On the flee. The flee.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Great Jupiter, mate. Is that thing a flea?
No, it's an horse, mate. A horse?
Take your settle. Yeah, you're right.
It is a horse. When?
Now, where's the flea? He's on the horse, Mike.
I thought he get here quicker that way.
I see. Now then, as he's not right
inside Satellite was room. He's a male flea.
So now will the flea. Will the flea raise his right
leg and swear to tell the truth? Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now, Mr. Peeps, will you please take the the flea in the palm of
your right hand and see if you can identify him?
I can honestly say I have never seen this three before in my
life. I claim that he is a foreigner.
September the 2nd, 2023 recorded an episode of Goon Pod with
special guest Donna Reese. In which we enjoyed lively
discourse and debated the many merits of the classic Series 7
Goon Show episode. The flea later directed my steps
to the apothecary and complained that the ointment he saw me has
still not stopped the itching. It's one of those episodes where
I find the plot, for some reason, really hard to kind of
absorb. Yeah, but I suppose it doesn't
really matter, does it? I guess but.
Well, no, and I don't really. I've never really bothered with
the plots. Or trying to understand until
I've been doing this podcast, and then you have to pay closer
attention to the script and to the actual words being spoken,
you know? Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Cuz it's, I mean the Greenslade story, the first one that I did.
It's a very linear plot really, the Greenslade story.
It's really easy to blow cuz it's like a star is born at the
BBC. Exactly.
Yes it is, but the other ones are far more chaotic, so as long
as that's. Had you heard the flee before?
No, no, I must have done. My dad had pretty much all of
them and would play them often, but I don't recall the flea.
Because I always maintain and you pretty won't agree with me
then from what you said. But I always maintain that this
would be the perfect episode to introduce someone to the goons.
Yes, it does have all the elements that you sort of love
about them, the and just the orchestrations.
You know, the Angela Morley's music is just fantastic.
It's so good and it must have given Spike such a lift but also
a lot of pressure at the same time cuz everyone around them
was brilliant. Yes, they all seem to be on the
A game for this set, for this recording.
Yeah. Well, listen, I will formally
introduce you and say welcome back, Donna.
Thank you. It's an honor.
I'm amazed. Yes, well, it's it, I'll tell
you like like you said, you know, last time you were here
was to talk about the Green State story and that episode of
of Goon Pod went down extremely well, very popular and.
And so I was keen to get you back and to talk about a show
that I think is almost almost as peerless, if that makes sense.
Personally speaking. Anyway, I think the Flea is a
brilliant episode of the Goons. One of the strongest from series
7 and it was released on LP on the one of the BBC Lps in 1977.
And the A side was the episode recently voted Goon Pod Listens
#1 goon show of all time Napoleon's piano.
That's my dad. Definitely would have had it on
vinyl. Yeah, definitely.
So I must have heard it back in the day.
Definitely, yeah. Oh, and by the way, I'll just
get this out of the way now. Actually I was going to say it
at the end, but because I'm talking about the listeners #1
goon show at the end of this year, probably around New Year's
Eve, I'll be counting down another listeners top 20.
This time it's the top 20 Peter Sellers films.
Wow, did you did you give me yours on Twitter?
Did you? I haven't yet, because I was.
I was thinking about my first one was two way stretch popped
into my mind and then you keep thinking all the different
characters because I think the early films are great.
The later ones, it's almost like the character is brilliant but
the film is not so brilliant. Sellers was such a narcissist.
It was like oh how can I show off in this film rather than
thinking oh this is a great script and a great director and
it's going to tell a wonderful story.
It was. I think it was all about him and
his character. But the earlier films were, a
lot of them are much more ensemble pieces where you had
some of the greats of British comedy acting.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
You got people like Bernie Cribbins and Irene Handel Who
might I love, Irene Handel and Lionel Jeffries and all those.
Margaret Rutherford. And also, and also the ones who
you can't sometimes the casual viewer can't put a name to you
like Miles Malleson, yes? And.
And Raymond Huntley, people like that.
Do you know what my dad, the Internet Movie Database, was
almost created for my dad because he loved old British
character actors. And he'd go on there and just,
you know, look somebody up and find out all about their career.
You know, people like Mario, Fabrici and all those sorts of
people. Yeah, fantastic.
So, yeah, so, so at the end of this year, we'll be doing the
top 20 Peter Sellers films. I have put out a tweet about it
and on Facebook as well, and so if you haven't already, please
DM me or message me on Twitter or e-mail me
tyler.adams1974@gmail.com. I'm still calling it Twitter.
Me too. Me too.
It's a good yeah, I'm tweeting like Matt.
I mean, X, What is that? It sounds like some sort of
strip club in Shirley, doesn't it?
Or something. It's pretty.
Nasty. It's got this deranged new owner
I call a musky, sly old foxy stoat.
And he's taken, but he's taken. He's taken like, you know, he
has taken this beloved because it is beloved Twitter.
Very popular, beloved site which worked really well and didn't
need fixing. And it's like he said this can't
do. How can I make it less user
friendly? And yeah, mess about with it.
Yeah, it's perfect. So let's smash it with hammers
and just spoil it. I'll just do what comes
naturally to me and gnaws it up, essentially.
Totally all the good he could do, and he chooses to spend his
time just winding people up with sort of juvenile silliness.
It's very, it's very frustrating.
Anyway, rant over, it's still Twitter.
It's still Twitter. Yes.
So before we start talking about the flea properly, as always, I
do try and I would like to include sort of historical
context and talk about what was going on in the wide, wide world
of the world, the day, the day, the whiteness, yeah.
Yes, the day the episode was recorded.
So in this instance, it's the 16th of December 1956 and as so
often I find there's not a lot, there's not a lot of of of meat
on the bone, so to speak. Not a lot that I could find out
in terms of significance that happened on the 16th of December
1956. I guess people were gearing up
for Christmas and whatnot, but yeah, bit of a slow Newsday was,
was it Tyler? Slow news.
Yeah, yeah. There's a couple of things.
There's a couple of. Interesting things to me.
Maybe not to anyone else, but anyway, OK, might be to me what
happened. OK, now, are you a fan of
peanuts? A fan is quite a strong word,
but I don't mind them. No, no, I do not mean the
comestable. I mean, you mean the cartoon?
The comic strip Peanuts, Right. OK.
Yes. Yeah.
Very. Yeah.
Very sweet. Yeah.
I was from a very young age. I got into Charlie Brown and
Snoopy. They've always been very dear to
my heart. Those comic strips, okay.
And they there are in the world of Peanuts.
There are recurring motifs, recurring gags that you know
year after year after year. Charles Schulz would would trot
out if you like. And there's a recurring gag in
Peanuts where Charlie Brown is trying to kick a football.
Lucy is holding the football. The the American football.
And he goes, he goes to kick it and she always pulls it away.
Just as he's about his foot's about to connect and he ends up
on his ass. And that's that's a recurring
gag in in the water, peanut. Anyone who's got, you know an
interest in Peanuts will know that gag.
The the first strip with that gag appeared on this day.
So very niche. But I thought I'd point that out
because they may well be, they may well be.
Big Charlie Brown, Snoopy fans out there.
Listen to this course. I mean, it was huge.
I mean, there was a big resurgence, wasn't there, in the
late 70s, early 80s, I recalled. Like Peanuts was like
everywhere. Yes, it was.
And well, yeah, I don't think it ever lost popularity, but it
Yes, you're right, I seem to remember Snoopy was being used
to promote jogging. Do you remember when jogging was
trendy for a brief period? Oh yes.
Yeah. And the guy who popularized
jogging, I don't think he invented jogging.
I don't think you can invent jogging, but whoever whatever
his name was. There was a guy who really
promoted jogging in a big way in the early 80s and he had a heart
attack and died in each. That's right.
Yeah, I think Bill Hicks does a bit about that in his act, isn't
he about? All right, Jim.
Jim Fix is the guy's name. I was thinking Tom Mix, but Tom
Mix is the actor, isn't he? Cowboy actor or something.
Yeah, yeah, it rhymes. It rhymes.
But it's Jim Fix. Yeah, it's just popped into my
head, cuz. Bill Hicks does a bit about him
being, you know, guru of jogging and dies of a heart attack.
It's a bit like the guy who popularized the Atkins diet.
I don't know. What was his name?
Atkins. I don't know.
But didn't he die of some heart related issue?
Yes, he did. Yeah, he did.
On the day, no, not on the day that the show was recorded.
But the day the show went out, which was the 20th of December
56, there was a radio recording made.
It was an adaptation of the HG Wells story The Man Who Could
Work Miracles Now. It was produced for BBC Radio by
Dennis Mayne Wilson, who was the initial first Goons producer.
Yeah, big part of the Goons story.
Absolutely. Yep.
But interestingly, it featured the vocal talents of Kenneth
Williams, Tony Hancock. Jakes.
Oh my God, how come I've never heard?
This Wow. Miriam Carlin, Warren Mitchell.
It was right. I've not read the story and I'm
not aware of the story. It's a short story by HG Wells
and it's a sort of satire on altruism, I think.
And Tony Hancock was playing the central role.
And fortunately no recording exists.
Oh, no. That's what a tragedy that
sounds. I know.
Fascinating. What a listen that would be.
But it seemed to get. I mean, I've seen a contemporary
review from when it went out so in one of the newspapers, and it
said Tony Hancock in the title part was superb.
But of course, there was the danger that listener's pleasure
might be marred by the comedian's voice constantly
recalling Hancock's half hour. It was therefore surely a
mistake to include theme music. From Tony Hancock series and
also having the plays cast. Another actor with a distinctive
voice heard regularly in Hancock's half hour.
These fadings apart, the man who could work miracles made for
very good listening. So, so obviously he's referring
to Kenneth Williams, I guess there being, yeah.
But why would they use theme music from Hancock's Half hour?
I mean, that is really weird, isn't it?
Playing on with a trout like that is very strange, yeah.
I do have one SEC, One SEC. I'm just gonna.
I've got Kenneth Williams Diaries here actually, as every
sensible person should have to hand.
There's a little. He briefly mentions it in his
diary. So he says Thursday 20th of
December 1956. Tony didn't.
I wish I could do the voice. I'm not going to try.
Tony didn't do as well as I did as I anticipated.
He failed to come up at the end. And I know it was because he
didn't believe in what he was saying.
If he is philosophically opposed to the script idea, he doesn't
seem to be able to perform it. He has got sincerity for life
and sincerity for work, hopelessly intermingled and
merged. So there you go.
That's a very harsh criticism, isn't it?
But I suppose, you know, acting and being a comedian, that they
are very different disciplines and it's a very different
mentality. I think comedians have a very
kind of lone wolf mentality and actors have a kind of communal
mentality. So it's it's very, very
different. Maybe that's why it was kind of
easy for Hancock to sort of shed all those people, which he
should never have dropped Gordman Simpson.
But you know, getting rid of Sig James and he thought, you know,
I don't want to be seen as a double act and all of this and
I'm going to go alone. But he I suppose he could bounce
off other people. But Sid was such a good foil for
him. Well, I don't know enough about
Hancock to speak with any degree of knowledge, but my feeling is
that it was egotism and he felt that he was the star.
He didn't need those people. You felt that that face to face
interview was the turning point that gave him this sort of sense
of importance, which maybe inflated the ego a bit too much.
And yeah, that was. I think that was the first time
a comedian had been taken seriously like that in a kind of
very yes in depth, very serious interview.
You'd expect. I mean, obviously they wouldn't.
I know that. It was John Freeman, wasn't it,
that did those interviews, Yes. And he had Gilbert Harding
famously and others. But it would have been
interesting if Spike had been on that.
You could imagine. The fireworks or the revelations
or the sort of naked honesty that Spike would have brought to
that as well. Just on Hancock, I gather you're
a big fan generally, is that right?
Yeah, I do love the Do love Hancocks Half Hour.
Yes, very much so. See, I still think even today,
those scripts and everything that the best episodes have just
still stand up so well. They're so good.
See, I've got it. I've always said this.
I've got a tin ear for Hancock's.
Well, for Hancock's half hour, I've tried.
I've really tried. And I love step toe and son.
So it's not that I'm against Gorton and Simpson material or
anything like that or they don't make me laugh.
I just, I've struggled with Hancock's Half hour.
I mean, everybody's different, everyone has different taste, so
it's just doesn't appeal to you. But I was a very strange child
because when I was at school there was a boy in my class
called Justin and I I went to a performing arts school.
So everybody came from all over London and I'd I'd get get on
the Central Line and go to his house on the weekends.
And I lived in West London in Ealing.
He lived in Theid and Boyce, which is at the end in Essex, at
the end of the Central Line, pretty much, which we used to
call Theid and Bois to make it sound exotic.
And we just used to go rap and watch comedy videos all the
time. And we're about 1314 and we've
watched Laurel and Hardy and Freeze Frame and the bit where
in Sons of the Desert where where the wives are in the
cinema and they see them on the screen, we just be on the floor
crying with laughter. And he was the one that
introduced me to Hancock. I'd never seen Tony Hancock
before and the first episode I ever saw was Lord Byron lives
here. And that's still my favorite.
I mean cry, just crying with laughter.
It's just weird to think that 214 year olds watch.
I got half hour. Yeah, a program that was at that
point, you know, like 30 years old, black and white.
Yeah, but we absolutely loved it.
Well, I absolutely loved it. I used to.
I mean, I grew up and my dad was a big fan of comedy.
And mine too. Yeah, I get it all from my dad.
Yeah. Yeah, but then I had a friend
when I was probably about 1314 and he'd come to mine or I'd go
to his and we'd watch videos of we'd rent.
There was, there was the one video shop or rental store in
the town and yeah that that would let you have really
inappropriate things as well. I.
Wouldn't know about that. I really violent a horrible
like. Oh no, no cuz we because we
would go in and instead of I don't know trying to rent, I
don't know Rambo First Blood or whatever like most 14 year old
boys and Evil Dead. We'd be renting.
Oh, nurse on wheels, I remember. Oh my God.
Can you believe it? Which was a I haven't seen that
since I was a kid. Oh my gosh.
It was um. Juliet Mills.
Juliet Mills, Yeah. John Mills's daughter.
Yeah. It's like, I think it's made by
the same team as the carryon. Yeah, yeah.
It was like a carryon film, kind of, yeah, in all but name.
Yeah, and and and. Things like that and and and
Water the The terrible Michael Caine film.
Billy Connolly. Billy Connolly any.
Any film that was a that was a comedy.
Brackets British. Yeah.
I mean more runs from outer space.
Oh my. Gosh, all sorts of things.
All sorts. And I mean, and we yeah, we
would we would get some good stuff out like Monty Python and
the Holy Grail and stuff like that.
But but we just we'd spend. Weekends and summer holidays,
just inside watching videos of comedy.
So yeah, it's it's and I wonder, you know, I got into the goons
by accident and instantly loved them.
I wonder if it had been instead of the Goon Show that I heard
that day by accident. It was a Hancock's Half hour.
Maybe today this would be a Tony Hancock podcast, you know?
Who knows? Weird things happen in life.
It's just meant to be Tyler. It's just meant to be.
It is. So let's talk about the flea.
This week the Flea is entitled. Forgot what it was.
Now allow me, allow me. We present.
We present the flea. The flea.
What's your Do you have any sort of knowledge of Samuel peeps as
such? Not.
Really. A vague, A vague idea.
Was he sporting with a lot of women imply in the play, yes.
I mean I haven't read the Diaries, but I've, you know,
I've read bits here and there over the years.
Or you just sort of absorb stuff, don't you?
And I gather he was a sly old dog with servants and maids and.
Oh, right, Are they all written in code?
Those bits? I don't think so.
I think he was quite open. I'm sure that there's a passage
sequence where how do I put this delicately?
He's got the maid in a position and his wife walks in and I
think he just gets the equivalent of like a belt around
the head and that's that's his punishment.
And then he just carries on with his day, you know, it's it was
kind of she just kind of his wife, just his wife just kind of
accepted it. I might be wrong, but I've got
that, I've got that. I've got a feeling that's one of
the sort of thing. And, of course, famously, he
buried his his Camembert cheese. Oh yes, that's a yeah, that's a
very famous fact about about him, isn't it?
Yeah, cuz it was during the fire of London I think and he didn't
want the cheese to perish. Or was that a euphemism for
something else? I'm burying the cheese.
Burying my cheese. I read a very good book on
holiday recently by author. I'm very fond of Robert Harris,
who wrote Fatherland and and it was.
I can't even think of the name of the book now.
I read it on my Kindle. It was set in this period that
that this, this it was, it was, it was the restoration of the
monarchy. It was when Charles the second
returned to the throne or came to the throne and the monarchy
was restored. And it was about the search for
what they called the Regicides, the the man who had signed
Charles the First's death warrant.
They were to be hunted down and executed, right?
It was basically, it's a thriller about the manhunt for
two of the sort of leading regicides, and it mentions peeps
in passing. So whatever the book's called, I
can't think what it's called. But lookout for Robert Harris's
latest thriller, folks. So it's like a mix of fact and
fiction? It is, yes.
I love those sorts of books. I love like.
What's the guy who writes lots of things about London?
Peter Accrod. Peter Accrod.
That's like, quite. I love his books.
Yeah. Yeah.
So yeah. So this episode, it's a strange
story, the flea, and it's set. It's got a definite historical
setting. It's December 1665, but I like
at the beginning. You've got sellers on the piano.
I love that bit. I love.
I love anything that's slightly strange that goes on slightly
too long. Yes, something about it always
makes me laugh. It's so funny.
It's really out of tune. Terrible piano sound.
Like I'm walking backwards for Christmas piano.
Well, yeah. And he played the piano a lot.
And I'm not sure how accomplished on the piano he was
in real life. I mean, he was a musician, he
was a very good drummer, so. He was a brilliant drummer.
Yeah, really good drummer. Yeah, jazz drummer, yeah.
But if he was, if he was a good pianist or pianist, he was quite
happy to send up as playing. He's quite happy to play lousily
for the for the comedy. And then of course he gets a
name check and and seller says that he's waiting for his new
car to be delivered, which is a nod to seller's car.
Yeah. Yeah, he was a petrol head,
wasn't he? Yeah, yeah.
The Super Splon Reversal Center Pod, 12 horsepower convertible.
Of course, you probably had two of them.
Yes. Well, he would get it in the
morning and then return it in the afternoon.
Ted, did that music do something to you, Wallace?
No, but I'd like to do something to that music.
You realize, of course, you're talking of Peter Sellers, the
world's greatest outdoor pianist.
And though did Mr. Carr, Catalogue of 1956.
Did you hear that, Phil? If I give you Mr. Sellers, I
say, don't tell me you're down to that in motor cars.
No, I just ordered a new Super Splum Reversal Centerpod 12
horsepower convertible. I was only making that noise
until it arrived, then it can do it for me.
Oh, Jolly for you, Fred Zeller. Thank you.
That story about him making Spike get in the boot of his car
because he could hear a noise, wasn't it?
That was hilarious, that So drive around.
And it was stopped by the police.
When the police and opened the boot and saw Spike, he went, oh
I thought it might be you. Well that was it cuz a given
spike a bit of chalk put him in the boot.
That's right. Yeah, to put a little mark where
he could hear the squeak or whatever.
Yeah. And he'd be there Driving over,
Driving over. I don't know.
Did they have speed bumps in those days or he'd be.
I don't think they did in this driving through driving through
potholes and things, yeah, yeah. Or turning up in the middle of
night naked and saying, do you know a good Taylor?
Another thing was that, well, that see, we discussed that that
story on the episode I did with Walter Dunnell on Adolf Hitler.
My part in his downfall. Oh, that's.
Fantastic, yes. Because one of Spike's comrades
in Bexhill would do that. You know, turn up naked and say,
do you know a good Taylor and you wonder.
We sort of theorized that Spike must have told sellers about
that. And yeah, sellers being sellers
would obviously nick it. Nick, the idea.
Yeah, yeah. He just absorbed so much stuff,
didn't he? Big sellers.
He just yes, he was a sponge. But now did you listen to the LP
version of the flea, the LP edit or did you?
Which how did you listen to this?
I listened to on YouTube versions.
Yeah. Is there a all right?
Was there stuck? Cut out?
Well, yeah, the LP had quite a bit cut out.
No, I'll say quite a bit. Just bits in some cases.
Just single words, you know, here and there, a few sequences
and a few topical references. I'm not quite sure.
I grew up listening to the LP version and then I've listened
to the most complete Ted Kendall restored version which puts back
all the stuff that was removed. Right.
And there's little references. There was a reference to Lou
Grade. Did you hear that?
I heard the Lou grade reference, yeah.
They had to dig at Lou Grade. Yeah, Okay cuz he tells Sellers
to stop sticking pins in a clay model of Lou Grade.
And I and obviously Sellers at the time was being represented
by the grades. And I and I tried to find out if
there was, if there was some particular issue at that time
that they were referring to, you know, but there didn't.
I checked with Mark Cousins as well.
He said No, there's the I think it was just a throwaway gag,
really. Right, so the the scene is set.
It's December 1665. Seek him as Ned as Samuel Peeps,
and we we hear the first mention of of of someone doing sport
with Mrs. Fitzsimmons. Yes, the sport.
But yeah, which I don't know what to say about that doing
sport is obviously, you know one of those euphemisms.
Yes, I'm something something about.
I'm still surprised that they got away with it.
I don't know. What?
There are so many things in the goons that you hear, you think.
How the hell did they get away with that?
You know, under the red. These things were not really
checked, were they? Were they ever sort of hauled
into management and said to me, you can't use Hugh Jabson and
things? Oh, there was plenty of.
Reprimanded for it and I think, I think in the end they just, I
think there was a lot of effort in the first few years.
There were a lot of efforts to cancel The Goon Show, or at
least, yeah, there were so many complaints and from from
seniors. I was.
And I was so shocked to hear that.
I remember hearing that not that long ago and thinking really, I
mean, it was so popular that why would they want to get rid of
it? Because it was just too
anarchic. BBC management, senior
management just didn't get it, thought it was unseemly.
Maybe it was still very much the BBC was still very much wreathed
in wreathy in values. Yeah.
And of course senior management were all sort of X.
An officer class and it was disrespectful.
This was absolutely, you know, fighting, you know, pricking
pomposity and looking at these people and taking the piss.
Just saying these people are ridiculous.
So they obviously maybe felt personally they were being
attacked perhaps, I don't know. Absolutely.
Yeah, Insufficiently respectful.
Yeah, that will do. Yeah.
So we've got Samuel, Peeps Ned. He goes to Ward's coffee house.
Of course, coffee houses were all the rage at that period.
And in the script it says that you know the character that
Sellers plays called Flower Jew. Yes, which is the.
I love that character. Yeah.
Now in the script it says Flower Jew.
For this we've got Daisy, who's like the waitress at the yes, at
the coffee shop. Brilliant, but but in the script
it's down as flower Jew. But it doesn't it it's kind of A
to me it just sounds like Sellers doing a sort of blousey
woman. Woman voice.
Yeah, yeah, it does. Yeah.
I yeah, I'm surprised when you said flower Jew, because I know
what that voice sounds like. And it it isn't like that, is
it? It is a yeah, as you say, a kind
of slightly fruity lady. Oh, good motto, master peeps.
Cappuccino. Yeah, just coffee.
Daisy. Black or white?
White with a dash of milk. You tease.
I love that. And I suppose it was all the
rage where the Soho coffee bars, cuz it was like, did they
mention froth or something? What do you ask for Cappuccino?
Cappuccino. That's it, yeah.
Cuz obviously that was happening at the time, yeah, yeah.
In London and it's I'm just gonna say seek and peeps runs
through the runs the gamut of goon show catchphrases such as
needle nod or new splints plans blonding Tommy like pirates,
cetera. And then he says you now did you
pick up on the fact there's a lot of owing in this.
A lot of. Yes, owing.
Why do you think that was I? Have no idea.
I was if there is an awful of that in there, what was what was
going on there? I couldn't work it out.
Well, see this the same month. So December 56, the single you
Got to go OW was released into the shops produced by George
Martin. And it was, it was, it was
Milligan is basically a Moriarty single.
Really it was Milligan. I don't think Sellers was
involved. Larry Stevens I think is is
playing the piano and I think Eric Sykes is involved and I say
George Martin produces it and it's just and it's just it's
just a throwaway little disposable single saying you got
to go owl okay. And so obviously Milligan is
trying to promote it quite shamelessly in this show because
Grit Pipe and Moriarty appear there in the coffee pot, and
Grit Pipe introduces himself and and and Moriarty.
And again, this is a bit that was cut from the LP version cuz
he introduces Count Jim Thighs, Moriarty Minister Without
Underpants to the principality. Of Monte Carlo.
Minister Without Underpants, but it's just brilliant.
Well, on the LP there's a clunky edit, so he doesn't actually say
that they cut out the bit. Minister without underpants.
The Principality of Monte, Yes, that's.
You know what? A gag, what that is.
That's criminal to do that because underpants.
Underpants might offend somebody in 1977.
I don't. Know.
Thank God. That's ridiculous, isn't it?
It must ruin the flow of the show.
Having all these cuts. I didn't realize they were cuts.
So yeah, so much so messed up out with.
It's terrible. Yeah, it reminds me of that.
Summarizing Proust. Sketch that Monty Python did and
they were holding to senior management cuz it like one of
the contestants said their hobbies were cat strangling and
masturbation. That's right.
And they were really anti the masturbation.
But cat strangling was fine, didn't they?
Wasn't there a huge wolf of audience response?
To that yeah. Yeah.
Oh dear. I I even like if I ever I watch
the chase or something I just long for.
So what do you do? What are you joining?
Ah yes. And it's very similar.
It's like this is crazy. You object to this thing and
because Terry Jones said to this old duffer at the BBC.
Well, we all masturbate. Don't you masturbate?
And he was so flubbest, like, well, I, you know, just like,
didn't know what to say. He's arguing and we know that.
Violence towards cats was fine. It's brilliant.
Well, that's the thing. I mean, in America, you can't
show breasts on American. Well, you couldn't.
Any years ago, you couldn't. You couldn't show breasts on
television. But you could watch.
You could see somebody being shot dead.
Or have their head, yeah, blown off.
Yeah, it is absolutely crazy. Everything's just completely the
wrong way around, isn't it? Yeah.
And they managed to persuade peeps to put them up for the
night, and they discover he's a secretary to the Navy.
And they they evolved this scheme involving Francois the
Flea, who was chained to Moriarty's night shirt and the
plot. Is the the images that go off in
your brain when you listen to them are just extraordinary.
It's fantastic, isn't it? It's a.
Chain to a fleece, Yes. Mariotti will contrive to get
bitten and sue pizza for damages.
And it could also escalate to become war between England and
Monte Carlo, I think. I think that's the idea anyway.
And so we have, we have Max Galdrey.
Yeah, that is brilliant. Then the ruse is put into effect
and we hear Mariati screaming. Peeps comes in and Grit Pipe
claims that he's been that the bedding is flea ridden, and
Peeps says the bedding's burned twice a day, which which is just
a throwaway line, which I've always.
That's a Corker, isn't it? That's so good we go to the law
courts with Lord Chief Justice Jim Spriggs and and get Wallace
doing a fairly rotten French accent as the plaintiff's
council. My Lord, we claim damages of
40,000 Golden Crowns for a savage attack by an English flea
residing on the roof of Mr. Samuel Pips, Secretary to the
Navy. Oh, well, like that.
Not in what is a Navy. A baby is an army entirely
surrounded by water. Fans, fans, please.
I'll have the court clear. Thank you very much.
You know, everybody sort of pays a lot of attention to piece
sellers and Spike Milligan and quite rightly, but I mean, Harry
Seeker is fantastic. His energy levels are just
through the roof for every single show and he is like the
glue. Yeah, he's just fantastic.
Earlier in the show. I think it's when just as grit
pipe is is introduced. I think Seekin says something
like what what what what, You know, does his what, what, what
and grip. And again with such energy and
grit pipes as I was only nearly saying that myself the other
day, which. I love when things go wrong and
they and they throw lad libs like that in it.
Brilliant, isn't it? Just just trying to make him
like each other laugh. Yeah.
And we have. So they need to establish
Francois the fleas nationality because that's been bought into
doubt. And so William brings, brings
him into court on a horse. You're right, it is a horse.
Pete's testifies that he's never seen such a flea and and in
claims, as I say, claims that he is a foreigner.
And if the flea is proven to be French, I think that will
scupper grip pipe's plans. I'm not quite sure.
But anyway, somehow or other grip Piper Moriarty must find an
English flea to substitute for Francois and they when?
They get the flea to swear. Did they say raise your right
leg or something? Oh, yes, of course.
We haven't mentioned the sound effect of the flea, have we?
Which? Is the boying noise?
Yeah, I mean the sound effects department.
It must have been heaven to work on these shows for them.
It's just and of course Angela Morley's orchestrations, just
incredible as well. I mean, everybody is on the top
of their game helping to make this show, but the sound
effects, they must have been like rubbing their hands, like
raw. I cannot wait to do this.
This is, you know, all these crazy things they have to do.
Well, in the original script, Spike is quite clear that he
wants the the sound effect of the flea to be very loud, very
clear. He doesn't want it to be, you
know, drowned out by music or cast conversation or anything
like that. So he's very clear about that.
So grit, Piper, Moriarty, attend Minnie and Henry's Flea Circus,
where there's a performance of War and Peace with flea dialogue
and human subtitles. Oh my dear of that is so funny.
Oh God. And it's just an excuse.
It's an excuse to have shoehorn in Minnie and Henry because it
could have been anything with that flea circus.
But they they bring along a dog and somehow kidnap a British
flea and put it on the dog and then go and substitute him for
Francois. Francois, who is kept in
protective custody and is being guarded by echoes in Blue
Bottle. Blue bottle.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, and Wallace assures the
audience that all the flea parts are played by small grasshoppers
painted black. Yeah, yeah.
Now the blue bottle in echoes sequence is hilarious.
Yeah, as we would expect, Milligan really milks that.
You know when he, when he makes his introduction as Echoes, he
really milks the audience, doesn't he?
Oh yeah, because Blue Bottle gets a round of applause and
Echo speaks and gets a round of applause.
And it sort of yells, hey, you know, have.
You ever guarded a flea before? Echo
No. The first big job I heard.
Well, do you think Blue Bottle was the only character?
There were a few characters used to get applause when they used
to appear, but I think he seemed to be the most popular.
Blue bottle, Yes, mainly blue bottle.
Yeah. Yeah.
Do you think that obviously there was a little bit of a
competitive edge between the two of them?
You can argue that Eccles was the most popular character in
the but Blue Bottle was the one that seemed to get the applause.
And I don't know it's it's. I suppose it's because Blue
Bottle, Blue Bottle would never was never driving an episode.
He was always. Yeah, it was suddenly just pop
up. And he would, he was one of us.
Randomly, yeah, yeah. And he'd often, he would often
be announced in the sense of Seagum would call Blue Bottle or
whatever, you know what I mean? He wouldn't just arrive and
introduce himself, he would, he would be, he would be announced
almost. And so it's kind of natural for
the audience to applaud. And I wonder, Yeah, Milligan.
I think there are occasions, of course, when Eccles gets a round
of applause as well, but Blue Bottle?
Much, much more. I mean, you could argue that
Eccles probably embodies the spirit of the goons the best out
of all the characters, possibly. Yeah, Yeah.
Yeah. Well, he was the original goon,
I think as well they call him. Yeah, definitely.
And you know, I've listened, I've been listening to quite a
few late period goon shows recently, sort of Series 9 and
Series 10 and Sellers kind of is phoning it in.
When he plays Blue Bottle in those shows, I feel he's the the
the voice is slightly hoarser, if that's if I could describe it
that way. This is real.
But but Blue bottle here is is brilliant.
I will teach this not a man of lesson.
Lesson raise rightly. OK, narrate Lipley.
How do you do that? Three legs?
Three legs. How is it that you've got three
legs ago or the 4th 1 fellow? Minute by minute.
What? Do you laugh in it?
I don't know on the again, I don't know on the recording that
you heard on on YouTube whether this was included or cut out.
But there's the bit where Blue Bottles is trying to teach
Echoes a lesson. So he says raise, raise right
leg and now raise left leg. Yeah.
Now in the original show, Blue Bottle says, oh, how do you do
that? And echoes kind of Mumbles.
He says 3 legs and then there's audience laughter and then he
sort of says that again, three legs.
And I don't know if it's implying something rude or it's,
I don't know. But that bit got cut out of the
LP and probably the pick of the Goons version because then we've
got the the bit where echoes blue bottles.
How have you got three legs? And he says the 4th one fell off
which and Sean Gaffney who friend of the show he's been on
a number of times. He pointed out that in the
script. But it it, it wasn't recorded or
it wasn't performed, but it was in the script that at this point
Echoes is still laughing at, at the Why did the chicken cross
the road joke, Okay from the show?
So the show before this, the episode the week before, was
called The Telephone, and in that, Eccles is laughing at the
wrong bit of the Why did the chicken cross the road joke?
And so in this week's the Flea script they've written in there
that's Eccles are still laughing about it, which shows a bit of
continuity, you know what I mean?
But they even decided not to record it, or they just cut it
out or whatever. But and so we have this whole
leg sequence and then Blue Bottle says we've given them
enough Terence Rattigan type dialogue, I'm sure.
Are you aware of the work of Terence Rattigan?
Yes, Yeah. Play right.
Yeah. You lived it.
I think you lived it, Brighton. Yeah.
You got the lovely house on the seafront?
Yeah, Well, I guess. Yeah, wins the Browning version
and the wins Lowboy and all that.
Yeah, well, the Winslow. The only thing I remember from
the Winslow Boy is one of the characters saying I've just
moved in next door and this woman saying yes, I know we were
admiring your sideboard. I just love all those sort of
rather trained actresses that play Cockneys in in film, but
they they all talk like that. They go to the foot of my
stairs. I really would.
It's like nobody in their life really spoke like that.
Perry Enfield sends it up brilliantly.
You know those Chumley Warner sketches?
Oh, yes. Oh, I've been upended, isn't it?
And all that. Those sort of tugging, the four
lot characters. Yes, I'm perishing, hungry or
something like that. Yeah, that's right.
For this Lady Ville repute, it's our busiest night of the week.
Hello, Nellie. What you judging tonight then?
Six friends hate me for acts of appalling depravity.
One in six, the faddle daddled with me watch and record it, and
two shillings to what locked me. Whoops a day.
What do I get for Tappans, Man, but something I've always wanted
to do. The working classes in the East
End smell. Yes, most frightfully.
Thank you. You'll reassured me.
I won't go there. Good night, Chris.
Good night, Miss Shamla Warner. Or should I say Tora governor,
No, They decide to exercise Francois, give him some exercise
and they take his leg shackles off and then we have a lot of
boinging. And then following Ray's number,
they have for some reason the 1812 overture, but obviously
it's it's 1665, so that's the only reason for that cake.
Blue Bottom informs Peeps that the two villains crept up on
them and over palled them with 1/4 of Pontefract cakes.
I've never had a Pontefract cake, but I gather that they
bake basically licorice. Is that right?
That's right. Yeah.
Pontefract is famous for licorice, which I don't really
like. So I've never tried one.
I've never. I've never been there.
And there's another kind of reference to the laxative
qualities of licorice, because since they almost had you on the
run, I'll. Bet Mary Whitehouse would have
taken that one out, yes, yes. A grip by the Moriarty switched
fleas and made off with Francois and and peeps realizes that
Francois is a foreigner. Must not be allowed to leave the
country or the crown will lose the case.
Again doesn't make sense. He goes to the military barracks
commanded by Bloodnot and asks him for an update on the hunt.
And we have Spike doing that very dithering.
Captain Carruthers, which is a brilliant occasional character
that Spike would do the sort of. Is that based on his wartime
experiences? That must have been probably
exaggerated, but obviously it's based in reality somewhere, like
a lot of these things are. But it also wastes time.
It means he doesn't have to write gags for that bit.
He must have sat there with his stopwatch while he was writing,
you know because it's obviously got to fill up a certain amount
of time. Yeah.
And then grip of Mariachi apprehended by a company of
Highlanders. And they've but they've hidden
the flea on a sheepdog and we get the I think we get the
orchestra members of the orchestra as dogs or certainly
maybe the rail into quartet. And the the dog's number with
the with the final Yelp of pain dog number 7 and Peeps believing
he's got the upper hand and forms grip pipe that his plan
has been thwarted. And then Grip Pipe reveals he's
been reading Peeps's diary and December the 3rd, whilst the
king was away, did sport madly with Nell Gwyn of.
Course he did. Which?
Which then the show ends with Seeking delivering a mighty owl.
There we go. Shameless plug again.
Yeah, Yeah. So All in all, I mean, we've
whipped through that, but a really, really strong show.
I did struggle following the plot.
Sometimes it's like it's almost like, am I hallucinating?
What's happening here? Well, it's not exactly linear,
but they're never linear, are they So?
That's absolutely fine. You just have to just go with it
and just let it kind of wash over you.
And yeah, you do. Again, Sean Gaffney is surmised
that Spike must have been reading about peeps around this
period. So you think Spike was a bit of
an autodidact? He was reading a hell of a lot.
And yeah, and I gather he was just obviously probably reading.
Maybe he's reading Peeps's Diaries and decided, hey, let's
yeah, let's turn this into a goon show.
Now, why the flea? I don't know.
I mean, I suppose because the plague, of course, was around
this time. And the flake?
The plague was carried by fleas, wasn't it?
Yes, yeah. Yeah.
So maybe he just incorporated those two elements, decided
let's turn that into a goon show.
Maybe. Maybe.
There's also a lot of like in the theater, a lot of sort of
surrealist writing coming into like loved in theaters.
And I don't know whether you know.
B. And Esco had an influence on
Spike or? And it did, yeah.
And in a. Rhinoceros.
Yeah, Yeah. So that was happening at the
time as well. So that could have been an
element of that. But oh, did I tell you that
after The Greenslade Story was released online on that day, I
went to Winchell Sea and I got some flowers and I put flowers
on Spike's grave. That's lovely.
I just felt I'd been wanting to do it for a long time, sort of
on behalf of my dad as well as myself, Just to say thank you.
I thought, well, today is just as good a day as any.
I must do it. The day the Greenslade story
went out, I drove to Winchell Sea and and paid my respects to
Spike. Were you on your own?
It's. Not that far from me with the
other people I took my son. There was, there was no.
I took my son, but there was nobody else around.
It was very windy day, so I think my flowers are like
halfway to Hastings by the time I left.
But I felt I really need to do it because, you know, after
everything, all the laughs that spikes given me, it was the
least I could do. Really.
Yeah. Yeah.
So Donna, is there anything else that you wanted to say before we
wrap up? Really.
No, I just think it was a really fun episode and.
It was great. I love, I love hearing.
I love it when things go wrong and and when they do ad Lib.
Like, you know, when Peter says to is it to Harry about nearly
saying yes, Very. It was very nearly saying that
myself the other day. Yeah, I I love all that.
I love it when it goes wrong. It's a bit like, you know, when
Pete and Dad, kind of when he Pete locks onto Dad, isn't it?
And looks him in the eyes that I am going to make you laugh, yes.
I am gonna make you corpse. It's like a laser.
Yes, I am going to. I am going to do this.
It's very. Let me hear it.
Sorry. Let me tell you something.
I'll cut this bit out next week. Next episode that's going out, I
recorded an episode with Nick Emery, who is the son of Dick
Emery. OK.
Wow. OK, and because Dick Emery's got
a connection with the goons and but we're talking about his his
dad for about 2 1/2 hours in total.
He was. He was not a typical father, I
don't think. I think they had quite a
difficult relationship from what I've learned about.
Well he he had five marriages and endless affairs.
He's he's very absent a lot of the time.
Yeah, but what? He told me his dad made a film
in mid 70s called Find the Lady. Right?
Well, I say he made a film. He was in a film.
Oh, yes. Yeah.
Now Peter Cook was in it. John Candy was in it.
Mickey Rooney. Yeah, it's really early John
Candy film, right? Mickey Rooney was in it, I think
it was a kid. It was a Canadian, British
coproduction, I think, and it didn't do any.
It completely died, you know. Yeah, yeah, he said.
But he said it was a terrible film.
But Dick Emery got on very well with Peter Cook, and on the set
and off the set they would, they became drinking buddies and you
know, they'd go out and. Oh my God.
And he said there's a there is a tape recording that Peter and
Dick Emery made, which was basically them doing Derek and
Clive. Oh my God.
But what? There is a slight similarity I
think with Dick, Emery and Dublin.
They look, they looks very similar.
Don't. The voice is quite of weedy as
well, yeah. And Nick said he doesn't know
where the tape is, so hoping he can find it.
But could you imagine that? And I said to him, would your
dad have been comfortable doing some of that sort of Derek and
Clive material? He said.
Oh yeah, Oh my. God, Oh my gosh.
That would be quite shocking to hear.
Dick Emery Effing and Jeff. It would be to Kirk, wouldn't
it? Well, Dick Emery was born in was
born in 1915. So he'd have been by that point.
He'd have been 606162, something like.
That whoa, whoa, Oh my God. Yeah, I know people.
When I was at drama school down the road in Swiss Cottage, lots
of people say I've just seen Peter Cook walking around
Hampstead with a load of newspapers under his arm.
And I was like, shit, I never get to see.
I I I spotted Bill Ody once and that was it.
The lesser spotted Ody. But I never saw Peter Cook.
See, I reckon. I reckon you could probably
approach Peter Cook quite easily and he.
Engaged in conversation. I don't think you could say the
same about Bill Audie somehow. No, I think he's quite
difficult. Isn't he?
A bit prickly, but yeah, I would have been so intimidated.
But everything I've read about Peter Cook said he was pretty
sweet and very nice to people who approached him.
I mean, it's a famous story about him being in a restaurant
and. Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson
and all, you know, the Footlights people at the tables
before they were famous, obviously.
And they, I don't know what they were doing there, but I think
they were performing their kind of review in London and they
they still be to cook and like oh go and talk to him, you know,
because he's like the God of, you know, Cambridge Footlights,
you know, so. They got him to come over and he
he had dinner with them. They went out party together and
slightly became like a 24 hour party and they were like
nobody's at this point. But he just went along with it,
you know, he's just so lovely. I watched them.
There was this impromptu sort of cultural festival held at Lower
or upper Wallop. Yeah, Middle wallop, Middle
wallop. Yeah, a weekend in Wallop with
Rick Mail, Billy Connolly, Smith and Jones.
Yeah, all those people. Yeah, I videoed it.
I was obsessed with comedy then and videoed the whole thing, cuz
you've got Peter Cook and now Smith doing.
Everything as lesbians. Lesbians synchronized swimming
team. Yeah, I wanna make this clear as
well. We do not hate men.
No, we do not hate men. We feel sorry for them.
We pity them. We pity them.
I mean all that beer swilling camaraderie, a little bit
earlier on we were in the pub, right?
It was teeming and it was boozing.
Arm wrestling bar Billion bar billions.
And frankly, it was it's gotten nice, wasn't it?
Disgusting? Yeah, it disgusting is what I
meant. Well, that's right.
And just thank God, thank God, that we we were able to turn to
each other. For sucker.
For suffer. For sucker.
We can always turn to each other.
That's right, you're always dropping around for a little
late sucker. Look for that.
You see, we enjoy the simple things in life.
Yeah, we we like simple things like nature, country rambles,
synchronized swimming. I mean, he he squandered so much
of his talent. That's a squander.
He just didn't he. He got involved with so many
projects that just weren't. Yeah, I think he knew.
He peaked. So early in life that he could
never, he always said the one leg too few sketch was like that
was comic perfection and nothing he could ever do would ever
really top that. So once you have that
realization I think it's very difficult and he obviously had a
few demons and struggled. I think like a lot of public
school boys, I think he was dumped in a yeah, public school
and his parents went off to. You know, his father was a Dick
to come out and they went off to Africa for like 18 years,
whatever, just left him. So that's quite difficult to
cope with I imagine. But yeah, I think it's it's so
sad in the way he didn't live a little bit longer because Chris
Morris, that stuff he did, the stuff he did with Chris Morris,
I think it's really Chris Morris is probably the only
contemporary funny person to really go toe to toe with.
Peter Cook and match him for comic invention.
He had No Fear. I think anybody else would have
been scared. It just would be like totally in
awe of Peter Cook. And you don't get that sense
from Chris Morris. He just sort of went for it and
some of the ideas that came out of those.
Why bother? Sketches are just fantastic.
And the Clive Anderson interview.
So that was brilliant that he had that sort of last hurrah on
television and was really on top of his game.
I mean, I think the Football Manager character is just
really, it's just brilliant. He looked really healthy and he
was. He obviously put a lot of effort
into that and that was wonderful to see that definitely, and I'm
very fine. I know he would turn up here and
there. He's, he's he's in a couple of
episodes, I think, of early. And he's he's obviously pissed
as well on those shows. Whose Line is It anyway?
On television? Oh yeah, yeah.
He's slightly out of control and a very drunk and and the first
episode of Black, added. The first series of black
editors? He's Richard the Third.
Yeah, Yes, he is, Yeah. He gets killed very early on and
he comes back as a yeah. But then of course he would like
he would do, he did that terrible show revolver and where
do I, where do I sit? Which was like a kind of an.
Attempt. That was terrible chat show and
he did an American sitcom. Was he a Butler?
Butler and I'm thinking. Elainestrich.
Elainestrich, yes. Elainestrich Yes, and I think
it's interesting. It's a bit like Spy Computer.
This kind of professional jealousy, you know were they
jealous of one another? Obviously Peter couldn't write
like Spike but Spike didn't have the abilities that Peter had to
go on and become a mega star in Hollywood.
And similarly it's like Pete Cook was the the the genius
comedian, but just he just on screen he he didn't have the
kind of every man thing that Dudley had.
Dudley was the better actor. Because Peter, I think, had
these really dead eyes. You know, you've got to be able
to convey emotion through your eyes.
And Peter Cook's eyes are like a great white shark's eyes.
They just don't admit, emit emotion.
But so I think it was a little bit of, and some people, I think
Stephen Fry said, oh, he wasn't jealous of me.
He was happy for him. And a lot of people thought he
was that, you know, it seemed a bit unfair in a way that they
were both hugely talented. I mean, that'd be more, you
know, musical genius and very funny.
Yeah, I think the later ones, there's a real nastiness to them
that isn't funny. Well, absolutely, yeah.
But you hear those, some of those Derek and Clive sketches.
Dudley Moore is being battered verbally.
It's particularly the film. I think there's a I love all the
really stupid ones like. I saw this bloke the other day
and he goes, you saw this bloke and he's just attacks him for
no. I think that's my favorite one
because it's so strange and it's Cook's voice is croaky because
it's like, yeah, it's loased with elf fags.
Yeah, drinking and smoking millions of fags and it's like I
wasn't in a leaf, but interested.
And then he switches it up and goes.
Then I saw this woman then, because that's better.
Now you talk. I love the the dead Pope.
The bit he thinks he's he believes he's turned on.
Yeah, only catapult turned on by dead popes.
Like, Oh dear, yeah, some of them.
Some of the Derek and Live stuff is really kind of, but it's.
I love the little touches that Cook brings to those to those
dialogues where he he would just toss out random little things
like he he name checks Verity Lambert for example.
It's the it's the little details the old word thrown in.
It's a bit like when he did that here comes the judge for the
secret placements ball and he went they they were the first
show. They were criticized for not
being satirical enough, and Peter went away that night,
wrote that monologue. And it just took off.
The next night he did it and it was amazing.
And I remember Michael Palin actually saying that it's the
little deep, that the words that he had.
It was like a self confessed, Self confessed, Yes, the play of
the pink oboe. It's the self confessed thing
that just somehow makes it so funny.
Yeah, with straight off into we. Have totally cook podcast, Okay.
Well, Donna, Donna, listen, I'm gonna keep all that in, by the
way, cuz I think you know, no. Well, it's okay.
Do what you have to edit. I'll edit it.
Bits. Yes.
So, Donna, listen, it's been
brilliant. I can't remember.
Did we agree that you were gonna come back sometime and do a film
or what? Did we what did we say?
I can't remember this. I think we mentioned about, I
sort of mentioned about Peter Sellers Sketches with Irene
Handel and things like that. That's right.
Yes. Yeah.
So we could maybe next time next year sometime come back and talk
about sellers and handle. Listen, handle this just sounds
like a solicitor. Oh, that would be important.
I'd love to because because we could.
We could, Yeah, we could because, you know, obviously
there was, there was the Lps that she was on.
But also, you know, he worked with her a lot in film.
Obviously she's Mrs. Kite. Oh yeah, I love that picture of
them on the mantelpiece. Their wedding photo is just
priceless, isn't it? It's so funny.
I just love it. One of the few people I have an
auto, I actually have signed picture of Irene Handel.
Yeah, well, last time you're on, I think I told that story about
the metal Mickey. Yes.
Oh my God, that's hilarious. I love stories like that.
That's so funny. I have to tell you, my son who
is, he's wonderful, he's autistic, He really loves.
It's funny cuz he doesn't always take two things.
You think when you think, oh, he'll find this hilarious and
he's just completely blank. But he loves Spike Milligan.
Singing yesterday No. OK.
Have you seen that clip of him? Yeah.
He thinks it's hilarious, you know, And it's like, you know,
it goes, I'm the half a man I used to be and it's just like
half of him and he's he, it looks like he's invented glam
rock because he's got a big wig on.
He's got like, like, so shiny stickers on his face or
something. Yes.
Yeah. Well, so, I mean, I know that
was Spike's favorite Beatles song.
That was, in fact, I think it was one of his favorite songs,
full stop. He would.
Oh, really? Yeah.
Yeah, he would often. He would often hum it or sing it
here and there, you know? I heard him before singing.
I think it was on like the Des O'Connor show or something going
yesterday. Someone came and took my stove
away. He does a routine about on one
of the chat shows he was moaning because one of his pet peeves
was muzak or hold music on when you when you phone a ohh yeah
phone a company and and I know he's used yesterday to
illustrate hold music you know oh.
OK, but but he No. But he does love the the song.
So your sons, what is he? He's 13.
He's 13 and he loves. He loved that seeing Spike
singing yesterday. Brilliant.
Good, good. OK, Donna, well, it's been a
blast. Thank you so much.
And we will return next year and talk about sellers and handle.
Wow, lovely. I can't wait.
Thank you so much, Tyler.