Mass past this unfortunate news on the Bird is here, Bird is
here. Who is it?
It's me, Birdie. It's Gladstone.
I have some bad news for you. It's not another student's rag,
is it? After that thing they put on my
head last year. It's worse than that.
Next, Seagon is going to do away with the fog.
The naughty Manny naughty. Naughty, yes, but if there's no
fog, we won't be able to see each other again.
Well, we never see each other in this fog anyway.
But I'd never be able to come over here and not see you, dear.
Dear, dear Gladstone. Yes, buddy Woody, the fog's
lifting. You're right.
Mercy saving, how am I going to get back?
I could run you around in the old chatty.
Hello and welcome to Goon Pod. My name is Tyler Adams and I
fear my guest this week and I are going to come to blows.
I wonder why? I wonder why that might be.
Let me let me bring him in. It's it's a returning guest,
James Page. Hello, James.
Hello. I'm nervous now.
I'm nervous. I'm not a violent man.
I imagine you're more of a pacifist.
You're more of a lover than a fighter, James.
I'm a terrible lover and a fighter.
I'm neither. Oh.
Which is more of a gardener kind of thing.
We're a forest, yeah. I I've got a bit of a problem
with the topic of today's episode of being Pod, Really.
Yeah, It's obviously something quite dear to your heart.
So I think, I think there's going to be some some friction.
Is it blood on the carpet? Yeah, so, but, but, but, but
before we get, before we get to the unpleasantness, Yes.
So, James, thank you for coming back.
Thank you for having me, it's great to be here.
And it must be all of what, 18 months was it?
Yes. Oh.
How things have changed. Yeah, we're, we're, we're now.
This is now Goon Pod in colour. It is.
It's. Beautiful C0L 0R So James, what
are you up to these days? I saw the radio on the
magnificent Black Cat Radio. It's a station based in
Cambridgeshire and every week I'm amazed that I'm still there.
Nobody's found me out. I'm on Tuesday nights, 8 till 10
playing the most amazing alternative classics and and
brilliant new music as well. And it's a joy and a thrill and,
and just an absolute pleasure to be able to be allowed two hours
just playing songs that I love to hopefully people who are
enjoying them. And every so often I get the
most amazing feedback from people saying, well, enjoy the
song. And Oh my goodness, it's, it's
wonderful. So yeah.
Black Cat Radio, Tuesday nights, 8 till 10.
And what what? What sort of tunes?
CH0, 0NS That's it. What?
What sort of tunes do you typically play?
Oh, right now I'm playing some wonderful stuff.
There was an artist called Anna Earhart who I'm obsessed with at
the moment. She was born in Switzerland, now
based in Berlin. She's just released her second,
I think, album called Botanical Garden, and she makes the most
wonderful kind of wonky guitar pop.
She makes songs about subjects that need a dressing, like going
to a spa and somebody telling you off and not wearing a
swimsuit, and songs about somebody leaving a subpar review
for a Botanical Garden. That, that kind of thing.
Yeah. Interesting.
I think you'd enjoy her. She is wonderful.
Yeah. There's so much great new music
around at the moment. There's a band called a Bank
with Beatfoot who have just released a fantastic tune called
Stay, you know, stay with the money, Go home that's spelled
with DS, obviously, again, a fantastic kind of wonky pop
tune. There's some amazing music out
there to to play and TuneIn some time you might find something.
You might find your new favorite tune.
Yeah, I stopped listening to music when The Doobie Brothers
stopped some LP's. Fair enough.
No. So it's quite contemporary then
because I, I used to work in a record shop in the 90s and I
was, I was massively into music particularly I was, I was well
into the Brit pop scene. Oh yes.
I was one of the foot soldiers for Brit pop.
Shall they, shall they say? And then I and then I left the
record shop around the the end of the 90s and I kind of just, I
don't know what it was. I just lost in touch with music.
Oh, OK. And the last 20 odd years, the
last quarter of a century, I, I can barely name half a dozen,
you know, post 2000 musical acts, probably.
Yeah, honestly, I, I do struggle with the I'm getting to that age
now where I look at every new now that's what I call music
compilation with dread because I'm thinking about every time I
look at it, there are going to be fewer and fewer names that I
recognized more and more names on there.
Because everything on now, that's what I call music these
days seems to be like about 5 different people per song.
It's this person feat, this person with this person here.
And I look at it and I see my, my knowledge of music crumbling
away. So I've gone from a totally
different direction, listening to the wonkiest stuff in in
Europe and the world instead, because I'm, I'm going to go
that way instead. I'm not going to keep up with
the top ten anymore. It's my choice, I promise.
And I'm going to go and listen to something weird from Bolivia
instead. Well, listen, I'm well aware
that I'm a Yeah, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a Luddite musical Luddite,
at least 21st century music. And I am well aware that, you
know, don't bother with the charts, never bother with the
charts. When did I ever bother with the
charts, really? Even when I was a, you know,
when I was. Really.
You never sat by radio on a Sunday afternoon with the the
you've got paused over? No, not.
Really, it was much more of an album.
OK, but. You're very mature.
That's very good. But but I know that there's so
much new, you know, you, I know there's probably more new music
than ever and, and and just have to find just to sift through the
stuff to find the the gold. So what I'm going to ask you to
do this is this is a you weren't expecting this.
If you could, if you could have a think and then come back to
me. Not not, not tonight, but come
back to me at some point over the next week with a list of 10
tracks that you think you different artists, but
contemporary artists. OK, 10 tracks that you think I
might like that might help me to sort of dip my toe into the
water of modern music. I'll see what I can do.
I I did get a terrifying shock the other day.
So I my show is on Tuesday nights, 8 till 10.
I don't know if I mentioned, but a few weeks ago, the morning
show on the the station asked me if I would pick a new release of
the week that they could play every day, which was huge on I
was like, oh, thanks very much. So I get to pick a tune and they
play it every day. And so I picked the first one.
It was an artist, Bebe Doobie, who is wonderful
singer-songwriter who's just really something, a third album,
and I picked a track of hers. It's kind of one of those
tracks, really lovely, really beautiful.
And I tuned in on Monday morning when they were playing it for
the first time. And bearing in mind the stuff
that I play is very kind of, I don't know what the best way to
describe it is. I think again, wonky kind of the
music that doesn't really trouble the charts that much.
And the the first person to play at the first DJ to to play the
track said this is our new release of the week picked by
James Page. And he thinks this is going to
go top five this week. Like.
What? No, I didn't.
Say that at. All No, it's going to go on Kiss
of death. Everything I like is the kiss of
death. It's going in nowhere.
So now every time I pick a song, it's like, right, no pressure,
but they're going to say this is going to be #1 for five weeks.
Oh. For God's sake, it's terrifying.
What's wrong with those people and and and listeners?
If, if, if James does send me a list, I promise I will listen to
these tracks if they're available on Spotify and and I
will report back my thoughts anyway.
You, you you've come on to talk about another goon show episode.
Last time it was the jet propiled guided Nafi, which is a
stone cold classic. This this one is less so I would
say, and it's it's it's one from the fifth series.
It's it's right smack bang in the middle of series 5 from
broadcast 21st of December 1954. So technically, it was almost
the Goon's Christmas episode. Yeah, yeah.
And it is the episode called Farrog.
It was recorded the same night. I think I'm right in saying it
was recorded the same night as in fact, it was the as as the Ye
Bandit of Sherwood Forest, which we've covered on on Goon Pod
maybe about six months ago. Yeah, and that was a Christmas
episode, I think. Wasn't that was a Christmas
episode? Yeah.
But before we come to Forog, a little bit of housekeeping.
We've had a couple of handful of nice reviews on things like
Apple Podcasts, our podcast at Gunshot Pod de Nova Zealander
Dedica Uno hora Emitia marvelosa la daco de Lolita brackets 1962
De Stanley Kubrick una de le opre K annelitzarim El Seminary
noveles rile tats Conte de fadistanbe and clow de violencia
ID Ziggy. OK.
I agree absolutely. And I translated that because I
don't know what the hell all that was about.
It was actually, it said. That's actually your actual
Catalan, right? Right.
And it says the podcast at Guinchampod from New Zealand.
Well, it's not from New Zealand, but yeah, that fair enough.
Devotes a wonderful hour and a half to the adaptation of
Stanley Kubrick's Lolita 1962. One of the works we will analyze
in the seminar novels realities, fairy tales, also in the key of
violence and desire. So I'd like to think that Goon
Pod, that episode of Goon Pod and Lita has been, has been used
in in, in an academic context somewhere in in Spain.
That's it. You're you're there.
You've made it. Yeah, you're official.
And then we've got a slightly more lengthy review here, and
it's the the title is the The Definitive Goon Show podcast.
And it says for anyone out there wondering where in the world is
the Marx Brothers Council podcast for Britain's most
diabolically hilarious comedy troupe, it's here.
This is it, this one here. Go no further, Messieurs.
Madame's Memmazals. This is the thing that Tyler is
professional, intelligent, says, stays on topic really, and knows
how to land some pretty impressive guests.
There you go, James. Hello.
Never mind the frequent infestations of Beatles, we
mostly stay squarely focused on the goons Groucho, Harpo, Chico
and Zeppo, or, as we know them in this comic iteration, Spike,
Harry Pizza and Wallace Greenslate and Michael Bentin.
Don't forget Michael, the historical dives are deep enough
to satisfy the intellect and the nostalgic pangs, yet the subject
remains profound enough that there are always more depths to
be plumbed, EG the mysterious Messrs Geldre and Ali Ying Tong.
The enigmatic Maestro Stott and his orchestra along with his
frequent collaborations with the very pneumatic Miss Diana Doors.
The emergence and evolution of both the primary and secondary
characters. Their dual existence as both the
motley crew of post war caricatures and as amateur
actors in whatever story they happened to be acting out that
week. There are just enough clips to
whip the appetite. And with all the extent goon
shows now easily accessible online, there has never been a
better time to tuck in. And that is from the wonderful
Leo Orientis from Canada. So Leo, thank you.
Thank you so much for that. And that's interesting that
because it it very much focuses squarely on when we cover goon
shows on Goon pod and and of course we don't just cover good
shoes, we cover a whole host of other things.
But but yeah, that I thought that was a very nice
encapsulation of what I've been trying to do.
And I think, I think Leo's been been a little over generous
there, but I do appreciate it. Thanks so, and also Leo has just
put to shame every single review I've ever written for anything.
Ever. That was amazing, wasn't it?
It wasn't it. Did you do?
EBay, I mean, I don't think Leo has ever put a plus plus plus
plus plus wonderful. Wow.
This week, the goons present a science fiction Fantasia in a
cunning attempt to take the place of the horror comics.
This masterpiece of mediocrity is entitled.
OK, so let's let's get on to the the the topic proper this week
and it is for Ogg or for Ogg for OG foreign fog.
Foreign fog, Yeah, Yeah. And it is written by.
Here's the thing, it's written by.
It's credited to Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan.
And when the order is Eric first, it tends to mean that
Eric's the chief writer. That week, OK.
And I it to to me it sticks out a mile that this is an Eric
script and not a Spike script. But well, let me ask you what,
what was the reason that chiefly that you chose this show?
I think there's many reasons it contains a couple of my favorite
ever goon show jokes for a start, which I'm sure we'll get
to in a while. It's it's one of my favorite
types of goon show, which is those that are sets in the
present day. I love that they kind of work as
a little time capsule of what was going on in in well, in this
case in 1954. I love that kind of you got an
idea of what life was like back then just through this.
And I think my main reason is I just think it's such it, it's
quite, I don't know, sinister is the right word.
The story gets a bit dark, but it's such a beautiful story.
The, the idea behind it, I think is just wonderful.
The whole idea of statues coming to life and wandering around
every time it gets foggy. I just think it's, it's just
beautiful. It's just such a lovely idea,
but of course the story gets very twisted as well.
It's. Quite dark at the end.
I would I would suggest it's the darkest ending to a Goon show
ever. Yes, yeah, I think so.
I think it's definitely, it's quite a spike ending I think.
Maybe, maybe I don't know and listeners who are familiar with
for OG will will be familiar with with with the premise.
There was a tendency in series 5 that the that the Radio Times
would be provided with a synopsis of the show.
Yes, about that. Yeah, So you've seen that, have
you? Yes, it scared the life out of
me. Where were you on the genome?
Yes, I was listening to an episode a few weeks ago.
It was Andy Bell's episode about the last tram from Clapham and
he mentioned looking up the listing for that episode on
Genome and I thought that's a good idea.
I love Genome. I'll go and have a look and and
see what it said. And I had a panic attack.
Basically. You very nearly had a very
panicky DM from me. It's like Tyler, I think I've
made a terrible mistake. Are we listening to the same
episode here? Well, that's it.
Because I guess I'm guessing it's generally Spike that would
write these synopses. This certainly doesn't read like
Eric has written it. It's hard to.
It's hard for me to kind of make a distinction as to the
difference between Eric's writer, Eric's style of comedy
and Spikes. But but there is a clear
distinction. But no, these synopsis and the
fifth series and into the early 6th series, very often they'd
been passing resemblance to the show that week.
That was just, it was just Spike kind of extemporizing, really.
I'd love to know what's going on there, whether he kind of, maybe
this was the story we had in mind and then he thought,
actually, let's go, let's go this way instead, let's try
something else between though that that and broadcast.
Well, let's see. I mean the the synopsis in the
Radio Times, and I'm really actually from the I'm assuming
it's the same one because generally that would be what was
on the the synopsis on the front of the script of the show.
Yeah. So I've got the the front of
this one of the scripts here and the synopsis reads.
Young Ned Seagoon, walking the streets of London during a
particularly thick peace Super, accidentally knocks over a Miss
Selena Clutch. Her strange behavior mystifies
young Neddy until a chance meeting with Doctor Rheingold
Penut puts him on the track of an underground terrorist
organization led by the reckless overcoat Charlie, intent on
wrecking the capital's commercial life by blanketing
London with an artificial foreign fog that makes people
think nothing but the best of each other.
Professor Cronus called in by the government to find an
antidote to Forag, but not before Professor Moriartian
commercial attache Grip Pipe Thin nearly succeeded, bringing
London life to a standstill. And then we have the cast
listing here, the usual that you would expect.
But then we have we have characters such as Quagmire Vest
by Spike Milligan, Inspector Thud, Harry Secum and and Farrog
itself. Yes, Mr. Pogson plays.
Farrog right now Did Have you ever heard of Pogson?
Someone called Pogson. I haven't.
No. Poggy Pogson, saxophonist.
The most thought orchestra. I wondered if that was because,
yes, the Farrog in in the episode is portrayed by this
fantastic saxophone. Kind of.
Absolutely. Solo.
Yeah, I mean the actual episode. As it turns out, it bears very
slight resemblance to that synopsis.
Yeah, I think the first line is pretty much, you know, if Ned
goes into some fog and then that's it.
That's that's where that synopsis ends and the story
actually begins. That's it.
Now where did you listen to this?
Have you got it on CD? What?
What?
How have you? Have you listened to this?
Well, years and years ago, there used to be this fantastic online
radio station called Goon Show Radio, and it was just one goon
show after another. They played out, I think it was
in a random order as well, just like constant Goon show.
And it was just wonderful to have on, you know, whenever I
was in the kitchen and I I've got like, it's fantastic
Internet radio. You can listen to any kind of
station in the world. You can listen to music from
you, from Africa, America, and, you know, any content you like.
And I always stick on the Goon Show.
That's it. Listen to those over and over
again. And this episode, it came on one
Sunday afternoon and it was just, it was wonderful.
I I love the story. And I think my wife was in the
next room. I don't know whether she was
hungover or something, but I heard this voice saying, is it
true? Does this happen that the
statues come down? Yeah, yeah.
That's it, actually, a bit worse for wear over something.
But I just thought, like I say, it was such a beautiful story.
I love the idea of the statues coming to life in the fog and
just wandering around London. And it's stuck with me ever
since. And like I say, there's a couple
of my favorite jokes in there as well.
OK, well, yeah, it it was inspired by what at the time was
being called horror comics, these imports of American,
mostly sort of trashy American comic books.
And as I mentioned before, I think it's very heavily Eric
Sykes script. This there's it's more certainly
a beginning. There's certainly a beginning, a
middle, and an end. Yes, OK.
It's more structured. It's more, I would want to say
it's more like, with exceptions, of course, it's more like a
traditional radio comedy show almost.
And I'm going to reinforce my point by saying that, well, Eric
never took the credit for it as being the major writer.
OK, so he never said he wasn't, but he never, he never, he never
singled out for all because he was, he was asked once and I
think in the 80s or 90s he was interviewed and by the GSPS and
he was asked, you know, which shows from Series 5 can you
specifically single out as being chiefly written by you and not
Spike? And there was maybe I think it
was 567 of them, maybe more the likes of Logie Strikes Britain
from memory and under 2 floorboards which was the bow
jest, pastiche and and I think the Spanish suitcase as well.
Possible. I'm not sure, but he didn't
mention Furog. However, in December 1952, so
exactly 2 years prior to this this show going out, there was
an episode of the radio show Educating Archie, which had a
storyline featuring statues that come to life.
No, really. And one of the writers on that
was Eric Sykes. Yeah.
And it does have, it does have more sort of traditional gags,
not necessarily Milliganesque gags.
I feel Peter Eaton, who's the producer at this time.
And I guess he was the the greatest producer the Goons ever
had really just in terms of just in terms of the discipline he
brought to it. And, and and and that he he was
always fighting for them as well behind the scenes.
But he he was interviewed in the 70s and he actually said of
Eric's scripts whenever Eric, when you know, Eric was was due
to deliver a script a piece of Eason later said, I used to
dread his weeks. Really.
It was clever and amusing, but it wasn't the Goon Show.
Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, and I also want to say I
feel that Spike is quite subdued throughout the show.
That's. Interesting, yes.
Do you? Do you?
Do you, I think. Yeah, it's interesting.
One thing I've noticed is there's a lot of, because Spike
is pretty constant in this episode as kind of as Ned's
assistant. He's there playing, playing
echoes as himself. Yeah.
And he it's weird. He, he doesn't sound like normal
echoes. He does a lot of thing.
He does a lot of making a joke and then laughing at it, which
isn't a very spiked thing to do. I think He he sometimes he'll,
he'll make a joke and, you know, the audience will laugh.
This does a lot. He does a lot of making a joke
and then laughing straight afterwards.
I don't know whether that's yeah nerves, do you think or.
Maybe, and also also, and I know it's in the script, but Echoes,
this is probably the most lucid that Echoes has ever been in the
Goon show, just in terms of he's making little asides to the
audience when he realizes that another character in this is a
bit mad. Yeah.
He's him being the mad one, yeah.
Yeah, he's like the narrator kind of thing.
Almost. Yes.
And you've got, you've got this sort of running thing with Spike
in his normal, in his more or less his normal voice.
Yeah. Sort of.
Commenting on what's going on during the show, yes.
Happens every day in London, yes.
Yes, and Ned saying was. It Let's watch these things.
Yes, Ned saying. I went out for a breath of fresh
air and let him go. Yes, this happens every day,
Nana. You you will have heard the
transcription services issue of Borog, which is edited from the
original broadcast vision. OK.
So there's a whole chunk of the first couple of minutes of the
Goon show. There's a whole chunk of the
original broadcast that had been cut out it.
Was there? Yeah, so the original opening of
this show has Peter as Gilbert Harding all.
Right. Sort of having a bit of an
argument with or disagreement with Greenslade, shall we say,
in the script. Actually, it was written for
Peter to play Blood Knock, having the argument, having the
disagreement. But no, then I don't know what,
what, what reason Sellers decided to do Gilbert Harding?
Are you aware of Gilbert Harding?
I'm not, I must admit. OK, so he was a a personality at
the time. He was a a radio television
personality and he was dubbed at the rudest man in Britain,
right? Everyone in the in the 50s would
know Gilbert Harding. This is the BBC Home Service.
So don't come whining to me about it.
Don't you enunciate properly. You come bouncing on here like a
paid up member with a rolled umbrella on your arm and the
Radio Times in your pocket and you babbling coherently.
Now look. Here, nothing better to offer
than the BBC Home Service. You keep a civil tongue in your
head. Mr. Harding, rudeness will get
you nowhere. Have you seen my Rolls Royce?
What's the matter with you, Green Slade?
Don't stand there like an animated gargoyle.
Get on with your overpaid job. Well, I be wit if you're
incompetent, we'd all be faded out.
To all of those Green Slate fans who've just phoned up to
protest, thank you. But don't forget, lick at his
niche and dump the joy, whatever they say.
Oh, what is the boy? Yahoo Now here are the
programmes for tonight. The wretched man was about to
refer to the highly ignored. But yeah, so I mean, OK, So what
what there's throughout throughout the show, there's
there's bits that have been cut out that you won't have heard
and also bits in the script that were never even never recorded
or were recorded and never actually broadcast.
OK, there's an extended sequence, Neddy and Blood Knock.
There's there's there's quite a bit actually.
But what? OK, you said there's there's a
couple of jokes and things like that that you particularly love.
What? What?
What are they? Well.
The first one is right near the beginning when Ned's walking
through the fog and he bumps into, well, Mini, but not named
him Mini Banister, but it's her voice basically bumps into her
and she spends about minutes making all kinds of bewildered
shocks and noises and then says Ned said just explained that he
is leading London. He's walking through the
streets, walking in front of himself with a flag blazing
torch and there's traffic in his wake.
Strange how men follow a leader and then yes, bumps into her
are. You all right, Madam?
You should know. Madam, perhaps I can direct you
somewhere. I'd better direct you, Sir.
Me. You direct me.
That's rich. Me, that's rich.
That is me. The guy's half London.
What makes you think I'm lost? You're in my kitchen.
I took it just a joyous joke. It's glorious.
That's that's actually quite, that's the that's a Spike joke.
Yeah, yeah. One of those, one of those
jokes, it needs to be on the radio.
It's just, it will never work anywhere else.
I love that. Here's the thing.
Because because it's it's clearly Minnie Bannister.
She turns up a bit later as one of the statues.
That's it. It's an interesting episode,
isn't it? Because there's not many of the
actual main characters in it, but they are all there just as
other people. Blue bottle, I mean blue.
We get Blue Bottle quite early on.
Yeah, we get a bit of Blue Bottle as himself, and then he
pops up again as Eros. Eros and I thought certainly
when he, when he first turns up in the fog, when when Neddy
bumps into him, he sounds a bit more, I don't know, maybe
Sellers had a cold or something, but he sounds a bit more like an
adolescent. Yeah, but it sounds as he sounds
slightly older than Blue Bottle tended to do.
Yeah. Also a bit low energy.
They. Were they were all a bit low
energy and this this was recorded before ye Bandit of
Sherwood Forest. OK.
So it wasn't like they were tired or anything.
No, I was going to say, is it a kind of a mid series thing, do
you think? They were kind of flagging a
bit, but no, because the, yeah, as you say, the Sherwood Forest
episode is very high energy, I'd say, and they're having a great
time. Yeah, again, Spike can't help
but make a little dig, whether it's Spike wrote this or Eric
wrote this. But in in in the bit where the
bus is following Neddy because he's got his braces around the
radiator cap and and Neddy says, bless my soul, you're right.
I thought it was warm. A hint.
A hint of me. Yes.
Have you ever heard of the word a hint?
Only when I heard this episode never before.
Yeah, and Spike, just comments aside, we're not allowed to say
behind. What all that was all about.
I think that's just a dig at the BBC.
You're not allowed to say behind.
You're not allowed to imply the backside or the bottom or the
rear. Cast the spots.
Stop following me, I tell you. I'm going home, I said.
Brother, stop following me. I.
Can't help but you got your braces around the radiator.
Bless my soul. You're right.
I thought it was warm. I hinted me.
We're not allowed to say it behind.
Must be that, remember that Kenny Everett joke where you
know the amazing things that Kenny Everett could do with with
sound and recording and overlaying himself.
And there was a great clip of him saying, I think he he said
the word bum. And oh, hang on a second, Can I
say bum on the radio? And a voice him again says, I
don't know, let me just check. Can he say bum on the radio?
I'm not sure actually. Hang on a second.
Can he say bum on the radio comes off about eight or nine
different layers? Oh, dear old Kelly.
Yes, I've never heard a hint, but I'm going to start using it
now I think. Yes.
So the sequence with the statues.
Yeah. This is where I had a problem.
Oh, you enjoy this bit? And I don't really.
I just find it. I don't know, I it doesn't feel
right to me. Oh it it seems, it feels, it
feels too silly, even though it's a goon show for me, it's
the wrong kind of silly. I think listeners write in if
you agree or disagree. You've got Croatian, the statue
of Nelson, who is ostensibly grip pipe thin, Yes, and you've
got you said Blue bottle of Xeros and Minnie as Bodus here
and Cron as Gladstone. Gron as Gladstone, yes.
And Harry, well, sort of that very northern sea goon.
I think that. Characters.
Yeah, I think that characters normally referred to as Fred
Bog, I think. Yes.
So what I'm going to do, I'm going to just give a, a
relatively quick synopsis of the show, OK, Because it will help
us. It will sort of anchor us a
little bit here. So Ned, Ned is, is going for a
walk in the thick London fog, the beginning of the show.
And he gets lost and he, as you say, ends up in Mini Banister's
kitchen. And then he encounters Blue
Bottle, who asked directions to the BBC but ends up falling in
the water due to the fog. And thankfully Little Jim has
yet to be introduced to the show.
So we don't get that appalling catch phrase.
OK, oh, it's maybe a bigger house.
Do you like little Jim? I I used to.
I used to. I think I'm on your camp now.
I think, yeah. When I was when I was at school,
I remember I had a teacher who talked about that a lot and when
it so when it actually read it in one of the Goon show scripts,
like, oh, that's what he's talking about.
Brilliant. He was like, hey, he said the
thing. But yeah, these days it's kind
of yeah, OK, yeah. When they when they included it
in the last Goon show of all, I was like.
Oh, it was so heavily trailed. Wasn't that a lot like it's
coming, it's coming, it's coming, here it is, here it is.
He did the line and then they all hugged each other like no,
no, had to get it in, folks had to get it in.
No, you didn't. You didn't.
Princess Anne beaming in the audience.
It sounds like I'm really down on the goon show.
I'm sorry, I don't know what it's just this this particular
show I'm I'm a little bit down on and and I guess it's it's
it's making me bitter and twisted and I apologize
listeners, but I'm I'm enjoying talking to you about it.
Don't get me wrong, I was. Going to say I feel bad now I
brought you down. Not at all.
So, So, yeah, as, as, as we said before, a bus follows Neddy home
because he's got his braces around the radiator.
He's lost again. And he ends, he somehow ends up
at #10 instead of his his his home in Brixton.
Yes, and the Butler answers the door.
The Butler, which is gravely headstone.
Oh, yes, OK. Which, that's his name in the
script. I don't think he's referred to
as as such in the show. And Gravy Headstone was a name.
It was a Larry Stevens character.
Yeah. So that's sort of a hangover
from because Larry didn't write for.
Well, Larry didn't officially write for Series 5.
He helped Spike a little bit at the beginning of the series, but
wasn't credited. But his, you know, his, his
influence is, is still very keenly felt, obviously.
Yeah. And there's here's the thing.
So. So Ned turns up at #10 and
Headstone let's them in. And Ned, it's nice line.
Then Ned, he says, my Butler let me in, which was strange.
I hadn't got one. It's a bit where there's a bit
where he says this is a bit where, you know, I don't
understand. It's it's a reference lost to
time. He says I must be in the wrong
house and and Headstone says good as long as I'm all right.
And then Ned says it's extraordinary.
But I can't find my way, Jack. Yeah, and that gets a massive
laugh. Yeah.
And that confused me because I was going to, I was wondering,
is that a kind of an in joke? Because Peter Sellers was in the
film. I'm all right, Jack.
But no, because that didn't come up until 1959.
That's right. Yeah, that's later now.
Yeah, I'm, I'm wondering, I don't know, it's, it was
obviously a reference to some contemporary television show or
radio show or, or somebody in the news or, or whatever it may
be. Or maybe it was just something
that people used to say. I can't find the way, Jack, I
don't know. But the audience seemed, the
audience seemed to be particularly pick up on that,
didn't they? That's.
It Yeah. And it's obviously it's a bit
you'll be. What tends to happen, James, is
that I record these and then people message me and we go out
and say it was so obvious what that was.
OK, You know what I mean. You hope so.
Absolutely imbecile. How could you not have picked up
on what that was? But that's what, Yeah.
So, so if anyone can can shine any light on on who Jack is in
the in this context that that would be great.
Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I must be in the wrong house.
Good, so long as I'm all right. It's extraordinary, but I can't
find my way, Jack. Don't worry Sir, you'll go home
and have a good rest. And somehow or other, I don't
know how, it's just a civilian, but somehow he manages to to
invade themselves into a special sitting of parliament.
Yeah, from under the benches it just pops up.
Yeah, which it's been called to, to determine what to do about
the fog. Yeah.
And I'm wondering as well whether this was influenced at
all. I know that fog was bad in
London around this time, but it kind of also, it also has echoes
of the the Great Stink, you know, the, the from the 1840s
fifties that led to the building of the, the sewers.
And somehow, even though he's just walked in up the street,
Seagoon is, is appointed fog and thick smog officer.
In other words, fatso, fatso. There's somebody who really
enjoys that joke. I don't know if you yes heard.
There's this one laugh that you hear through the show and it's
as soon as you get the fatso joke.
It is kind of really distinctive laugh and there's someone having
a great night there. So Ned Seagoon, by his own
initiative and resource, was given the official title of Fog
and Thick Smog Officer. In short, Fatso.
He's got this government sponsored laboratory and he's
got this assistant, which is Eccles.
I don't know what the he just appointed Eccles as his
assistant research assistant. Wandered in me.
Yeah. And he starts his research to
eliminate the fog. And he is visited in his
laboratory by the statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson from the
column in Trafalgar Square, which is great pipes then by any
other name. And he explains that the statues
of London need the fog as it's their only opportunity to move
around and see the sights. And but Segan obviously refuses
to stop his experiments. But he's quite, you know, he's
quite, quite relaxed to be visited by A.
Yeah, Statue. Yeah, I think because, because
Eccles is there as well. And you know, he invites him in,
and it's so it gets very strange when Eccles is inviting him in
and talking about how he's left a stone chip from his stone
supper. Yeah, if we think about this too
much, we over think this. Where did that stone chip come
from if it's all in Eddie's mind?
But anyway, Exactly yes. It's very confusing.
It's all in the mind. So obviously the word passes
from Nelson to the other London statues.
I'm going to mention them. So you've got this, this this
Fred Bog character, I think that's his name as Achilles.
You've got Eros, which is Blue Bottle, Gladstone, which is
Crund, who informs his girlfriend, which is Bodicea.
Yes. So I mean there's always a bit
of are they, aren't they between Crund and Bannister?
But yeah, in this case, the S they are.
Apparently they're seeing, well, not seeing each other because of
the fog, but they can't. See each other.
When they're seeing each other, I think that makes sense.
It yeah. And again, I just want to say
again, why did why have they been?
Why is Blue Bottle and Mini being used again?
Yes, that is a strange yes. I don't know why when Peter
Sellers has so many voices in him, you'd think that he'd
maybe, I don't know somebody else or or not have Blue Bottle,
because Blue Bottle doesn't really had anything in his own
appearance at the beginning. I don't.
Well, it could, that could have been William May Cobblers.
Yeah, at the, at the at the beginning.
That would have worked. Yeah, it it.
Or it could have been Flower Jew, one of those secondary
characters. Maybe they thought that if the
character had to fall in the water, then Blue Bottle was the
one. I suppose so.
He's, he's good at doing that. Based on a true story.
By the way, fun fact, what I got a bit obsessed with the the
London Fog, and I started looking up things that happened
in the because the fog was, you know, a huge event in, was it
52, I think, wasn't it? And well, maybe years before and
after as well. But yeah, one of the things that
happened in the fog when it was so bad that you couldn't see
your hand in front of your face, apparently they had the police
stationed around the Albert Dock in London because people would
just topple in. They'd just be wandering through
the fog and they'd just fall over the edge.
So the police had to fish them out again.
I mean, my first thought when I heard about this, the Albert
Dock. No, I thought, no, that's,
that's that's in Liverpool. That's what they do this
morning, isn't it? No, there's one in London as
well, apparently the Albert Docks.
And yeah, the fog was so bad people would just not see the
edge. And so they had police stationed
along the edge to stop people from wandering in.
What was the cause of the fog in London in the early 50s?
Was it just the cold that was being burned?
Well, it was off the top of my head, it was an anticyclone.
It was an inversion roof. It was to do with basically
when, when you get foggy weather, you have a thick fog on
the ground, which then rises up. It dissipates when, when it, you
know, the earth gets warmer and it's still cold up.
So the fog drifts up into the the warmer air.
So the colder air above or it gets blown away by the wind.
But what with London being in a basin, didn't get much wind.
I can't remember the last time I was in London and it was windy.
I don't think they get wind in London, maybe they do.
But this kind of this this lid. Play me in Parliament
airlessness. So this kind of this, this lid
of warm air formed over London 1 winter and they're called an
anticyclone, which basically held the fog down because the
fog would go up into the cold air, but there was no cold air
to go up into. So this, this lid of warm air
just kept the fog down in London.
And of course, everyone's burning coal at the same time.
The factories are burning cold, the homes are burning coal,
adding to this, this fog which became a smog.
And before you know it, you've got five days of of thick fog
that you can't see through. Blimey.
Yeah, I've become a bit obsessed with the London fog, but I've
started thinking about Frog. Very good.
I'm I'm you. You've certainly done your
research. Thank you if anyone, if if
Michael Fish is is listening and thinking I've got it completely
wrong, then please do write in. I mean, you know, I'm not an
expert meteorologist to correct me.
Michael Fish is not particularly noted for his accuracy.
Yes, he's he's at his off days, hasn't he?
There's a bit in this show where where we have the bit where a
cordon of Scots Guards have been ringed around the base of
Nelson's column to stop to stop Nelson from to stop Nelson from
moving. And then Spike says nobody
noticed Nelson go through on his knees.
It's a huge response. And then Ned says nobody noticed
Nelson going through on his knees, Did he?
Well, and, and the response to that made me think that's that's
this. Is there some filthy connotation
of this there? I I wondered that why did it get
a big enough second time and. Then he says.
Bully. Then he says bully for Nelson.
Isn't that Nelson saying? What's he suggesting there?
Wow. I need to become an expert in
1950s innuendo, I think, because that would explain it all.
Two days later, fog again enveloped the South of England,
but this time there was a cordon of Scots Guards around the base
of Nelson's Column. Anyone over 10 feet was
challenged. Nobody noticed Nelson goes
through on his knees. Nobody noticed Nelson going for
his knees, did he? Well,
bully for Nelson. There's quite a bit, as I said
before, there's quite a bit cut out, you know, for the from the
original broadcast, for the TS issue, and maybe because they'd
already cut so much stuff out, they had to leave.
They just had to leave some stuff in.
And there's. A There's a few clunky edits as
well here and there, particularly at the beginning
with Blue Bottle. But Nelson, Yeah.
So Nelson sneaks through on his hands and knees and visits Segan
again. But Nettie has has anticipated
this and prepared special chains, apprehends Nelson and
chains them to the column. Yes.
And then, and then we sort of, we understand that Echols can't
see who Siegood is talking to. That's when it starts getting a
bit, yes, a bit strange. I don't want to worry Neddy, but
I can't see who was talking to. Or that's the yeah, the first
rug pull. Something like that again, It's
there's a mystery forming, isn't there?
There really is. I don't know.
It's, it's so different to me from I mean, I know series 5 had
had a few shows sort of like this, but this, this one's a
real oddity to me. It is.
It does. I think that's what one of the
reasons I chose it was, because it does stand out, for better or
worse. I mean, about 50% of the episode
is Ned Segun laughing maniacally as well, kind of unravels or
coughing all that. Yep, yes, there's a lot of
coughing as well, yes. So Eccles, Yeah, Eccles can't
see who's Segun's talking to. And then Greenslade puts down
his Radio Times to report that the next day a government
sponsored scientist IE Ned was helped Dan from Nelson's Column
where he had chained himself to the statue.
Nelson. And somehow or other, we don't
quite know what he does, but his his experiments succeed and the
fog disappears. Well, yeah, his, I think he's
science. He's actually pretty solid
because he talks about heating the air and I think that would
probably do it as well. He talked about the heating
atomically with the Earth's radiation or something.
And yeah, I think I don't know whether they knew that that was
going to work or not, but but. How does he do that?
He doesn't explain it, unfortunately.
I, I think I'm, I'm surprised that they don't go into more
detail on that one because it's just, that's what he does.
It's, I'm not sure, maybe because he's operating from what
turns out to be a bomb site. Maybe that's why.
And and Seigen opens the the window of his government
sponsored laboratory and and drinks in the chairs of the of
the crowd, although echoes can't see or hear anyone.
The streets are deserted, yeah. Yeah, and then the fog returns,
but it's somewhat different. That's right, yes, it can't be
fog because Ned got rid of it, so he thinks it must be
something else. Must be something else.
So he coins the word forag, foreign fog.
Foreign fog. That's it.
He thinks that Blubnock has stolen his notes, taken him
abroad, and now they're making fog abroad so that they can ship
it back to Britain, so that Nelson can carry on going about
his his day. Yep, and he goes and tells
parliament this and as a result they have him committed to a
lunatic asylum. Yep, basically.
Putting those shapes in the holes.
Under the care of, interestingly, Doctor Moriarty.
Yes, on his own. Playing it straight.
Yes. And and Doctor Eidelberger who
was the semi regular German character that Sellers would
play. Yes, it is that that name by the
way, is that anything? Yes, OK.
Yes, fair enough, because his because his full name is Justin.
Justin, just sorry. Houston, Houston Heidelberger
of. Course, my dad used to use that
phrase all the time and right, that's what he was getting at.
I see. That's what he was calling me
all those times. And then, then we have the the
final, the final scene, which is, yeah, just just a bit
disturbing, isn't it really? It's a bit it's This is why I
thought it was a bit when I say it's a bit of a Spike ending
because it reminds me a lot of the the cute series where rather
than end a sketch, it just. Collapse.
Or it just thought to bits and we get we get Moriarty
explaining that actually, no, there is no major blood knock.
There is no government sponsored laboratory.
It's actually the address he gave me is is a bomb site.
And Ned says, yes, there is sure as my name is Ned Sigoon.
And he says, yeah, that's the other thing.
There is no Ned Sigoon. I think it's, it's such a oh,
it's such a dark ending that everything just collapses and
disappears. It's like the set falling down
and there being nothing there. It's a.
Well then, then it begs the question, so.
So where was Eccles during all this?
Eccles was both there and not there.
That's it. Can and can't see Nelson.
Yeah. Very strange ending.
It's a lot to think of that. A lot to in the last like 30
seconds. Absolutely.
I've never been that fond of it.
Yeah. And I hadn't listened to it for
probably 2530 years before listening to it again for this.
But because I used to listen to them all over and over and over
again, you know, I was so familiar with it again, you
know, listening to it again. But to me, there was no, there
was no big belly laughs. There was, there was like the
hand of Milligan, I feel, although I gather he must have,
I guess he must have had input here and there, obviously.
And yeah, it just there was there was a few what I would
call just traditional gags that net that that spike would have
issued feel. But you know, it it an
interesting show. Absolutely.
Where do you stand on one of my favorite jokes in there, which
doesn't get the laugh I think it deserves, which is when they're
in Parliament and someone says, do you realize that fog is
costing us millions every year? And a little voice says.
Well, stop buying it today. Yeah, that is a good.
That's a lovely joke. It doesn't get the the applause
that the the the response it should have done.
Yeah, there's all There's also it is cut out from the edited
show. Oh, yeah.
But in the original broadcast, there was a reference to Winston
Churchill was there. And because at this time, and
I've covered this before, when we did the year Yi Band of
Sherwood Forest, there was a bit of a controversy at the time
with Winston Churchill and a telegram that he was meant to
have sent to Field Marshall Montgomery.
Oh, what's this? After the war it was to do with
stock piles of munitions after the war and quite complicated.
But anyway Churchill mislaid a telegram and it got into all the
papers OK. I would direct listeners to the
episode on the band of Sherwood Forest for the the full
background to that story. But the goons hammered this,
this this minor scandal. They they referenced it.
Certainly in this show, they referenced it and you banned it.
And also, I think in the show after you banned it, which is
the case of the missing air. I think I'm right in saying, am
I wrong? But I want to say it's that.
And they got into trouble and Sellers got into trouble for
impersonating Churchill. Oh, really?
And yeah, it got into the papers even that he got capable with
the BBC nabobs who were not happy with the with him
impersonating the great man. Oh my God.
And while we're on the subject of Sellers, because, you know, I
always like to see what was going on and, and what the what
the goons were doing around the time that these shows are
recorded. And Sellers was in the future.
Sellers in the 50s tried to, you know, he was trying his best to
sort of cover all media or all mediums by, you know, he was
obviously a big star in the radio.
He getting into television. Yeah.
That sort of faltering steps into the into the talkies, you
know, to the films. Lady Killers was to come out the
year after this was broadcast. But he was also treading the
boards. I mean, it would culminate in
this, the the relatively disastrous brouhaha a few years
later, after which I don't think he appeared on stage again,
certainly not not in any sort of performance.
But during the time that this was recorded or he was
appearing, Sellers was appearing at the London Palladium in
Mother Goose. Wow, that's the kind of that's
the kind of announcement we did here at the end of an episode.
Peter Solos is now appearing in Mother Goose at the Wonder
Palladium Palladium. Oh wow.
It was also known as it says Mother Builder's Mother Goose,
also known as Val Parnell's 7th magnificent Christmas pantomime.
Oh, so he began appearing in December 54 and it ran until
March the following year. Whoa.
That's. Some.
That's quite a pantomime. That's back when pantomimes used
to go for, you know, months and months and months.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because I don't know why. Yeah.
Apparently it was over 150 performances.
Crikey. And sellers played the Squire.
Yeah. In Mother Goose and he played it
as Blood Knock. Oh, brilliant.
And, and apparently he had a like a gin bloom nose, you know,
big bulbous nose and grey hair or greying hair.
Now, the script was actually written by Eric Sykes again, as
well as someone called Phil Park.
And the rest of the cast was Max Bygraves.
Oh, of course. As Sammy Richard Hearn as Mother
Goose. Now, do you know his Richard
Hearn's alter ego? I don't.
Have you ever heard of Mr. Pastry?
Oh, I guess. That's Richard Hern.
Did he do the dance?
I hope so. I guess so.
I would imagine so at gunpoint if necessary.
And also it it it had Shirley Eaton.
OK. And Shirley Eaton went on to be
famous, chiefly, I guess, for for Goldfinger.
She was the woman who was killed by being painted totally in
gold, wasn't she? Yeah, I think she was very
attractive actress. Yeah, who did she play in?
Mother Goose. It doesn't.
I didn't actually get to find that out what the character was
called. She was interviewed because she
she more or less gave up acting to bring up a family.
She was interviewed years and years later by Roger Lewis for
the seller's biography and and she talked about seller's doing
Mother Goose OK. And she said he was stormy,
temperamental, always ready with a tantrum of things went wrong.
And yet then he could be very affectionate and extremely
vulnerable. He was a very restless person
and he was never an attractive person, Peter, and he knew it,
but he had charm. Women respond to that in men and
their vulnerability. So I don't know what that means.
You know what? You know what Peter was like?
I can imagine, Yes. Yes.
I'm just thinking of how strange it must have been to, if you'd
listened to the Goon show, to suddenly see Blood Knock on
stage as well. Not Blood Knock, but, you know,
basically his. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. And what did he say?
That the costume was kind of the the the Red Nose basically, not
the red. Nose.
Well, it's he, he played the Squire.
So I imagine, I can imagine the sort of the, the outfit that the
the Squire in a pantomime would wear.
Yeah, more or less. That must have been a very kind
of bit of cognitive dissonance going on there, kind of hearing
the voice but seeing a different character because suppose
everyone kind of pictures what blood knock and everybody else
would look. Like, and then this was blood
knock when he was, you know, this is pre massive Poston
explosions. Blood knock, you know, this was
this was when he was, he was still in control, relatively
speaking, of his bowels. He he was still, he was a con
man and he was a, you know, he was always tapping people for a
£5 note. But he wasn't quite the blood
knock the sort of the, the, the grotesque that he would become,
I guess. But yeah, it must, it must have
been very strange for, you know, children in the audience to who
love the goons to suddenly see this, hear this character as the
Squire. Yeah, you've just reminded me,
actually, there's a line in Forrock where where Neddy meets
Blood Knock and Neddy's in a bit of a state about these statues
coming to get him. And Blood Knock says, come on,
stop, Stop stroking me potties. I had never heard that phrase in
my life. Stop stroking me, potties.
Pat Patties, I think. Potties.
Ah, I see. Potties and I think and let me
just check. Hang on man, goes on Google.
I think potties trousers of some of Indian Indian hang on a
second of Indian derivation. Sorry putties.
No, well they are Indian I think, but a long strip of cloth
worn spirally round the leg from ankle to knee for protection and
support. Well yes, I wouldn't want anyone
stroking my and that makes more sense, no?
Yes, I did make the mistake of Googling stroking my potties.
I wouldn't recommend it. No, delete that browsing
history. Stop stroking me potties and
let's get this done and run. So, yeah, so getting back to
Mother Goose, during one performance or after one
performance, Peter and Max Biograves and Shirley Eaton had
the photo taken with their mothers.
Oh, on stage. OK, you know, in character the,
the, the, the actors in character with their mothers.
And then years later, after Peg, you know, Peter Sellers mother
had died, Peter somehow made contact with Shirley Eaton and
asked if she could send him a copy of the photograph, which I
think is quite, I don't know, quite sad really, you know.
Now, apparently Sellers did not get on with Richard Hearn.
Oh, right. No, surely.
Really, it's delightful. Apparently during a scene when
so Hearn is playing the Dame or Mother Goose or whatever.
So the same character, I suppose, Mother Goose as the
Dame. Is that right?
Yeah, I think so. So during a during a scene when
Richard Hearn's character was transformed into a rather more
glamorous figure and we're talking like a Diamante Wakin
silver playsuit. Oh wow.
And so he comes out, Richard Hern comes out wearing all this.
And Sellers during one performance departed from the
script and impersonation Groucho Marx and and and did the, you
know, the sort of the the half Crouch that Groucho does and
looked out to the audience and said, I've heard of Lady
Dickhead, but this is ridiculous.
Lady Docker being a socialite, famous socialite at the time.
Anyway, they got a huge laugh, but Richard Hearn was absolutely
incandescent with rage and refused on stage, refused to
continue until Sellers gave the correct line.
Right. And the correct line was what is
this? Oh, OK, so in your in your mind
picture or in your mind trying to imagine bloodlock saying what
is this? That's more or less what?
Yeah, I'm. I'm picturing that and also
Mother Goose in a mud as well, waiting for the right line.
Yeah. Wow.
I wonder how long it lasted. I wonder how long there was.
Well, I could imagine Sellers would have got red faced.
So following this though, right? So the next day, Sellers
receives a letter from Val Parnell, who showed this is and
it says it said, Dear Mr. Sellers.
I was in the theater yesterday when you decided to change the
text of Mother Goose. When I require you to make the
members of my orchestra laugh, I will ask you.
Until then, do the job you're being paid for.
Otherwise I will have you personally kicked out of the
theater. And Max Bygraves was there when
Sellers was reading the letter. And apparently, Sellers was on
the brink of tears. Despite it going for over 150
performances and running into March, Sellers was not popular
with the audiences. Really.
Yeah, I don't know why, but apparently his last, the last
curtain call, the last performance, he got no applause.
Sellers got no applause and Max Bygraves said that he just felt
that because he was playing the Squire as Blood Knock, it didn't
translate from radio to the stage.
He said he was a shallow 2 dimensional Colonel Blimp
character. Yeah, but he's not going to the
pantomime for for depth and performance, are you?
No, let's face it. Yeah, that's, I mean, I suppose
it's it's strange again, like in the episode where we have Blue
Bottle twice, it's surprising that he didn't, you know, kind
of take the part and create something new rather than, you
know, reusing one of his own characters.
But maybe maybe that's what they asked him to do, or maybe he
just felt that would work. Well, then, then having said
that, I'm just thinking on the fly here, right?
Because obviously we know that these statues did not move
around, that it's all part of Neddy's fevered imagination.
Oh, is he projecting? So he's so the people that he's
met on his early stroll through London?
Yeah. Met Blue Bottle.
He's met Minnie and he's he's then he then believes them to be
the statues or some of the statues.
Perhaps that's. That could be it.
That would explain. Yeah, the voices.
That's you've got me thinking now.
Maybe maybe it is one of the like you say the in replacing
the horror comics. Maybe it is the idea that it's
one of those fogs that drives you mad.
Yeah. I'll tell you what one thing
that this episode did do for me was I got obsessed with the fog,
with the, the London fog of the of the 50s, because it was, it
turns out it, it was huge. It was a fascinating story.
There was so much going on there and the way that it that it
happened, the way that it affected people's lives.
Killed people, didn't it? Killed these people.
Yeah. I mean, early estimates were
what, 4000 people died in this, I think a month of it.
But now they think it's closer to 10,000.
So it's quite a kind of a, a dark subject to to turn into a a
radio comedy, I think. And, you know, it was like 2
years after, you know, the really bad smog to to make an
episode of that out of it. I think was is fascinating.
And especially the way that they, they could have gone in
any direction, but for some reason they decided, you know,
you know what this needs statues moving around.
That's what it is. That's where we'll go with the
the fog. It's the.
Thing is, if it was inspired by if it was lifted from an
Educating Arch episode from December 52, that would have
been smack bang in the middle of the the fog.
Yeah, yeah. So if that.
If you worry. Yeah.
So if that was going on and yeah, they were making a a nice
kind of light story about it because you know, you do hear
about with the fog, like with Simon Lock, the Blitz as well,
the the stories about people just getting on with it.
You know, this huge thing is happening and Londoners just
getting on with life and finding a way around it.
And maybe that's it that, you know, they, we make up funny
little stories about this is when the statues get to walk
around to kind of help it along. I mean, it's because you do hear
some of the stories I've read about and and heard about with
the the smog. It's incredible how people
coped. So there was a, an amazing story
about how London airport was still open and the planes were
still landing but using their instruments.
And on one occasion, this is from an, an essay by Edwin
Muller in the year after it. He said that one plane landed
using instruments, landed on the runway safely and then taxied to
the terminal and got lost in the fog.
So they sent out a search party to find this plane who got lost
in the fog. It's amazing how these things
going on and people just carried on as normal and, you know, went
on with their everyday life. Sorry, when you said about
airplanes with the instruments, I was thinking of that scene
from the film Airplane. Yep, Yep, first thing I thought
of. OK, well, James, listen for a
show that I've been a bit lukewarm about, it's been a a
lovely, lovely discussion. I've really enjoyed it.
Me too, thank you very much. Thank you and I'd love to get
you back again and talk about one show that we both like
maybe. Thank you very much.
I'd love to come. Back OK and so Black Cat Radio
every Tuesday evening between what, 8 and 10?
Was it 8 and 10 alternative classics and amazing new music.
You will find your new favorite tune.
Even you. I guarantee I will find your new
favorite tune. And they'll all of them will be
#1 at some. Point all of them guaranteed #1
some of them will get to #0 they're that good.
It's a promise. And I'd love you to come back to
me at some point. I'm not holding you to it.
But you know, with a little little playlist or a little
mixtape in theory. Oh, I'll start recording it now.
I'll get 45 minutes each side, a short one.
That'll be great. I'd love to C90 digital C-90.
You know what I found my, I didn't find my cassette
collection the other day. I was around my mum's house the
other day and she said, Oh yeah, while you're up in the.
I was up in the loft. She said while you're in there,
she's like pace over there. What do you take that home?
She's always doing this to me, trying to offload, you know, I
moved out like 3020, thirty years ago.
She stuff's still in a loft and every time she tries to trick me
into taking some more stuff home.
And it uses a cheap storage actually.
But yeah, the box full of cassettes I had to take home the
other day, which is luck. We'd have it.
I've got a tape player, so that's going to be my weekend, I
think. Oh.
Yes, Oh yes. I mean, there's a few
compilations in there. There's a couple of compilations
from that people have given me, but the ones I'm most excited
about are the recordings from Radio One in the mid 90s, late
nights. There's going to be some gold in
there. Oh, so we're talking Mark and
Lard or? Mark and Lard, the bedsit
survival guide, all that kind of thing.
Yeah, it's a bit of Mark Lamar in there, Collins and Makoni.
Who was the character they used to do Fat Larry?
White for Harry. White for Harry.
White, Harry. White.
The Love Limited Orchestra, yeah.
Oh, man, some of the stuff that he did later night was just
incredible. I don't know whether he had
writers or what, but every night just the most amazing comedy and
just brilliant music. But oh, the sketches were just
joyous. And I'm really hoping that,
yeah, some of that is. There'll be stuff on that on on
those tapes that you can't get anywhere else, I'm sure.
Yes, yes. I can't wait to listen to them.
It's going to be amazing. Do you remember the oh, was it
theological news with Cyril Doricarts?
It was. It was Lard putting on a kind of
1920s newsreader voice and. Not very well.
It was it was magnificent. It was, yeah, PFE news, but all
about things going on today, like, yeah.
So imagine a 1920s newsreader going to the Reading Festival
That that kind of. Thing that was vaguely about.
If you could digitize those at some point, I'd love to.
See what I can do? I still remember to this day
this incredible joke about it wasn't the Glastonbury Festival
he was talking about. And he says something like 450
weeks of the year, cows walk around this field and well, shit
in it. But for two weeks of the year,
it turns into Mecca for new music, where people come from
all around the world to see bands and, well, shit in it.
So that coming and. Then he does, I think he does
the Reading Festival as well, where he talks about the Reading
Festival. The the one place on earth where
you can meet meet journalists from the enemy and have a shit
in a beer barrel. Same thing if you ask me.
Sorry, I've used the word. A bad word.
Can I say shit? I mean, let's say shit can I is.
He let's say shit on the radio. Can you say shit on the podcast
Digitizing? I have to get digitizing.
That would be brilliant. Wow, I'm really jealous of that
of, of you. I've got tapes up on in my loft
which I've taped off Radio 4 over the years, but it's it's
not, it's mainly just plays and just random comedy things.
OK, there's. Got to be stuff up there from,
you know, the late 90s as well. It's going to.
Be Oh, there'll be some gold up there, Yeah.
Do you have a tape? Player No, I don't so.
The crowd funder starts here. Yes, by Tyler, a tape player.
So, James, it's been brilliant. Thank you so much.
Thank. You thank you for having me on
again. It's been an absolute pleasure.
And get me this, introduce me to 21st century music.
That's that's what I'm charging you with.
And and I look forward to speaking to you sometime soon.
Likewise, thank you so much for having me on again, having a
magnificent week. Thank you, James.
Have they examined the fog? They have.
It's turned out to be fog. It's not, it's not, I tell you
it's it's for wrong. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Take it. Did you find major blood knock?
Yes, we have checked with the ward office records and find or
there is no such manner that name ever existed.
Huh. Go to my government sponsored
laboratory and you'll see his name in the visitors.
Book, yes, yes, we've checked with that address you gave us,
but there is no laboratory there.
It is an old bomb site. Honestly, there is a laboratory.
There must be a laboratory as true as my name is Ned Siegel.
That's another point. There is no such person as Ned
Siegel. I just put these little squares.
That was The Goon Show, a recorded program featuring Peter
Sellers, Harry Sicum and Spike Milligan with the rented quartet
and Max Gilray. The orchestra was conducted by
Wally Stott, script by Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan
announcer Wallace Greenslade. The program produced by Pete.