360
every sentence. 
Isn't he that kind of does 

750
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:33,720
anecdote. 
Yes, he does. 

751
00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:36,400
Anecdote voice. 
He does. 

752
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,040
He talks about Spike in 
Grafton's Pub back in the day 

753
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,800
being known as the prisoner of 
Zender, which was, he was, he 

754
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:45,920
was to make a terrible version 
of a few years later. 

755
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,600
And he tells the story of the 
monkey riding a bulldog, which 

756
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:53,400
delighted Spike. 
But there was no real punchline 

757
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,160
to that story. 
Yeah. 

758
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:58,720
And then he goes and sits down. 
He, he it seems like they didn't

759
00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:01,720
capitalize having sellers on. 
He, he, he was on and off. 

760
00:41:02,240 --> 00:41:05,440
Pretty smartish, really. 
But again, that's probably down 

761
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:08,120
to the edit. 
Yeah, I think, I think it's I 

762
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:13,600
think they had to edit obviously
a lot out and and then according

763
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:18,680
again going back to Norma, 
apparently she wanted to leave 

764
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:23,360
after the show was done and he 
basically got an early car 

765
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,040
because he wanted to get back to
Liza Minnelli. 

766
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:27,240
He had a warm Liza Minnelli 
waiting for him at home. 

767
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,040
Exactly. 
So Norma was was to have 

768
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,240
travelled to Bexhill in a car 
laid on by Tim's television. 

769
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,480
But Sellers wanted her to travel
with, according to Norma wanted 

770
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:42,440
her to travel, insisted that she
travel with him in his car. 

771
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:47,000
But apparently, again, according
to Norma's account, because he 

772
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:49,600
was filming soft beds, hard 
battles, he, he had his head 

773
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:54,080
shaved, but he didn't because he
took the helmet off during the 

774
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:58,240
program and he's got this 
unkempt bird nest hair flopping 

775
00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:00,440
around. 
So I'm not. 

776
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,520
So obviously there's some memory
failing there, I suppose on her 

777
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:04,960
part. 
Yeah, absolutely. 

778
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,280
So yeah, you would just have to 
treat everything with kind of 

779
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:08,520
slight caution, don't you 
really? 

780
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,880
Just looking here again, I'm I'm
going from Norma's account. 

781
00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:18,560
They arrived at Bexhill and 
apparently Sellers was throwing 

782
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:22,120
his weight around a little bit 
and he told one of the 

783
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:25,240
researchers that they wanted a 
bottle of champagne and smoked 

784
00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:28,080
salmon sandwiches. 
But they weren't for Peter, they

785
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:29,600
were for Norma. 
He'd he'd ordered them for 

786
00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:31,200
Norma. 
Always, always thinking of 

787
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,280
others. 
Absolutely selfless to a fault. 

788
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,320
Yeah. 
And again, according to Norma, 

789
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,000
when, when the producer Malcolm,
is it Malcolm Morris? 

790
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,800
Yeah, Yeah. 
When he walked in and saw Norma 

791
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,440
there with a glass of champers 
and a sandwich, he was furious 

792
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,720
because he because he thought 
she'd ordered them on the Thames

793
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:51,200
account. 
But then she she calmed him down

794
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,400
by telling him that it was it 
was Peter's idea. 

795
00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:59,240
But yeah, he he's there, but 
he's not really there. 

796
00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:02,080
I think he's he's there in body,
but not in spirit. 

797
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:04,800
Maybe Peter Sellers? 
Yeah, it's, I suppose he's the 

798
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,400
biggest star on it, isn't he 
really, you know, at that time? 

799
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:13,720
And it's it's the other nice bit
I liked, even though it's quite 

800
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:17,920
odd that Harry Secombe on both, 
on both occasions wasn't in the 

801
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,720
studio for This Is Your Life for
Milligan. 

802
00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:25,320
But there's a nice bit where 
Seccomb's reminiscing about the 

803
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:27,360
song they used to sing and they 
both start singing it 

804
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,720
simultaneously, even though 
they're obviously he's on, he's 

805
00:43:30,720 --> 00:43:34,720
on Vt or film or whatever. 
Yeah, which is nice. 

806
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,840
And I think the, the, the other 
bit that's quite interesting on 

807
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:46,000
it is the, the Robert Graves 
section, where Robert Graves, 

808
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:51,640
the poet and of course the 
author of I, Claudius, amongst 

809
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,680
other things, he's got a kind of
quite nice relationship with 

810
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:57,960
Spike. 
But then it starts Spike says, 

811
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,000
because it's very odd, because 
he's got very kind of big white 

812
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:04,480
hair, isn't he, Robert Graves 
And the sun's shining behind it.

813
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,960
So Spike says that his hair's on
fire or something like that. 

814
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:08,320
I can't remember exactly what he
says. 

815
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,920
And he sort of kind of can't 
even be quiet even when Robert 

816
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:14,200
Graves. 
But then by the end of it, Spike

817
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:17,560
reacts quite weirdly to it and 
I'm thinking is he is he moves. 

818
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:19,120
I couldn't. 
I couldn't tell. 

819
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:24,520
Said some some rambling yarn 
about him and Spike at the 

820
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:26,880
Mermaid Theatre. 
I didn't really get the point of

821
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:29,600
it and towards the end Spike 
goes hurry up Robert. 

822
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:38,040
But they were such close friends
and you shared some information 

823
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:43,440
that Spike's biographer Pauline 
Scootermore had put together 

824
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:46,720
about. 
Apparently Spike was most 

825
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:50,320
delighted by Robert Graves's 
appearance, which I wouldn't 

826
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,280
have said. 
But again, it's the edit. 

827
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,960
Maybe you don't know, do you? 
If anything I I would have said 

828
00:44:55,960 --> 00:45:00,080
Spike was maybe a little bit 
embarrassed by because Graves 

829
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:02,560
was rambling a bit in the bit 
that we saw anyway. 

830
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,320
Yeah, I, I, I think it's 
certainly, it's, it's an odd 

831
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:11,840
thing, but he did, as you say in
the Scudamore biography, there's

832
00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:18,920
a very full quote from a letter 
that Spike wrote to Robert 

833
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:22,640
Graves, obviously far too, far 
too long to sort of, but he just

834
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:25,480
says, you know, he's delighted, 
as you say, to the unexpected 

835
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:30,000
film and just talks at great 
length about, you know, and 

836
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:31,760
it's, they're obviously really, 
really good friends, but it's 

837
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:35,080
just, it's just Spike. 
It's a bit like the when the 

838
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:36,560
brothers trying to tell an 
anecdote. 

839
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,240
I think Spike always wants 
people to tell anecdotes in a 

840
00:45:39,240 --> 00:45:41,960
way that he would tell them. 
Yes, basically like. 

841
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:44,600
Robert Robert Graves certainly 
can't do that. 

842
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:48,040
No. 
Just back to Harry, actually, it

843
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:50,440
was, it was a bit difficult to 
hear because it was a lot of 

844
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,800
noise. 
But when when they had Harry on 

845
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:56,960
Vt and then he finished his bit 
or his bit finished. 

846
00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:02,240
I'm sure Amy Andrews said that 
he was in Swansea, presumably 

847
00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:06,920
working and I'm sure Spike went 
Swansea or he said as if he 

848
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:09,240
questioned the fact that he was 
in Swansea, not 1,000,000 miles 

849
00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:11,040
away. 
Surely he could have made the 

850
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,160
effort. 
That's exactly the way I read 

851
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:15,400
it, you know, saw it as well. 
It's, it's odd because 

852
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:17,440
especially when you've got 
people kind of coming over from 

853
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:21,040
New Zealand and Australia and, 
and whatever it, Swansea doesn't

854
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:22,840
seem too far to go. 
So it's it. 

855
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:26,800
It is interesting. 
From Lance Boldi Secom 924378. 

856
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:28,120
Yes. 
Thank you for the laughs over 

857
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:28,920
the years. 
Yes. 

858
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:31,320
And you owe me money. 
Don't forget all the fun we had 

859
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,520
together. 
Yeah, Those unrepeatable days. 

860
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,040
Some of them. 
Thanks. 

861
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:39,360
I want to tell it all later on. 
And. 

862
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:44,440
Great bloke to work with and 
next time we have a reunion I 

863
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,400
hope to be there right then. 
Now get out. 

864
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:50,160
Get out. 
Thank you, Harrington. 

865
00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:51,400
Come in. 
Swansea in. 

866
00:46:52,000 --> 00:47:01,400
Swansea, you get his former band
members from from the Army band 

867
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:06,600
Al Fyldes, Doug Kitchell, Chalky
White and Jimmy Devine, and you 

868
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:12,360
get Sergeant Jordy Dawson and of
course, Harry Edgington on on Vt

869
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:16,320
from New Zealand. 
His story seems to baffle Spike 

870
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,320
a bit. 
Again, it's all, it's all just. 

871
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,760
And again, this is probably 
largely just down to Spike being

872
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:24,640
Spike, having that sort of face 
and putting on those He can't. 

873
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,640
It's like Spike can't be, can't 
relax, can't be himself. 

874
00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:32,640
He's always got to be on. 
And yeah, it's difficult really 

875
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,920
to say which guest worked the 
best, if you know what I mean. 

876
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,400
Maybe Eric Sykes at the end? 
I think Eric Sykes but is the 

877
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,480
best, isn't it? 
Because he's slightly sending it

878
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:46,360
up, but he he does the job 
because they sort of parodying 

879
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:48,200
the fact he's going to talk 
about what a wonderful human 

880
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:51,320
being is. 
But then Sykes kind of seems to 

881
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:53,640
collide past all the chaos, 
doesn't he? 

882
00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:56,760
Something about him maybe. 
Maybe it's partly to do with the

883
00:47:56,760 --> 00:48:02,280
fact that he's so profoundly 
deaf, things don't impact on him

884
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:04,800
in quite the same way as they do
for the others. 

885
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:09,720
Would you say that that Sykes 
was Spike's truest friend 

886
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:11,960
through all the years, did you 
say? 

887
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,880
That think so I, I, yeah, I 
think I'd say so. 

888
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:19,000
He, I mean, he, I mean, it was, 
they worked so closely together,

889
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:21,040
didn't they? 
For so long, right from the 

890
00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:25,360
start above the grocery shop and
even before that. 

891
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:28,520
So I, I, yeah, that that's how 
it comes across, I think. 

892
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:33,000
You just get the feeling that 
Spike would be most comfortable 

893
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,520
in Sykes's company. 
I mean, he would be with Sal as 

894
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:40,120
he would be with Secum and and 
and the like, but you just get 

895
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,280
the feeling that Sykes is 
probably the one that he would. 

896
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:45,560
Yeah, and it's the kind of 
character that Sykes is, isn't 

897
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:47,240
it as well, though? 
Because he's kind of kind of 

898
00:48:47,240 --> 00:48:49,920
phlegmatic, isn't he? 
Kind of not. 

899
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:53,440
He's not. 
He's not desperate to perform 

900
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:56,160
and try and outdo people when 
they're there. 

901
00:48:56,160 --> 00:49:00,560
It's not like that kind of 
relentless and sometimes 

902
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:05,160
exhausting nervous energy that 
that Spike, Peter and and even 

903
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:07,840
Harry have actually. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

904
00:49:09,720 --> 00:49:12,600
And yes, I mean, through, 
through it all, Spike's 

905
00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:14,200
demanding still to see Prince 
Philip. 

906
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:21,320
And oh, and he says, I said 
about Eamonn Andrews being a bit

907
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:26,920
tetchy when when Eamon mentions 
brings up the war and he 

908
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:30,400
mentions Adolf Hitler and Spike 
says he's not here tonight, is 

909
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,360
he? 
And then Eamon and I guess this 

910
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:37,000
must have been a bit that was 
edited out because Eamon, that's

911
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,720
the second time he's used that 
line or said that. 

912
00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:41,760
Did you pick up on that? 
I didn't know. 

913
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:43,520
I didn't. 
He said something like that. 

914
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:45,800
He said, oh, that's only the 
second time you said that, Spike

915
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:46,840
or something, something like 
that. 

916
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:54,320
Yeah, handbags definitely there.
Get Jimmy Crafton, of course, 

917
00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:58,080
and there's mentions of his 
plays and his books and the the 

918
00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:01,520
causes that he supports and 
Paddy, his wife talks about 

919
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:05,600
those in particular. 
It just it's shambolic 

920
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:08,120
throughout it it there's there's
no beginning to it. 

921
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:12,080
And it just kind of ends with D 
Battery Band playing out with 

922
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:14,720
Spike on trumpet. 
Or not on trumpet because he 

923
00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:16,480
can't seem to get a note out of 
the trumpet. 

924
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:18,440
Oh, it's awful. 
And then, and then, and then, 

925
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:22,440
bizarrely, Harry Edgington turns
up in the flesh, having been on 

926
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:29,880
Vt, and Spike again, just seems 
OK Whatever. 

927
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:34,720
I mean, that was quite a common 
trick They used to pull on This 

928
00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:36,800
is Your life. 
Have a guess that Yeah, yeah. 

929
00:50:36,800 --> 00:50:40,000
They used to have a guest early 
on as if they're not there and 

930
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:42,640
then suddenly bring them on. 
That was quite common. 

931
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:44,600
Double whammy they used to try 
and do. 

932
00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:47,480
So. 
I mean, you know, as I say, I 

933
00:50:47,720 --> 00:50:50,080
really started watching it 
properly from I guess about 

934
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:54,320
197576 when I was kind of old 
enough to take it in. 

935
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,880
But certainly at that point that
was quite a, that was quite a 

936
00:50:57,880 --> 00:50:59,400
familiar way of dealing with 
things. 

937
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:02,000
The other thing that made me 
laugh a bit was when they show, 

938
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:05,760
it's so primitive when they show
pictures of his books, they're 

939
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:08,760
not actually still photos, are 
they? 

940
00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:12,480
They're a camera on somebody's 
put when it's on, I think the 

941
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:16,360
Book of Millie Animals, you see 
the shadow of a finger. 

942
00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:20,120
Because. 
It basically just pulled one 

943
00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:22,840
book out and put another one in 
and that shattered her fingers 

944
00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:24,320
there. 
That made me laugh for some 

945
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:24,880
reason. 
It was. 

946
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:26,520
There. 
Yeah, it was very. 

947
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:34,160
Homemade. 
So Spike wrote of that 

948
00:51:34,360 --> 00:51:38,000
appearance. 
I'm not sure who he wrote to or 

949
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:41,960
where he wrote this, but he said
waiting for me was Eamonn 

950
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:44,040
Andrews and Spike Milligan 
tonight. 

951
00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:47,000
This is your life. 
I was nonplussed, flabbergasted.

952
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:49,400
All my family was there, 
including my mother, all the way

953
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:52,520
from Australia with Desmond and 
Nadia. 

954
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:55,560
Peter Sellers came dressed as a 
German soldier and denied all 

955
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:57,960
knowledge of me. 
Harry Secombe overwhelmed me 

956
00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:01,240
with praise and it ended with a 
Raspberry, to which I replied 

957
00:52:01,240 --> 00:52:02,960
tenfold. 
Yeah. 

958
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:06,080
And one of the other things 
about This is Your Life, I 

959
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:09,240
think, is that it didn't get 
reviewed that often because it 

960
00:52:09,240 --> 00:52:11,080
was one of those things that you
don't know who's going to be on 

961
00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:13,320
it. 
So it doesn't get previewed. 

962
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:16,480
And then you watch it and then, 
you know, it's it's an episode 

963
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:18,080
of This Is Your Life, but with a
different celebrity. 

964
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:22,360
But there were a few reviews. 
And I do like the the contrast 

965
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:27,520
between a couple of the scant 
newspaper reviews of that that 

966
00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:29,920
episode. 
According to the Lincolnshire 

967
00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:34,600
Echo, it was better than most 
scripted comedies, which I think

968
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:39,080
is a big claim. 
Yes, my dear, possibly. 

969
00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:43,800
Or Korean chips, indeed, but the
but the the other echo, the 

970
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:47,960
Liverpool Echo, by contrast, 
said Spike Milligan made a 

971
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:50,360
surprisingly uninteresting 
subject. 

972
00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:56,400
For this is your life. 
So to you know, you take you pay

973
00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:57,560
your money and takes your choice
there. 

974
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:03,840
You do, you do. 
And then second time round, Fast

975
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:09,520
forward 22 years. 22 years. 
Yeah, because I remember around 

976
00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:12,360
this time. 
So we, we obviously had little 

977
00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:14,720
groveling bastard or groveling 
little bastard. 

978
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:16,200
I always forget which order it 
is. 

979
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:22,280
But in December 94 for the 
British Comedy Awards, which 

980
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:29,280
just dominated the tabloids for 
what seemed like weeks, Spike 

981
00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:33,080
was all over the the papers and 
and the the media for what 

982
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:37,160
seemed like about six months. 
At least he was he, he had 

983
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:41,240
currency again, didn't he? 
He was, you know, turning up on 

984
00:53:41,240 --> 00:53:44,880
chat shows, turning off things 
like Clive Anderson and, and all

985
00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:48,560
sorts of things. 
And I guess the reason that they

986
00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:54,240
did this, this is your life was 
because of that really. 

987
00:53:54,240 --> 00:53:56,480
Because he was big news again, 
really. 

988
00:53:57,080 --> 00:53:58,760
Would you would you say, was 
that cynical of me? 

989
00:53:58,760 --> 00:54:00,680
No. 
I mean, it seems like a awful 

990
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:02,760
coincidence, doesn't it? 
I mean, he said. 

991
00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:05,280
I guess. 
When was it that he did the 

992
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:07,200
groveling little bastard? 
It was at the Comedy Awards, 

993
00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:08,560
wasn't it? 
Yeah, it was. 

994
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:12,000
It was what, 222 literally 2 
months before? 

995
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:14,080
Is this is your life? 
I mean, it was the same 

996
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:17,400
producer. 
It just feels a little bit like 

997
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:20,680
a kind of quite speedy turn 
around time because it was done 

998
00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:25,680
on the 24th of January. 
Oh, maybe. 

999
00:54:25,720 --> 00:54:28,040
So yeah, it wasn't shown until 
about a month later. 

1000
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:30,640
Yeah, 15th of February. 
So that feels a bit short. 

1001
00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:32,440
But then on the other hand, I 
guess they could be 

1002
00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:34,160
opportunistic. 
It's not like it's a 

1003
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:37,880
exhaustively researched thing 
you would have thought in those 

1004
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:39,200
days. 
Like if they've got a decent 

1005
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:42,480
kind of team and you've already 
done it once and presumably have

1006
00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:44,560
the stuff that you could turn it
around quickly. 

1007
00:54:44,560 --> 00:54:46,320
It just feels a little bit 
quick. 

1008
00:54:47,240 --> 00:54:50,680
But yeah, it seems, it also 
seems to me to be a hell of a 

1009
00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:53,800
coincidence that it's timed in 
that way as well. 

1010
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:57,760
So, you know, and as, and it's 
not like it's some pure at heart

1011
00:54:57,760 --> 00:54:59,120
thing. 
This is your life, you know, 

1012
00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:02,720
there, there was a lot of you 
scratch my back, I'll scratch 

1013
00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:05,800
yours about it. 
You know, in terms of in terms 

1014
00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:08,280
of there was sometimes vested 
interest in why people wanted to

1015
00:55:08,280 --> 00:55:11,080
be on it or why their agent 
wanted them to be on it. 

1016
00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:16,120
So yeah, it's do. 
Do you know if and I suppose 

1017
00:55:16,120 --> 00:55:18,800
this would never happen? 
Or any instances of actual 

1018
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:22,320
celebrities angling to be on 
This is Your Life or getting 

1019
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:24,960
their people, their agents to 
kind of put a word in. 

1020
00:55:25,120 --> 00:55:27,920
I, I, I don't know of any 
specific ones, but I can't 

1021
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:31,960
believe that there wouldn't be 
because, you know, it's a, 

1022
00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:35,800
there's a lot of vanity around. 
Rodney pews, maybe? 

1023
00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:38,280
Oh, God, yeah. 
He'd be all all over them like a

1024
00:55:38,280 --> 00:55:40,560
rash, wouldn't he? 
I mean, he may well have been on

1025
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:42,080
it for all I know. 
To be honest, I didn't. 

1026
00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:43,960
I didn't do an exhaustive. 
It'd be. 

1027
00:55:44,320 --> 00:55:49,600
Yeah, but then would you want to
risk James Bolen, notoriously 

1028
00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:52,680
crabby, cantankerous man, being 
on it? 

1029
00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:53,880
But then again, he might have 
been. 

1030
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:57,160
But he, it's the kind of the 
Danny Blanchfire thing was the, 

1031
00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:00,080
you know, the invasion of 
privacy thing as far as they 

1032
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:01,760
were concerned. 
And I think, you know, someone 

1033
00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:03,040
like Bolen would probably be the
same. 

1034
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:06,440
But I'll no doubt after this go 
and have a look at the list and 

1035
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:09,480
he'll be there and he'll be 
there at the time of his life. 

1036
00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:10,880
He'll. 
Be there, Yeah. 

1037
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:14,120
Do you want, do you want to just
briefly set the scene as to how 

1038
00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:15,680
they. 
So it's Michael Asper's time 

1039
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:20,840
with The Red Book, how they 
approached Spike in 95. 

1040
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,240
Yeah, it's kind of chaotic in a 
different way. 

1041
00:56:23,240 --> 00:56:27,320
I think, again, going from 
Norma's book on this, though, 

1042
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:31,920
she does say that basically 
Spike was doing something at the

1043
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:34,840
BBC at Pebble Mill, though for 
some reason she says it's in 

1044
00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:37,440
Manchester, which of course it 
isn't, it's in Birmingham so 

1045
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:39,240
either. 
And he was coming into Houston 

1046
00:56:39,240 --> 00:56:42,720
station, so I'm guessing it was 
Birmingham rather than rather 

1047
00:56:42,720 --> 00:56:46,120
than BBC Manchester. 
He was coming down on the 11:30 

1048
00:56:46,120 --> 00:56:49,080
train to Houston station. 
So basically they waited. 

1049
00:56:49,280 --> 00:56:52,080
Michael Aspel and the team 
waited at Houston, but they 

1050
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:55,760
didn't know until 5 minutes 
before what platform it was due 

1051
00:56:55,760 --> 00:56:57,880
to come in on. 
So it's due to come in on 

1052
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:01,680
platform 5. 
They rushed to platform 5. 

1053
00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:03,480
Then there was an announcement 
that it had been changed to 

1054
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:06,560
platform 2. 
So the whole lot scrambled along

1055
00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:09,880
to platform 2 and then it was 
said it was platform 5 again. 

1056
00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:12,360
So they all had to run back. 
So it's chaos for the for the 

1057
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:15,880
camera crew and Michael Aspel. 
But then they also put a big 

1058
00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:19,760
thing on the the electronic 
notice board thing in the 

1059
00:57:19,760 --> 00:57:23,240
timetable, the arrivals board. 
Yes, they put a message saying 

1060
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:25,800
Spike Milligan, this is your 
life or words to that effect. 

1061
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:28,360
And of course, Spike was in a 
world of his own and didn't see 

1062
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:29,880
it. 
We've gone to a spectacular 

1063
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:33,840
lengths to set our trap, as 
you'll see in just a moment. 

1064
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:39,280
Attention, please, This is a 
special announcement. 

1065
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:43,080
Mr. Mike Spike Milligan. 
Spike Milligan, would you please

1066
00:57:43,120 --> 00:57:45,840
look at the arrival occasion, 
please? 

1067
00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:49,640
Special announcement. 
Mr. Spike Milligan or Mr. 

1068
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:51,360
Milligan, please look up at the 
arrival. 

1069
00:57:57,200 --> 00:57:58,160
Hello. 
Spike, hello. 

1070
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:01,680
Fancy seeing you? 
Have you looked up there? 

1071
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:05,800
It says arrivals. 
Yes, that's what I am. 

1072
00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:07,920
I'm an arrivals. 
This is your life. 

1073
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,360
Lots of people with surprises 
and things you've never even 

1074
00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:11,880
thought of done at the 
television set. 

1075
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:13,520
I've been dead 10 years. 
Nobody. 

1076
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:20,440
Concluded that, but of course, 
as you, as you pointed out, he 

1077
00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:22,720
was people far from thought he 
was dead. 

1078
00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:25,040
I mean, because he was, he was 
very much in the news, wasn't he

1079
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:27,280
at the time. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

1080
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:28,640
He was busy this period, wasn't 
he? 

1081
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:32,160
He was, I mean, the first thing 
that it has to be said, it's 

1082
00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:36,920
brutal to see, to go from 1973 
to 1995 because he looks very 

1083
00:58:36,920 --> 00:58:40,040
frail. 
I thought I was a bit shocked 

1084
00:58:40,040 --> 00:58:42,080
about how frail he looked 
actually, though I suppose he 

1085
00:58:42,080 --> 00:58:44,640
was kind of really going on at 
that point. 

1086
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:47,960
He was frail at the Comedy 
Awards, but he was also that was

1087
00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:51,240
heightened maybe, or more 
lessened baby. 

1088
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:54,720
I'm not sure by the booze he'd 
been he'd been knocking back. 

1089
00:58:57,520 --> 00:59:02,400
But yeah, he, he, the, yeah, he,
I know that Jane has said that 

1090
00:59:02,960 --> 00:59:06,960
he was because of his health, he
was on a lot of drugs, 

1091
00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:12,400
prescription drugs, and they 
were affecting his speech and 

1092
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:16,680
his reaction times, and he just 
slowed down. 

1093
00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:20,480
And you just, you sort of one of
the things, and I think one of 

1094
00:59:20,480 --> 00:59:23,240
his daughters actually says to 
him that you just start to feel 

1095
00:59:23,240 --> 00:59:24,560
as well. 
I did when I was watching it 

1096
00:59:24,560 --> 00:59:26,400
again, it kind of made me 
uncomfortable that every time a 

1097
00:59:26,400 --> 00:59:29,560
new guest came on, he sort of 
felt compelled to stand up. 

1098
00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:32,280
But by the end of it, he looks 
absolutely knackered having to 

1099
00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:35,040
do that all the time. 
And it was kind of, I think his 

1100
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:36,720
daughter says to him, but I'm 
sure she said something like 

1101
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:39,520
don't, don't, don't get up, you 
don't need to get up or 

1102
00:59:39,520 --> 00:59:41,480
something like that in his, in 
his ear. 

1103
00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:45,400
And it's, it's, I mean it, 
there's some, there's some funny

1104
00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:47,760
bits. 
I like the fact that when the 

1105
00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:50,200
family stopped coming on, he 
says why are they all wearing 

1106
00:59:50,200 --> 00:59:54,280
black, which I think is a good 
line. 

1107
00:59:55,240 --> 00:59:57,000
And then it's nice to see you 
seek him again. 

1108
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:59,480
But again, he's not there in 
person, which is. 

1109
01:00:00,680 --> 01:00:08,160
Oh God, I mean, thing is, and 
I've said this before recently, 

1110
01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:12,720
I know, I know that regular 
listeners will know that I do 

1111
01:00:12,720 --> 01:00:18,440
repeat myself and I apologise, 
but it's my show, so up yours. 

1112
01:00:19,400 --> 01:00:23,120
But Harry, when was it? 
What were we talking about? 

1113
01:00:23,360 --> 01:00:25,680
We were talking, oh, we were 
talking about a few weeks ago, 

1114
01:00:25,680 --> 01:00:28,760
we were talking about the 
Channel 4 Heroes of Comedy 

1115
01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:33,600
series and talking about the 
episode on the goons and, and 

1116
01:00:33,600 --> 01:00:38,240
Harry was interviewed. 
But he always tells the same 

1117
01:00:38,240 --> 01:00:42,160
stories, always tells the same 
stories Whenever the whenever 

1118
01:00:42,160 --> 01:00:45,040
he's being interviewed about the
goons, there's no very few very,

1119
01:00:45,040 --> 01:00:48,800
he's got this three or four set 
anecdotes that he'll try out. 

1120
01:00:49,360 --> 01:00:53,920
And as, as in this with with 
with his, he's, he's on a live 

1121
01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:58,240
feed from Bristol. 
He's he's doing Pickwick and 

1122
01:00:58,240 --> 01:01:01,720
he's talking about the time, the
supposed time that Spike wanted 

1123
01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:03,800
the sound of somebody being hit 
with a sock full of custard. 

1124
01:01:03,800 --> 01:01:07,160
So goes to the canteen and ask 
them to make him a nice custard.

1125
01:01:07,160 --> 01:01:09,520
And then he pours it into his 
sock and hits it against the 

1126
01:01:09,520 --> 01:01:12,480
wall and then turns and says, 
Oh, it's not the right sound. 

1127
01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:16,280
And, and he's told that story so
many times and it's, it's, it's 

1128
01:01:16,360 --> 01:01:22,320
been proven to be rubbish. 
And even Spike says that's an 

1129
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:32,960
absolute bloody lie. 
There's also there's the choice 

1130
01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:36,720
of they showed, they showed 
three clips they said about 

1131
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:39,640
right at the beginning Asphalt 
mentions he, he got the lifetime

1132
01:01:39,640 --> 01:01:44,200
achievement award in December. 
And then they show they showed 2

1133
01:01:44,200 --> 01:01:48,360
clips from Q and one from the 
last green show of all where 

1134
01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:50,840
spikes doing little jimmies fall
in the water. 

1135
01:01:51,480 --> 01:01:54,840
And I just thought that the 
clips were badly selected. 

1136
01:01:54,840 --> 01:01:56,240
They were poorly selected. 
They were. 

1137
01:01:56,720 --> 01:01:59,080
They could have got much better 
clips I felt. 

1138
01:01:59,200 --> 01:02:03,520
Yeah, the, I mean, the sometimes
that might be a financial thing,

1139
01:02:03,520 --> 01:02:09,760
I guess, but you know, it's ABBC
show the I on the one hand, 

1140
01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:12,960
superficially it's less 
shambolic than the 1973 one, but

1141
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:16,880
it's all, it's still a bit kind 
of it's slapdash isn't. 

1142
01:02:18,920 --> 01:02:23,080
It as I was watching these so I 
watched them one after the 

1143
01:02:23,080 --> 01:02:28,080
other. 
I came to this conclusion as I 

1144
01:02:28,080 --> 01:02:30,720
said as and this is what I wrote
down as is the nature of 

1145
01:02:30,720 --> 01:02:33,840
programs like this where they're
constrained by time and trying 

1146
01:02:33,840 --> 01:02:35,880
to tell a person's life in 30 
minutes. 

1147
01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:40,440
It all ends up being rather 
unsatisfying and often the 

1148
01:02:40,440 --> 01:02:43,240
guests and the stories they 
choose to tell fall a bit flat 

1149
01:02:43,600 --> 01:02:46,560
and and that's very much in 
evidence here. 

1150
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:53,160
Although I was impressed by his 
old command. 

1151
01:02:53,160 --> 01:02:59,480
Was it Jack Lehman who comes out
with with other members of D 

1152
01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:02,520
Company? 
I guess again spikes old war 

1153
01:03:02,520 --> 01:03:06,320
comrades, but Jack Lehman, he's 
every inch the the dapper 

1154
01:03:06,320 --> 01:03:09,320
military gentleman with a smart 
white wax moustache. 

1155
01:03:09,880 --> 01:03:11,920
He's he's straight out of 
Colditz, isn't he? 

1156
01:03:11,920 --> 01:03:16,240
The the TV series? 
Spike in military discipline 

1157
01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:19,760
were not compatible, I believe. 
No, I wouldn't say that in 

1158
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:22,320
action. 
He was absolutely splendid. 

1159
01:03:22,680 --> 01:03:31,080
I got the I got mentioned in 
dispatches, not by me, no, but 

1160
01:03:31,080 --> 01:03:34,760
out of out of action. 
He was absolutely wonderful. 

1161
01:03:34,960 --> 01:03:39,080
We put a little show on in 
Algeria and we toured it down to

1162
01:03:39,080 --> 01:03:41,800
a delightful little port called 
Boujee. 

1163
01:03:42,200 --> 01:03:49,040
And there there was some cream 
and white wrens out fresh from 

1164
01:03:49,040 --> 01:03:53,920
England be sporting themselves 
in the sea. 

1165
01:03:56,000 --> 01:04:00,280
And suddenly they saw what they 
thought it was a white sharks 

1166
01:04:00,280 --> 01:04:04,880
fin going through the water. 
And it was Spike with a with a 

1167
01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:08,560
with a plaster cast we picked up
in the in the basement of a 

1168
01:04:08,640 --> 01:04:10,560
theatre. 
That's why I'm all screaming 

1169
01:04:10,560 --> 01:04:18,240
like man, Spike and the water. 
I think the best bit of this, 

1170
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:22,600
this 95 show is when they're 
talking about the war, because 

1171
01:04:22,960 --> 01:04:28,320
there's a very nice, quite 
moving bit where Spike talks 

1172
01:04:28,320 --> 01:04:35,040
about the shell shock. 
And he's very, he's serious once

1173
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:40,040
and he talks about being put in 
the back of a truck with other 

1174
01:04:40,040 --> 01:04:43,040
soldiers who were injured in one
way or another. 

1175
01:04:43,760 --> 01:04:47,160
And as they're going over bumps,
Spike, because of his, because 

1176
01:04:47,160 --> 01:04:52,360
he's in shock, is shaking. 
And he said there's a soldier 

1177
01:04:52,360 --> 01:04:55,720
sat next to him with his arm in 
a, in like a bloody sling. 

1178
01:04:57,240 --> 01:05:00,600
And this other soldier put his 
arm around Spike to just to 

1179
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:04,120
comfort him, I guess to try and 
calm him down. 

1180
01:05:04,720 --> 01:05:08,200
And Spike said something like, 
if if you're watching this mate,

1181
01:05:08,200 --> 01:05:11,560
thanks so much. 
You know, because he didn't, he 

1182
01:05:11,560 --> 01:05:13,520
never knew what happened to that
soldier. 

1183
01:05:13,800 --> 01:05:15,920
But I thought that was very no, 
it was very nice. 

1184
01:05:15,920 --> 01:05:17,840
There were, there were there. 
I was going to mention that one 

1185
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:20,120
as that bit as well. 
And there's, there's basically 

1186
01:05:20,480 --> 01:05:27,200
immediately after that, there's 
then the Tony Pantani, the great

1187
01:05:27,200 --> 01:05:31,560
love of Spike's life comes on, 
who you met in Italy is a ballet

1188
01:05:31,560 --> 01:05:36,200
dancer. 
And she comes on and that's 

1189
01:05:36,200 --> 01:05:40,360
quite moving as well because she
sort of talks about you will 

1190
01:05:40,360 --> 01:05:42,480
give me a tear. 
And he's obviously got a tear in

1191
01:05:42,480 --> 01:05:44,520
his eye. 
And that's quite a moving 

1192
01:05:44,520 --> 01:05:46,320
moment. 
And apparently, again, according

1193
01:05:46,320 --> 01:05:50,560
to Norma, after the show, she 
was she was married, but her 

1194
01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:52,600
husband was very sympathetic. 
They did used to meet quite a 

1195
01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:55,960
lot, particularly when she moved
to France, her and Spike, But 

1196
01:05:55,960 --> 01:06:00,720
she said let's run away together
And he said, Oh no, we're too 

1197
01:06:00,720 --> 01:06:06,280
old, which is quite sad. 
And kudos, I guess, to Spike's 

1198
01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:10,680
wife, then wife, Sheila. 
She could have knocked that on 

1199
01:06:10,680 --> 01:06:12,920
the head in terms of having her 
as a guest, I suppose. 

1200
01:06:13,000 --> 01:06:14,800
Yeah, she could. 
She could. 

1201
01:06:15,120 --> 01:06:20,160
But then we'll get on to who 
wasn't there in a in a in a 

1202
01:06:20,160 --> 01:06:22,120
similar sort of vein to. 
Of course. 

1203
01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:25,760
Oh yes. 
Yes, maybe in a bit. 

1204
01:06:26,040 --> 01:06:27,960
The the other thing that I 
thought was quite funny was 

1205
01:06:27,960 --> 01:06:32,120
Johnny Spate, because Spike 
looks like there's a brilliant 

1206
01:06:32,120 --> 01:06:35,760
bit because again, cut I'm sure.
But Johnny Spake turns up and 

1207
01:06:35,760 --> 01:06:38,240
goes on a bit and Spike goes. 
I thought he'd never go. 

1208
01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:44,240
That was funny. 
And it's also Roger Mcgough 

1209
01:06:44,960 --> 01:06:47,720
comes out, former guest Goon 
Pod. 

1210
01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:51,400
He comes out and he reads a 
couple of spiked poems and he's 

1211
01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:53,440
it's weird. 
He's weirdly one of the youngest

1212
01:06:53,440 --> 01:06:55,480
people there. 
It is. 

1213
01:06:55,760 --> 01:06:58,440
It is weird. 
It's also, and I like Roger, but

1214
01:06:58,440 --> 01:07:03,040
he reads them really badly. 
Really, really badly. 

1215
01:07:03,200 --> 01:07:08,560
Everyone knows Spike. 
Spike as a as a comic genius and

1216
01:07:09,200 --> 01:07:13,280
muck spreader. 
But I always know Spike as well 

1217
01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:16,600
as a serious poet, and is this 
because he writes very seriously

1218
01:07:16,600 --> 01:07:19,480
about the dark things of life, 
which you know, when the light 

1219
01:07:19,480 --> 01:07:25,200
bulbs fuse darkness everywhere, 
and he's going to write. 

1220
01:07:25,240 --> 01:07:28,120
Can I do one of your Spike? 
God, it's well arranged that 5 

1221
01:07:28,120 --> 01:07:30,840
lbs was well spent. 
There's a pod. 

1222
01:07:31,000 --> 01:07:33,280
Serious pod. 
Dumb got title. 

1223
01:07:33,280 --> 01:07:35,400
Don't have the title that goes 
call Eric. 

1224
01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:39,400
Eric, send me simmering. 
Then to my glassy grave. 

1225
01:07:40,200 --> 01:07:42,240
Leave the empty fireplace. 
Liberate the slave. 

1226
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:45,560
Look last at the butter cups and
the Carter's Lane. 

1227
01:07:46,280 --> 01:07:48,320
The blinds are pulled, the 
kettle boiled. 

1228
01:07:48,680 --> 01:07:52,200
Was it all in vain? 
But it wasn't spiking long way. 

1229
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:54,320
You did. 
You did. 

1230
01:07:54,480 --> 01:07:56,560
Yes, you did. 
Thank you, Rodney. 

1231
01:08:00,680 --> 01:08:03,160
And then Barry Humphrey sort of 
talks about himself quite a bit,

1232
01:08:04,240 --> 01:08:06,960
his bit. 
And Spike looks slightly 

1233
01:08:06,960 --> 01:08:11,520
puzzled. 
Well, he took Barry being Ernest

1234
01:08:11,520 --> 01:08:15,920
Barry talking about Spike giving
him one of his earliest breaks. 

1235
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:19,479
He he gets a telegram from Spike
offering him second lead in the 

1236
01:08:19,479 --> 01:08:24,479
bed sitting room play again. 
They mentioned causes that Spike

1237
01:08:24,479 --> 01:08:28,000
supports now. 
Bizarre choice of guess this 

1238
01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:33,720
John Paul Getty Junior in a in 
in, I swear as a bad wig. 

1239
01:08:33,720 --> 01:08:35,200
I'm sure, I'm sure that's a wig.
Oh yeah. 

1240
01:08:35,200 --> 01:08:36,520
Oh yeah. 
It's got to be. 

1241
01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:40,680
The It's particularly striking 
because he was very reclusive. 

1242
01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:46,080
Odd it is they. 
They, they got together, they 

1243
01:08:46,080 --> 01:08:48,160
knew each other through because 
he was a philanthropist, wasn't 

1244
01:08:48,160 --> 01:08:49,080
he? 
So I guess they, they knew, 

1245
01:08:49,080 --> 01:08:50,000
yeah. 
I mean, he was. 

1246
01:08:50,120 --> 01:08:52,399
The thing is, he used causes and
things like that lots. 

1247
01:08:52,640 --> 01:08:57,399
Lots of people like Mick Jagger 
was a big friend of Getty and 

1248
01:08:57,399 --> 01:09:04,720
Getty had a full size cricket 
pitch in his in his garden with 

1249
01:09:04,720 --> 01:09:07,720
a with a stand as well. 
And they used to often do, used 

1250
01:09:07,720 --> 01:09:11,279
to do a lot of kind of Lord 
Stavanners celebrity cricket 

1251
01:09:11,279 --> 01:09:14,160
matches in the grounds of 
Getty's mansion. 

1252
01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:17,720
But he was, he didn't. 
And he was, he gave a lot of 

1253
01:09:17,720 --> 01:09:20,040
money to the BFI as well, 
British Film Institute. 

1254
01:09:21,359 --> 01:09:23,080
But he was not, he wasn't seen 
often. 

1255
01:09:23,200 --> 01:09:27,319
He wasn't kind of like, yeah. 
And it was his son that was 

1256
01:09:27,319 --> 01:09:29,040
kidnapped. 
Famously, wasn't it? 

1257
01:09:29,040 --> 01:09:32,359
Yeah, and also, Getty was also a
drug addict. 

1258
01:09:32,359 --> 01:09:34,560
For a number of years. 
Well, kind of like a couple of 

1259
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:37,439
decades, I guess, and he'd 
managed to get off drugs. 

1260
01:09:37,439 --> 01:09:40,640
And yes, it was a famous thing 
that it's quite a tangled tale. 

1261
01:09:40,640 --> 01:09:43,160
I wouldn't want to summarise it.
But you know, the way it was 

1262
01:09:44,040 --> 01:09:47,960
typically summarised was that he
just refused point blank to pay 

1263
01:09:47,960 --> 01:09:50,920
the ransom. 
And the son had a finger cut 

1264
01:09:50,920 --> 01:09:52,680
off, didn't he, I think from 
memory. 

1265
01:09:52,920 --> 01:09:55,920
And it was. 
So it's just very, I guess it's 

1266
01:09:55,920 --> 01:10:02,200
a tribute to Spike that John 
Paul Getty would turn up on ATV 

1267
01:10:02,200 --> 01:10:05,040
programme with a, with a, with a
joke that Spike had given a 

1268
01:10:05,040 --> 01:10:09,480
framed pound note, wasn't it? 
In the event of bankruptcy, 

1269
01:10:09,720 --> 01:10:11,320
break class? 
Yes, yes. 

1270
01:10:11,560 --> 01:10:14,000
So it adds to a certain surreal 
moment. 

1271
01:10:14,000 --> 01:10:16,080
Towards the end, isn't it? 
Yeah. 

1272
01:10:16,880 --> 01:10:18,960
And obviously they've got the 
family as well, I mentioned. 

1273
01:10:18,960 --> 01:10:21,200
Sheila got the the children, all
the children. 

1274
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:25,200
There's a mention of Spike's 
latest project which is the 

1275
01:10:25,200 --> 01:10:29,320
film, the short film The Big 
Freeze and A and a clip which is

1276
01:10:29,320 --> 01:10:32,400
a dreadful clip. 
Have you ever seen The Big 

1277
01:10:32,400 --> 01:10:33,440
Freeze? 
I, I I. 

1278
01:10:33,480 --> 01:10:36,800
Regret. 
I have not we will be covering. 

1279
01:10:36,800 --> 01:10:40,960
It next year on goon pod. 
It's it's a short film that Eric

1280
01:10:41,040 --> 01:10:47,040
made spikes in it, obviously, 
but it it ushers in Eric again. 

1281
01:10:47,440 --> 01:10:51,520
Eric's the the final guest. 
Oh, no, he's not the final 

1282
01:10:51,520 --> 01:10:55,040
guest. 
Sealy and Laura's children and 

1283
01:10:55,040 --> 01:10:57,880
husbands are the final guests, 
but Eric is the penultimate 

1284
01:10:57,880 --> 01:11:00,080
guest. 
And it's that's again, that's a 

1285
01:11:00,080 --> 01:11:03,200
lovely that's probably again, 
that probably the best bit The 

1286
01:11:03,200 --> 01:11:06,120
the the like 2 old men doing a 
routine, aren't they? 

1287
01:11:06,280 --> 01:11:07,880
Yeah. 
And in fact, I think I was 

1288
01:11:07,880 --> 01:11:09,760
confusing. 
I was mixing the 2 when I. 

1289
01:11:09,760 --> 01:11:12,720
Said earlier that they're 
talking about giving each of the

1290
01:11:12,720 --> 01:11:15,880
gushing tributes, aren't they? 
As a joke. 

1291
01:11:16,360 --> 01:11:19,280
Oh right, yes, yeah, it's it's 
in the it's in the later one 

1292
01:11:19,280 --> 01:11:20,400
that they. 
Do that, but no, I think. 

1293
01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:22,600
I think Sykes is a class act, 
isn't he? 

1294
01:11:22,600 --> 01:11:26,120
And and as I think we, you know,
we mentioned when we were 

1295
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:28,760
talking about preparing this, 
he's in a much better this is 

1296
01:11:28,760 --> 01:11:33,120
your life devoted to him, which 
was a Christmas special I seem 

1297
01:11:33,120 --> 01:11:35,880
to recall as well. 
And that's that's that's much 

1298
01:11:35,880 --> 01:11:40,240
better just because Sykes being 
a more kind of centred person. 

1299
01:11:40,240 --> 01:11:42,400
I mean, it's not perfect. 
It's this is your life which as.

1300
01:11:42,400 --> 01:11:45,440
I've outlined it's not. 
My idea of a perfect show. 

1301
01:11:45,720 --> 01:11:49,000
I'm sure from memory Spike comes
out with Johnny. 

1302
01:11:49,000 --> 01:11:53,720
Spate during that it's spike in 
a bath chair something like that

1303
01:11:53,720 --> 01:11:57,360
and Tommy Tommy Cooper takes 
about. 10 minutes to come on 

1304
01:11:57,480 --> 01:12:01,280
when it when he assist, which 
is, which is very, very funny 

1305
01:12:02,400 --> 01:12:04,760
because it's a classic. 
You know, all of the I think 

1306
01:12:04,760 --> 01:12:08,160
Clive James wrote about that 
when he was ATV reviewer about 

1307
01:12:08,160 --> 01:12:13,760
that episode where basically 
Eric Sykes Fain's concern, but 

1308
01:12:13,760 --> 01:12:15,920
well, Spike Milligan's weeping 
with laughter. 

1309
01:12:15,920 --> 01:12:17,760
It's very, it's a very, it's a 
nice moment. 

1310
01:12:22,560 --> 01:12:27,080
So it's it is what it is. 
It's entertaining enough. 

1311
01:12:27,080 --> 01:12:30,680
There's a, there's a for the 
time, a very rare clip of the 

1312
01:12:30,680 --> 01:12:35,000
Bill Hall trio, which Spike is 
delighted to see, genuinely 

1313
01:12:35,000 --> 01:12:38,640
looked absolutely made-up to see
that, that clip. 

1314
01:12:39,360 --> 01:12:43,600
But there's not much, I mean, of
the two, I guess the 73 is the 

1315
01:12:43,600 --> 01:12:45,400
better. 
This is your life, just because 

1316
01:12:45,400 --> 01:12:48,760
Spikes got a bit more life to 
him, really. 

1317
01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:54,040
You've got Sellers in it. 
You've got just just just a bit 

1318
01:12:54,040 --> 01:13:00,320
more happening. 
This 95 episode is a little bit 

1319
01:13:00,320 --> 01:13:02,400
sterile. 
Yeah, No, I agree. 

1320
01:13:02,480 --> 01:13:03,440
It's not. 
It's not. 

1321
01:13:04,800 --> 01:13:08,600
I suppose you take out the 
shambolic and it just becomes 

1322
01:13:08,600 --> 01:13:14,000
very sort of safe and and as you
say, it's kind of airless, not 

1323
01:13:14,000 --> 01:13:16,600
kind of just a bit down pat, 
isn't it? 

1324
01:13:16,600 --> 01:13:21,320
Whereas at least with the 70s 
version you had a fair chance of

1325
01:13:21,320 --> 01:13:24,280
there being a kind of somewhat 
mitigated chaos, which is 

1326
01:13:24,280 --> 01:13:27,560
slightly more interesting to 
watch than a kind of kind of 

1327
01:13:27,560 --> 01:13:30,560
sausage machine kind of thing 
that the the later 1 is. 

1328
01:13:31,600 --> 01:13:34,160
You mentioned before there was 
1. 

1329
01:13:35,200 --> 01:13:39,560
Person that wasn't a guest in 
the 95 edition. 

1330
01:13:39,560 --> 01:13:43,240
And I remember when this was, 
this was all over the Sunday 

1331
01:13:43,240 --> 01:13:45,720
papers. 
I think it was about 9192 when 

1332
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:53,360
it was revealed that Spike had a
a son, another son called James.

1333
01:13:53,760 --> 01:13:56,760
Did Spike meet him or? 
Yeah. 

1334
01:13:56,760 --> 01:13:58,280
Have they just spoken on the 
phone or something? 

1335
01:13:58,280 --> 01:13:59,920
I'm not, I think. 
I think they'd met and he paid 

1336
01:13:59,920 --> 01:14:01,400
for him to go to public school, 
didn't he? 

1337
01:14:01,840 --> 01:14:05,840
I think. 
Oh, OK, that that story had. 

1338
01:14:05,840 --> 01:14:07,880
Broken. 
And it just shows you how kind 

1339
01:14:07,880 --> 01:14:10,400
of like, you know, they really 
will latch onto anything. 

1340
01:14:10,400 --> 01:14:15,840
The press, apparently after the 
This is Your life, it was again 

1341
01:14:15,840 --> 01:14:17,520
on the front page. 
It was on the front page of a 

1342
01:14:17,640 --> 01:14:22,760
The Sunday Sun, which is a NE 
Sunday newspaper because that's 

1343
01:14:22,760 --> 01:14:27,560
where Spike's secret son, as he 
was called, and the mum lived. 

1344
01:14:27,560 --> 01:14:31,720
They lived up north and 
basically it ran and ran for 

1345
01:14:31,720 --> 01:14:34,560
about, you know, about a couple 
of weeks really, that most 

1346
01:14:34,560 --> 01:14:38,120
newspapers had an article about 
the fact that after the event 

1347
01:14:38,120 --> 01:14:41,720
that this is your life. 
Spike was very upset that he 

1348
01:14:41,720 --> 01:14:46,640
wasn't included in the program 
and rang up to apologize. 

1349
01:14:46,960 --> 01:14:50,560
But then there were a kind of a 
lot of interviews with the 

1350
01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:55,280
mother and son and it kind of 
slightly spiralled, I guess at 

1351
01:14:55,280 --> 01:14:57,080
that point. 
And there was some critical 

1352
01:14:57,520 --> 01:15:00,600
articles as well that sort of 
suggested because basically the 

1353
01:15:00,600 --> 01:15:02,760
This is Your Live production 
team apologized. 

1354
01:15:03,320 --> 01:15:06,520
But they ultimately the kind of 
boss there made the decision 

1355
01:15:06,520 --> 01:15:09,480
because I think Sheila and 
others weren't entirely sure of 

1356
01:15:09,480 --> 01:15:12,000
what would be for the best. 
That's, that's what the guy said

1357
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:15,080
anyway, whether that's whether 
that's the case because the 

1358
01:15:15,080 --> 01:15:17,160
family, all the kids had never 
met before. 

1359
01:15:17,200 --> 01:15:20,520
They hadn't all been in because 
it was a second, second secret 

1360
01:15:20,920 --> 01:15:24,160
kid wasn't there. 
And so they made that decision, 

1361
01:15:24,160 --> 01:15:25,840
but they apologized if it caused
any problems. 

1362
01:15:25,840 --> 01:15:28,560
And obviously they couldn't have
Spike making the decision. 

1363
01:15:28,560 --> 01:15:30,160
And that goes back to what you 
were talking about. 

1364
01:15:30,200 --> 01:15:32,240
You know, the person who's the 
actual subject of it gets no 

1365
01:15:32,240 --> 01:15:34,600
say. 
And by the time that they've 

1366
01:15:34,600 --> 01:15:37,360
done it, it's over. 
There's not a lot they can do 

1367
01:15:37,360 --> 01:15:40,240
about it unless you're Alec 
Mccowan who tried to try to get 

1368
01:15:40,240 --> 01:15:44,960
the program scrapped in his 
instance so that that kind of 

1369
01:15:45,120 --> 01:15:46,640
ran. 
And it's also covered in the 

1370
01:15:46,640 --> 01:15:52,480
various biographies of it. 
And it's clearly an upsetting 

1371
01:15:52,480 --> 01:15:54,200
time. 
I don't, I don't think in the 

1372
01:15:54,200 --> 01:15:56,520
end, I think some articles 
suggested why hasn't Spike just 

1373
01:15:56,520 --> 01:15:59,360
got all the kids together anyway
if they'd already met before 

1374
01:15:59,840 --> 01:16:01,720
then. 
But I suppose some of them lived

1375
01:16:01,720 --> 01:16:02,920
in Australia and so on, didn't 
they? 

1376
01:16:02,920 --> 01:16:06,600
So it's tricky. 
I mean, the other bizarre press 

1377
01:16:06,600 --> 01:16:09,480
reaction to which, you know, it 
sort of talks speaks to what 

1378
01:16:09,480 --> 01:16:11,400
we've been talking about. 
But there was somebody called 

1379
01:16:11,400 --> 01:16:13,520
Molly Blake in the Birmingham 
Evening Mail. 

1380
01:16:14,440 --> 01:16:16,600
Oh yes, I saw that. 
Did a review where she just 

1381
01:16:16,600 --> 01:16:18,080
basically said is it kind to 
wheel? 

1382
01:16:18,080 --> 01:16:20,600
People out when they're so. 
Terribly tottery and past their 

1383
01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:24,240
prime at 9. 
At 77, he's no longer funny. 

1384
01:16:24,520 --> 01:16:27,360
On last night's showing, Spike 
Milligan has become a rather sad

1385
01:16:27,360 --> 01:16:29,920
old man. 
Which is sort of put in the boot

1386
01:16:29,920 --> 01:16:32,800
in. 
But then she seemed to weirdly, 

1387
01:16:32,800 --> 01:16:36,160
the following week, and I've 
never heard anybody say this, 

1388
01:16:36,160 --> 01:16:40,640
that that that it was Howard 
Keel, the singer and actor, 

1389
01:16:41,040 --> 01:16:45,160
musical theatre singer and 
actor, who was in Dallas playing

1390
01:16:46,360 --> 01:16:48,640
Clayton Farlow, who's meant to 
miss Ellie. 

1391
01:16:48,640 --> 01:16:50,240
You get me on to Dallas now. 
Oh, dear. 

1392
01:16:50,840 --> 01:16:54,720
And but he's described by this 
Molly Blake as that horrible 

1393
01:16:54,720 --> 01:16:58,120
Howard Keel. 
And again, she took but I mean, 

1394
01:16:58,160 --> 01:17:01,240
I don't think I've ever heard 
anyone in in history refer to 

1395
01:17:01,240 --> 01:17:03,120
Howard Keele as the horrible 
Howard Keele. 

1396
01:17:03,120 --> 01:17:05,440
He's supposed to be. 
Everything I've ever heard about

1397
01:17:05,440 --> 01:17:07,360
him suggest he was a really nice
guy. 

1398
01:17:07,680 --> 01:17:09,520
And so she clearly had a 
problem. 

1399
01:17:09,560 --> 01:17:11,200
I'm sure Howard Keele was a 
lovely man. 

1400
01:17:11,200 --> 01:17:12,360
I think. 
I think he was. 

1401
01:17:12,560 --> 01:17:13,360
I just think. 
She, she. 

1402
01:17:13,360 --> 01:17:16,040
Basically, she she. 
Says that there's been too many 

1403
01:17:16,040 --> 01:17:18,680
old duffers on This Is Your Life
recently. 

1404
01:17:18,680 --> 01:17:21,560
It's very ageist. 
Well, yeah. 

1405
01:17:21,560 --> 01:17:23,720
And then they get they complain 
if it's too young, like Stephen.

1406
01:17:23,720 --> 01:17:24,840
Hendry. 
I know, Stephen. 

1407
01:17:24,840 --> 01:17:26,320
It all comes around to Stephen. 
Hendry again. 

1408
01:17:30,000 --> 01:17:36,040
OK, now I wrote down a list of 
what I consider to be notable 

1409
01:17:36,040 --> 01:17:40,360
guest omissions. 
OK, by that I mean. 

1410
01:17:40,640 --> 01:17:43,680
He or she should have been. 
On at least one of the two 

1411
01:17:44,120 --> 01:17:48,600
editions. 
So first of all, and I know she 

1412
01:17:48,600 --> 01:17:52,560
was obviously very much involved
in the organising of all these 

1413
01:17:53,200 --> 01:17:55,640
of these two shows, but I'm 
surprised they didn't actually 

1414
01:17:55,640 --> 01:17:59,360
bring Norma out as a guest. 
Yes, that's true. 

1415
01:17:59,600 --> 01:18:02,200
That's true. 
Spike couldn't function without.

1416
01:18:02,200 --> 01:18:03,920
Her Could he? 
No. 

1417
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:04,880
No. 
Absolutely. 

1418
01:18:05,080 --> 01:18:06,440
Maybe. 
Maybe Norma didn't want to be 

1419
01:18:06,440 --> 01:18:07,000
on. 
Maybe she. 

1420
01:18:07,000 --> 01:18:08,800
Wanted to kind of remain in the 
background. 

1421
01:18:08,800 --> 01:18:11,040
It was Peter Sellers. 
Yes. 

1422
01:18:11,360 --> 01:18:12,680
Yeah. 
With the with the smoked salmon 

1423
01:18:12,680 --> 01:18:14,160
and the champagne. 
Now. 

1424
01:18:14,760 --> 01:18:17,080
For me, and again, maybe he 
didn't. 

1425
01:18:17,080 --> 01:18:19,840
Want to do it maybe he was asked
John Antrebus. 

1426
01:18:21,520 --> 01:18:24,200
Yes, that, yeah. 
I mean, he would have been fine.

1427
01:18:24,200 --> 01:18:25,800
He. 
Wasn't that old then, was he? 

1428
01:18:26,800 --> 01:18:27,880
Oh, God. 
Nobody's still with us. 

1429
01:18:27,880 --> 01:18:29,120
Yeah, exactly. 
Yeah. 

1430
01:18:35,320 --> 01:18:38,480
Hi, this is Tyler. 
In the future, I'm sorry to say 

1431
01:18:38,480 --> 01:18:41,320
that in between recording this 
and the show going out, we were 

1432
01:18:41,320 --> 01:18:44,920
very saddened to learn of the 
passing of John Andrebus, aged 

1433
01:18:44,920 --> 01:18:48,240
92. 
He he died a couple of days ago 

1434
01:18:48,240 --> 01:18:51,960
on the 15th of December, having 
lived a very full and very 

1435
01:18:51,960 --> 01:18:55,520
successful life. 
And he was pretty much the last 

1436
01:18:55,520 --> 01:18:59,480
direct link we have to the goons
as a, as a collaborator, I guess

1437
01:19:00,520 --> 01:19:02,840
not including Dick Lester 
because he had no involvement 

1438
01:19:02,880 --> 01:19:06,120
with the radio series. 
And a few months back we did a 

1439
01:19:06,120 --> 01:19:10,120
special show as a salute to 
John, where me and Mike Haskins 

1440
01:19:10,120 --> 01:19:12,000
look back at his life and 
career. 

1441
01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:16,200
Well, as much as we could within
the constraints of 19 minutes or

1442
01:19:16,200 --> 01:19:18,640
so. 
And Peter ambling of the of the 

1443
01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:23,000
GSPS, told me John had heard it 
and was happy with it, which I 

1444
01:19:23,000 --> 01:19:26,720
was so glad to hear because he 
was obviously very frail and 

1445
01:19:26,720 --> 01:19:31,760
I'll at that point and his, his 
partner Nicole was moved by it 

1446
01:19:31,760 --> 01:19:33,600
apparently. 
And it makes me really happy 

1447
01:19:33,600 --> 01:19:36,800
that we were able to show that 
there are still people who enjoy

1448
01:19:36,800 --> 01:19:40,800
and admire John's work to this 
very day, that he wasn't 

1449
01:19:40,800 --> 01:19:45,760
forgotten. 
Anyway, ROP, John, thanks for 

1450
01:19:45,760 --> 01:19:48,200
everything. 
Now back to the show. 

1451
01:19:49,240 --> 01:19:52,320
And The thing is right, I think 
he had better claim than Spate. 

1452
01:19:52,440 --> 01:19:55,840
Spike had a much longer working 
relationship with John 

1453
01:19:55,840 --> 01:19:58,640
Andreibus. 
You know, they they wrote so 

1454
01:19:58,640 --> 01:20:00,880
much together. 
And it would have been nice to 

1455
01:20:00,880 --> 01:20:05,080
have seen him at least in 95, 
perhaps because by that point 

1456
01:20:05,080 --> 01:20:07,400
they've done a hell of a lot 
together, really. 

1457
01:20:07,600 --> 01:20:11,120
Or collaborated. 
I also put I wrote down and and 

1458
01:20:11,120 --> 01:20:14,120
maybe you might think these are 
these are unrealistic, but I 

1459
01:20:14,120 --> 01:20:18,040
thought John Bluthor, I thought 
somebody from the Q series 1 of 

1460
01:20:18,240 --> 01:20:22,480
and and you know, John Bluthor 
and Spike had worked together 

1461
01:20:23,000 --> 01:20:25,080
going back to the 50s in 
Australia. 

1462
01:20:25,320 --> 01:20:27,720
Yeah, I think it's it's 
interesting and I think you're 

1463
01:20:27,720 --> 01:20:28,720
right. 
And I always want. 

1464
01:20:28,720 --> 01:20:31,720
An opportunity to see John 
Bluthor because he's great, but 

1465
01:20:31,720 --> 01:20:38,040
the apart from the family and 
the friends from early life, 

1466
01:20:38,560 --> 01:20:42,320
they sort of want to pitch the 
celebrities who are coming on as

1467
01:20:42,320 --> 01:20:45,040
being kind of like having name 
recognition. 

1468
01:20:45,760 --> 01:20:49,240
And I wonder if that's part of 
the factor behind because who 

1469
01:20:49,240 --> 01:20:51,320
who would know? 
You might know John Bluthill's 

1470
01:20:51,320 --> 01:20:53,280
face and but they wouldn't know 
who John Antropus was 

1471
01:20:53,280 --> 01:20:55,560
necessarily. 
And they do. 

1472
01:20:55,720 --> 01:20:58,880
It's that weird mix of the 
genuine, you know, family, 

1473
01:20:59,240 --> 01:21:00,920
friends from the early days, 
etcetera. 

1474
01:21:00,920 --> 01:21:03,880
They got the canteen lady from 
Bexhill that Spike shagged. 

1475
01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:05,840
Yeah. 
I know it's it's. 

1476
01:21:05,840 --> 01:21:07,800
I guess that kind of falls under
the the. 

1477
01:21:07,840 --> 01:21:10,960
Very old friends before they 
were famous kind of thing. 

1478
01:21:11,360 --> 01:21:13,120
I'm not trying to justify 
because I think you're right. 

1479
01:21:13,240 --> 01:21:17,120
That's that's why the program's 
such a kind of artificial thing,

1480
01:21:17,400 --> 01:21:20,400
because it's not any kind of 
representative of who really 

1481
01:21:20,440 --> 01:21:23,000
kind of knows him the best or 
who etcetera. 

1482
01:21:23,000 --> 01:21:25,800
It's just the kind of weird 
hotchpotch of stuff. 

1483
01:21:26,560 --> 01:21:29,360
Yeah. 
And in 73 I reckon they should 

1484
01:21:29,360 --> 01:21:31,960
have got birded. 
Miles because because of the 

1485
01:21:32,040 --> 01:21:35,960
yeah, the work that Spike did, 
the man made theatre like 

1486
01:21:36,080 --> 01:21:38,680
Treasure Island and whatnot. 
And then Mars would have been 

1487
01:21:38,680 --> 01:21:40,080
good. 
And he would, you know, he was, 

1488
01:21:40,360 --> 01:21:41,960
he was a well known name and 
face. 

1489
01:21:42,120 --> 01:21:43,680
To the public. 
So there's no real. 

1490
01:21:44,000 --> 01:21:46,400
I guess maybe he wasn't 
available, but oh, you know, 

1491
01:21:46,480 --> 01:21:48,160
hard to say, isn't it? 
Yeah. 

1492
01:21:48,640 --> 01:21:51,240
And and in 95 he probably 
wouldn't have been available 

1493
01:21:51,240 --> 01:21:52,560
either. 
Or maybe he wouldn't want to do 

1494
01:21:52,560 --> 01:21:56,920
it. 
But George Martin, because, you 

1495
01:21:56,920 --> 01:22:01,000
know, he was Spike's best man in
in 62 and they recorded a lot 

1496
01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:04,360
together. 
And he, he's a big name. 

1497
01:22:05,240 --> 01:22:08,120
Oh, yeah. 
Did they remain close? 

1498
01:22:08,520 --> 01:22:13,040
Over the years, I don't, I don't
know, but they certainly. 

1499
01:22:13,040 --> 01:22:17,440
Were close in the 50s and 60s. 
Well, I know there were because 

1500
01:22:17,440 --> 01:22:24,120
he, George Martin recorded the 
Q5 piano song with Spike in the 

1501
01:22:24,120 --> 01:22:27,280
late 60s. 
Anyway, there's there's there's 

1502
01:22:27,280 --> 01:22:28,560
him. 
And I'm going to cross out two 

1503
01:22:28,560 --> 01:22:32,560
other names I wrote down here 
because you've kind of covered 

1504
01:22:32,560 --> 01:22:34,760
that, the fact that they 
probably wouldn't have the name 

1505
01:22:34,760 --> 01:22:37,560
recognition, Valentine Dial and 
Alan Clare. 

1506
01:22:39,600 --> 01:22:42,960
And it was. 
And impetually, I also wrote 

1507
01:22:42,960 --> 01:22:45,320
down that boy that he shot with 
an air rifle. 

1508
01:22:45,840 --> 01:22:48,320
Yes, that would be that would be
a good one. 

1509
01:22:48,520 --> 01:22:51,200
I'm sure that'd go down well. 
Do you remember this voice? 

1510
01:22:51,200 --> 01:22:53,360
Yes. 
Ow, you bastard. 

1511
01:22:55,240 --> 01:22:58,520
Now what happened is from. 
There on we we, we spent a long.

1512
01:22:58,520 --> 01:23:01,760
Time there that and in those 
days they didn't have a lot of 

1513
01:23:01,760 --> 01:23:05,480
traffic we didn't have crossings
generally she got to eat at Bart

1514
01:23:05,480 --> 01:23:09,320
rallies that's right Bart 
rallies that's right I'm glad 

1515
01:23:09,320 --> 01:23:10,480
you're. 
Still with us now. 

1516
01:23:11,920 --> 01:23:15,000
And and we used to cross the 
road and there are no crossing 

1517
01:23:15,000 --> 01:23:16,520
in those. 
They're just horse droppings. 

1518
01:23:16,520 --> 01:23:17,680
Do you remember it? 
That's right. 

1519
01:23:17,680 --> 01:23:19,840
Yes, right. 
There's some of mine there as 

1520
01:23:19,920 --> 01:23:24,000
well. 
I know because. 

1521
01:23:24,160 --> 01:23:26,880
We used to take it in turns to 
to limp and the. 

1522
01:23:26,880 --> 01:23:30,800
Other fella held him across so 
the traffic would stop and one 

1523
01:23:30,800 --> 01:23:33,600
day we had, we had a very hairy 
crossing and you've probably 

1524
01:23:33,600 --> 01:23:36,320
forgotten this. 
Right next door to Barbarelli's 

1525
01:23:36,360 --> 01:23:39,360
there was a funeral parlour with
a big plate glass window. 

1526
01:23:39,360 --> 01:23:44,200
You remember it. 
Your mind's coming back. 

1527
01:23:46,760 --> 01:23:47,640
And there was a. 
There was a. 

1528
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:50,160
Funeral thing like that and we 
we had a bit of. 

1529
01:23:50,160 --> 01:23:52,800
A hairy crossing there because 
we were both limping like that. 

1530
01:23:53,560 --> 01:23:56,640
And when we got this spike lay 
on the pavement outside. 

1531
01:23:56,640 --> 01:23:58,280
This. 
Thing like that, like that. 

1532
01:23:58,280 --> 01:24:00,040
And then he knocked on the door 
and he said shop. 

1533
01:24:00,040 --> 01:24:07,800
Oh my God, you would have. 
Made me and a half using. 

1534
01:24:08,400 --> 01:24:10,440
That that heavyweight research 
tool. 

1535
01:24:10,440 --> 01:24:13,640
Wikipedia, just to round off 
what we were talking about, a 

1536
01:24:13,640 --> 01:24:18,160
famous one, the subject of the 
programme that found out and the

1537
01:24:18,160 --> 01:24:21,120
programme was pulled was Ronnie 
Barker apparently. 

1538
01:24:21,800 --> 01:24:25,920
Oh, and apparently he was so. 
Disturbed by. 

1539
01:24:25,920 --> 01:24:29,560
How secretively his wife was 
behaving that he started to 

1540
01:24:29,560 --> 01:24:33,360
suspect she might be having an 
affair and in the end she had to

1541
01:24:33,360 --> 01:24:37,640
explain and it got cancelled. 
But then Barker said to his wife

1542
01:24:37,640 --> 01:24:40,160
he never wanted to be on the 
program anyway and there was 

1543
01:24:40,160 --> 01:24:41,840
never a follow up because of 
that. 

1544
01:24:42,320 --> 01:24:45,280
And also apparently Maureen 
Lipman had an arrangement with 

1545
01:24:45,280 --> 01:24:48,720
her agent and her husband and 
John Rose, Jack Rosenthal did 

1546
01:24:48,720 --> 01:24:50,560
the same. 
They had an agreement that they 

1547
01:24:50,560 --> 01:24:53,640
would never be on it as subjects
as well. 

1548
01:24:53,680 --> 01:24:57,440
So obviously some people did let
their agents know that they that

1549
01:24:57,440 --> 01:25:00,600
they weren't interested. 
I did have one more thing when I

1550
01:25:00,600 --> 01:25:03,280
was going through the sort of 
newspaper archives. 

1551
01:25:04,040 --> 01:25:09,080
Spike Milligan's name from 
around just after the 1973 one, 

1552
01:25:10,040 --> 01:25:14,320
Spike Milligan's name came up in
a interview with Huey Green 

1553
01:25:15,080 --> 01:25:19,400
about Opportunity Knox. 
And Milligan was name checked by

1554
01:25:20,720 --> 01:25:23,880
Huey Green as being one of the 
celebrities, one of the talents 

1555
01:25:23,880 --> 01:25:27,480
that was discovered via 
Opportunity Knox and on the on 

1556
01:25:27,480 --> 01:25:30,320
the radio version because it was
a radio show 1st. 

1557
01:25:30,640 --> 01:25:33,680
And then I looked on the 
Opportunity Knox Wikipedia and a

1558
01:25:33,680 --> 01:25:36,760
few other places and it mentions
at the top some of the people 

1559
01:25:36,760 --> 01:25:38,760
that were discovered, including 
Spike Milligan. 

1560
01:25:39,040 --> 01:25:43,120
Now I have to say I don't think 
I knew that or indeed if it's 

1561
01:25:43,120 --> 01:25:45,040
true because it's not on Spike 
Milligan's own thing. 

1562
01:25:45,040 --> 01:25:47,640
I don't think it is, is it? 
No, I've never heard that 

1563
01:25:47,720 --> 01:25:49,920
before. 
Hello, I thought I'd check. 

1564
01:25:49,920 --> 01:25:52,600
With you, because you know if 
anybody knows any. 

1565
01:25:52,640 --> 01:25:55,880
Any of the wiser about this 
because I I I only really 

1566
01:25:55,880 --> 01:25:58,880
discovered it yesterday in the 
article that Huey Green was 

1567
01:25:58,880 --> 01:26:00,920
quoted in. 
I certainly wouldn't take on 

1568
01:26:00,920 --> 01:26:02,560
face value or anything that Huey
Green says. 

1569
01:26:02,560 --> 01:26:07,560
But the far from it. 
The I just thought that was that

1570
01:26:07,560 --> 01:26:10,120
was one that, as I say, it leads
on the opportunity Knox 

1571
01:26:10,120 --> 01:26:13,720
Wikipedia page. 
So it's by when did when did the

1572
01:26:13,720 --> 01:26:20,120
radio series start? 
I think it was late Forties 1949

1573
01:26:20,600 --> 01:26:22,920
apparently. 
Look, look, so Spike, I mean 

1574
01:26:22,920 --> 01:26:26,920
Spike auditioned and. 
Failed to get get on at the 

1575
01:26:26,920 --> 01:26:31,280
windmill. 
But late 40s when he was at 

1576
01:26:31,280 --> 01:26:35,560
Graftons he was writing comedy 
scripts for Derek Roy and people

1577
01:26:35,560 --> 01:26:36,880
like that. 
I mean literally the first 

1578
01:26:36,880 --> 01:26:39,320
paragraph for the opportunity 
notes Wikipedia and she says. 

1579
01:26:39,600 --> 01:26:42,840
From its origin on the BBC Radio
1949, the show provided a 

1580
01:26:42,840 --> 01:26:46,600
platform to fame for acts such 
as Spike Milligan and Frankie 

1581
01:26:46,600 --> 01:26:48,400
Vaughan. 
So it leads with it, which is a 

1582
01:26:48,400 --> 01:26:50,720
bit weird. 
And I'm just not very convinced 

1583
01:26:50,720 --> 01:26:52,560
by that. 
Well, I've never read that and 

1584
01:26:52,560 --> 01:26:54,960
if I have, I've forgotten it. 
And listeners, there's. 

1585
01:26:55,040 --> 01:26:58,720
I have listeners who know more 
about Spike than I do, so if 

1586
01:26:58,760 --> 01:27:01,960
anyone can shed some light on 
that, I'm sure it is. 

1587
01:27:01,960 --> 01:27:04,120
I wash it feels like it, doesn't
it? 

1588
01:27:04,520 --> 01:27:06,560
Yeah. 
OK, so John, yeah, I. 

1589
01:27:06,560 --> 01:27:08,480
Think this this has been. 
Great fun. 

1590
01:27:08,480 --> 01:27:11,800
It's been interesting talking 
about I know that again, I'm I'm

1591
01:27:11,800 --> 01:27:13,480
coming. 
I've come across as a bit of a 

1592
01:27:14,560 --> 01:27:18,040
ornery old sod about. 
This. 

1593
01:27:18,040 --> 01:27:21,880
Because I've been mostly 
negative, but this is your life 

1594
01:27:22,040 --> 01:27:24,920
was a bit haphazard and a bit 
hit and miss. 

1595
01:27:25,240 --> 01:27:26,560
Yeah. 
And I guess that you know that 

1596
01:27:26,560 --> 01:27:28,800
that's that's as I talked about 
at the beginning, it had kind. 

1597
01:27:28,800 --> 01:27:31,800
Of big cultural impact. 
You could refer to it Eamonn 

1598
01:27:31,800 --> 01:27:33,720
Andrews in the Big Red Book. 
Everybody knew what you were 

1599
01:27:33,720 --> 01:27:36,680
talking about and it and it was 
right for parody because it was 

1600
01:27:37,120 --> 01:27:40,480
a bit of a shambles as well, you
know, and that that was taken. 

1601
01:27:40,560 --> 01:27:43,320
That was kind of the often it 
was taking the make out for 

1602
01:27:43,320 --> 01:27:45,760
exactly those reasons. 
And in fact, it was quite 

1603
01:27:45,760 --> 01:27:47,680
sentimental at times as well and
all of that. 

1604
01:27:47,680 --> 01:27:50,920
So, yeah, I mean, I'm conscious 
of the fact that I've now been 

1605
01:27:50,920 --> 01:27:54,360
on the last two green pods 
largely slagging off the thing 

1606
01:27:54,360 --> 01:27:57,520
that we're talking about. 
But with but with with Korean 

1607
01:27:57,520 --> 01:28:01,080
ships and this is your life, 
these particular episodes, it's 

1608
01:28:01,080 --> 01:28:03,680
that, you know, it's hard not to
really. 

1609
01:28:04,520 --> 01:28:06,200
I think we've pointed out where 
we thought there were some good 

1610
01:28:06,200 --> 01:28:07,320
bits. 
Yeah. 

1611
01:28:07,360 --> 01:28:08,240
Yeah. 
Absolutely. 

1612
01:28:09,200 --> 01:28:12,520
All right, John. 
So you've already said that 

1613
01:28:12,600 --> 01:28:17,680
there will be by the time this 
show is out there, will the the 

1614
01:28:17,680 --> 01:28:21,920
episode that's dropping tonight 
as we record will will be out 

1615
01:28:21,920 --> 01:28:23,840
and you've got a Christmas 
special coming up. 

1616
01:28:24,080 --> 01:28:26,880
Yeah, absolutely. 
We you know we can find us. 

1617
01:28:26,880 --> 01:28:28,640
World of telly. 
Wherever you get your podcasts 

1618
01:28:28,640 --> 01:28:34,120
from and also on YouTube. 
It's YouTube slash at World of 

1619
01:28:34,120 --> 01:28:36,760
Telly and it's whoops 
Apocalypse. 

1620
01:28:36,760 --> 01:28:39,880
It's dropping tonight. 
Oh, brilliant. 

1621
01:28:40,480 --> 01:28:44,240
Oh, OK, because I interviewed. 
Marshall and Renwick about the 

1622
01:28:44,280 --> 01:28:48,360
film you did and both Neil and I
listened to your podcast. 

1623
01:28:48,560 --> 01:28:52,920
As part of our preparations for 
that, it was good. 

1624
01:28:53,040 --> 01:28:54,520
It was good. 
I mean, obviously it's more 

1625
01:28:54,520 --> 01:28:55,160
about the. 
Film. 

1626
01:28:55,600 --> 01:28:59,840
Which I have to confess, I only 
saw for the first time a couple 

1627
01:28:59,840 --> 01:29:02,240
of weeks ago. 
I really didn't like it. 

1628
01:29:02,240 --> 01:29:03,720
I have to say. 
No, I didn't. 

1629
01:29:03,720 --> 01:29:07,000
I didn't. 
I did something about, I don't 

1630
01:29:07,000 --> 01:29:11,040
know, the film films made around
that time where there, I don't 

1631
01:29:11,040 --> 01:29:13,600
know, there's something, there's
all kind of lack of energy, kind

1632
01:29:13,600 --> 01:29:16,360
of airless quality to them. 
I mean, there were some funny 

1633
01:29:16,360 --> 01:29:19,280
bits in it, I thought. 
But to me, I know that you said 

1634
01:29:19,280 --> 01:29:22,320
on the podcast that I think they
they they sort of preferred it 

1635
01:29:22,320 --> 01:29:25,160
to the TV version. 
But to me, I don't, I really 

1636
01:29:25,160 --> 01:29:28,400
don't get that at all because I 
know it's a different beast, but

1637
01:29:28,480 --> 01:29:30,600
I just it didn't it didn't grab 
me. 

1638
01:29:30,600 --> 01:29:32,880
I mean, some good performances. 
I think Ian Richardson's good in

1639
01:29:32,880 --> 01:29:35,800
it. 
And Peter Cook, Yes. 

1640
01:29:37,520 --> 01:29:40,160
Yeah. 
Well, I, I did. 

1641
01:29:40,200 --> 01:29:43,120
I did quite. 
Enjoy the film Rick Rick's in it

1642
01:29:43,120 --> 01:29:46,760
of course, and and John Sessions
and there's lots, lots of face 

1643
01:29:46,760 --> 01:29:49,000
spotting to be to be done. 
The John Sessions way is 

1644
01:29:49,000 --> 01:29:51,000
actually quite funny because 
it's such a weird role to have. 

1645
01:29:51,000 --> 01:29:52,800
Isn't? 
It and it crops up again at the 

1646
01:29:52,800 --> 01:29:54,480
end. 
Is is is amusing. 

1647
01:29:54,480 --> 01:29:59,320
That did make me laugh, but OK, 
so, so yeah. 

1648
01:29:59,320 --> 01:30:00,160
So whoops. 
Apocalypse. 

1649
01:30:00,160 --> 01:30:07,280
The TV series and then and just 
we have already said to sorry 

1650
01:30:07,520 --> 01:30:09,840
say that again. 
We as as we said last time 

1651
01:30:09,840 --> 01:30:14,000
you're on John The the the 
premise of world of Telly is to 

1652
01:30:14,000 --> 01:30:16,920
talk about every single 
television program ever made. 

1653
01:30:16,920 --> 01:30:19,520
Yes, but in in no particular 
order, yeah. 

1654
01:30:19,680 --> 01:30:21,040
So you've got your work cut out 
for you. 

1655
01:30:21,160 --> 01:30:24,160
Yes, it's it's. 
It's it's it's kind of the 

1656
01:30:24,160 --> 01:30:26,280
equivalent of. 
Painting the 4th Rd. bridge or 

1657
01:30:26,280 --> 01:30:29,880
whatever the analogy is, it's 
never ending. 

1658
01:30:29,880 --> 01:30:32,840
But yeah, we're going to, I 
think we're going to with every 

1659
01:30:32,840 --> 01:30:34,640
three weeks now. 
We've just slipped by a day. 

1660
01:30:34,640 --> 01:30:36,920
So it's every three weeks for 
the audio. 

1661
01:30:36,960 --> 01:30:43,320
And we also have a blog as well.
And the video 1 comes out a week

1662
01:30:43,320 --> 01:30:46,280
after the audio one each time. 
That's the pattern. 

1663
01:30:46,280 --> 01:30:48,600
But we're, we've got a few 
things lined up for immediately 

1664
01:30:48,600 --> 01:30:51,640
after January and then I think 
we're probably going to take a 

1665
01:30:51,960 --> 01:30:55,600
fortnight break and then and 
then go at it again consistently

1666
01:30:55,600 --> 01:30:57,640
for the rest of the year. 
Good. 

1667
01:30:57,760 --> 01:30:59,600
OK. 
And I think at some point next 

1668
01:30:59,600 --> 01:31:02,000
year or the year after. 
Whenever you get a moment in 

1669
01:31:02,000 --> 01:31:05,520
your busy diary, you will come 
back on Goon Pod and talk about 

1670
01:31:05,840 --> 01:31:08,560
there's a there's a particular 
film, I won't mention which one.

1671
01:31:08,560 --> 01:31:12,080
Oh yes, But there's a film that 
you and I have talked about. 

1672
01:31:12,480 --> 01:31:15,640
Talking about. 
So that that will that will be 

1673
01:31:15,640 --> 01:31:17,040
happening at some point in the 
future. 

1674
01:31:17,080 --> 01:31:20,440
Yes, yes, I look forward to it. 
And until then? 

1675
01:31:20,680 --> 01:31:24,480
Thank you so much again, John. 
And thank you all for listening,

1676
01:31:25,680 --> 01:31:30,160
we will be back next week with 
our Christmas episode. 

1677
01:31:31,200 --> 01:31:32,960
Till then take it easy, see you 
soon. 

1678
01:31:33,400 --> 01:31:34,400
Bye bye.