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Hello Folks! Calling Folks!

Huge news for The Goon Show Preservation Society!  We are delighted to announce a special event to mark the 75th anniversary of The Goon Show! 

The GSPS has teamed up with the Borthwick Institute for Archives and Birmingham Comedy Festival to create an afternoon of Goon Show goodies at the Scenic Stage Theatre at the University of York, home to our society archives.  The event is made possible by being part of the York 50-Plus Festival and profits are going to AgeUK.  There will be a look at the history of the series and a chance to see some of our archive materials, and live stage performances of two classic shows!  We hope to add some special guests to the line-up and include a post-show Q&A.

It is all in a very good cause, and we hope you can make it along to commemorate 75 glorious years! Please, open your wallets and repeat after me, “help yourself!”

The event, taking place at 2pm on Saturday 17^th October 2026 in the Scenic Stage Theatre at the University of York, is part of the York 50-Plus Festival and supporting AgeUK York.

Here are the key event details:

Date – Saturday 17th October 2026 from 2pm until 4pm
Venue – The Scenic Stage Theatre, University of York East Campus
Admission Price – Tickets £10 with all profits to AgeUK York

Tickets are available now via this link, or this QR code below:

BBC Radio 4 Extra’s regular Tuesday Goon Show slot is on the verge of competing it’s run through the series. It reaches the end of the Vintage Goons series with The Albert Memorial episode on 28th July, and that will be followed with The Last Goon Show Of All on 4th August.

What’s coming after that is a run of the six part The Milligan Papers series from Radio 4 in 1987. It starts on 11th August with The Incredible Case of the Vanishing Flying Scotsman.

The series was written by John Antrobus. It starred Spike Milligan, with John Bluthal, Chris Langham, John Antrobus and George Chisholm leading his Gentlemen of Jazz.

The Milligan Papers BBC page

_{These shows are available for 30 days after they are broadcast on BBC Sounds. Streaming BBC radio shows on catch-up is no longer available outside the UK. There is still a live stream here.}

Whatever happened to

THE TELEGOONS?

The popular Telegoons puppet TV series was seen on BBC TV between 1963 and 1965.

When production ceased, some of the studio puppets were given as gifts to friends, whilst others were exhibited in the popular Nellie McQueens restaurant in Sunbury on Thames until that restaurant ceased trading in 1992.

At that time, those restaurant puppets were also given away to well known customers and friends of David Young (brother of Tony Young, who co-founded and produced the series).

Where are they now?

The Goon Show Preservation Society (established 1972) is making one last effort to gather in stories of any of the individual puppets themselves, from the people who were given them (or their families), to add to our extensive documentary Encyclopedia Goonicus project.

Please use this form to send any information which might help

More on The Telegoons

The first Goon Show was broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 28th May 1951.

Hello Folks! Calling Folks!
Are you celebrating the 75th anniversary of our beloved show in style?

Sadly, it wasn’t possible to get an actual Goon Show arranged to celebrate the milestone (oh we tried folks, we really tried…), but there should be plenty
going on to commemorate it in other ways.

One way the GSPS is celebrating the day is with the publication of the new (seventh) edition of Encyclopaedia Goonicus, our archive collection of documents and recordings which we make available to paid-up members of the society.

There’s also a new 75th Anniversary page on the website looking at some stories from that 1951 broadcast.

And to celebrate the anniversary, there’s a special discount offer on our membership fee to those of you who might be persuaded to join our society.

At the time of writing, Stephens House were girding their loins in readiness for An Evening Without Spike Milligan, starring Jeremy Stockwell and featuring the multi-talented Jane Milligan. There’s also a celebratory event taking place in Aberdare.

On yesterday’s episode of GoonPod, Tyler Adams marked the anniversary with six Goon Show fans having a round table discussion about our favourite show
Find it on your usual podcast source or try here if you don’t have one.

I will be taking to the stage at the TPTV event in September with two performances of some long-forgotten Galton and Simpson mini–Goon Shows, and the mighty Hambledon Productions will soon be touring the UK with The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town.

Looking ahead, this year’s Annual Gathering will be taking place at Stephens House & Gardens in Finchley on Saturday 10th October, and we hope to see lots of you there.

String Vest Fishes and Custard,

Richard Usher
secretary and acting-chair, GSPS

A message from our editor has arrived. It says he’s been visited by the nice lady in her red van. What does that mean? You can imagine what you like, we choose to think that the June issue of the GSPS newsletter has entered the postal system, and it’ll be delivered to our members once they’ve found the Stolen Postman*.

In this newsletter issue, we’re celebrating the 75th Anniversary of our beloved radio show first hitting the airwaves. And there’s more than anniversary talk, just look at the crowded contents list above.

The Goon Show News newsletter is published quarterly and sent to all of our members. A sample copy can be downloaded here. If you’re not getting it, why not take advantage of the special offer now on and join the GSPS. You won’t be disappointed.

* _{A postman hasn’t really been stolen. It’s an attempted humorous reference to a Goon Show episode.}

It’s time to get your tickets for the UK stage tour of The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town.

The work was written by Spike Milligan and Ronnie Barker. It was originally conceived to be a Goon Show revival project, however, Peter, Harry and Spike couldn’t get together at the time.

Many will remember the Phantom from its serialisation on The Two Ronnies TV show. Actually that was 50 years ago, so many more might not.

For those who don’t remember, it’s a Victorian London set spoof on the Jack the Ripper story. With the Milligan and Barker connection, expect surreal absurdism, clever puns, near-the-knuckle ribaldry, quick-fire jokes and wordplay.

Hambledon Productions, the theatre company which specialises in vintage comedy, have adapted the show and are touring it from September to November this year. Details of the tour and tickets are on the Hambledon Productions website.

A celebration of 75 years of the Goon Show being held on 28^th May has come to our attention.

It’s part of the regular monthly series of WAM (Words Art Music) events held in St. Elvan’s Church in Aberdare. In the words of the organisers:
Join us for a WAM | Thursday Night Radio Play Special, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary (to the day Minn) of the first ever broadcast of the iconic Goon Show. Expect madness, mayhem – and more!

Information and tickets here

SEAGOON: Welcome to Wales!
MORIARTY: You’re welcome to it, too!
_{From The Goon Show series 10 – The Chinese Legs}

We’re delighted that, after a break of three months, Tyler Adams’ podcast Goon Pod started a new series on 1^st April.

If you haven’t listened to Goon Pod before, and I know that won’t be many of you, it’s a weekly show which looks at various aspects of The Goon Show. It could be a specific episode from the radio show, the music, movies or other projects involving one or more of the cast, or even some celebrity guest who can talk about a connection. The new series has started with a look at a Peter Sellers film which is now 50 years old, The Return of the Pink Panther.

Goon Pod can be supported through Patreon, where Tyler produces Goon Pod Film Club for subscribers, looking at the wider world of comedy.

Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974) – Goon Pod

The first half of the 1970s was not a particularly fruitful period for Peter Sellers, at least in terms of critical and commercial success. He made a slew of films which failed to take off or, in some cases, weren't even released. Some of his worst films date from this period, chiefly the execrable Where Does It Hurt?, which we previously covered on Goon Pod with Paul Litchfield and Jeremy Limb.Those two return this week to tackle Sellers' 1974 wartime 'comedy' Soft Beds, Hard Battles, in which he takes on six roles – an elderly French General, a gung-ho British Major, a sinister Gestapo officer, a Japanese Prince, the President of France and, er, Adolf Hitler.While not as bad as Where Does It Hurt? (few things are), SBHB is a bit of a slog, an attempt by the Boulting Brothers to cash in on the then-vogue for sex comedies without fully committing, while weighing the film down with ill-judged set-pieces such as a group of German officers farting, belching and dying.It was during the production that Sellers embarked upon a six-week romance with Liza Minnelli, which was front-page news and rather got in the way of filming. An unhappy affair all round, the Boultings ended up losing a lot of money, the film was generally panned and didn't do much business at the box office.Join Jeremy, Paul and Tyler as they try to make sense of it all!

1. Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974) 01:26:35
2. Sellers & Milligan Mixtape 01:22:39
3. The Silent Bugler 01:24:02
4. Only Two Can Play (1962) 01:24:37
5. Puckoon (1963) 01:32:22

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first Goon Show broadcast in 1951, the GSPS will release a new, seventh, edition of Encyclopaedia Goonicus, on 28th May.

The Encyclopaedia gives access to the GSPS’s’s library of information and archive material in digital form on a memory stick. It’s available to paid up members of the society only.

click here for more info