Kick Up the Archives – January 2023

Happy New Year to all our readers!

Just when you thought it was safe to climb out from under your Christmas tree, here we are again with another selection box of gems from the depths of the internet, just waiting to satisfy your appetite for rare and hard to find goodies. So without further ado, off we go!

The Goon Show

We start with a brand new programme. This was on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday! Here it is, just in case you missed it. The first ten minutes are about…The Goons!
Archive on 4 – Annie Nightingale’s Age of Irreverence

A Profile on alchetron.com

Interesting collection of Goons-related records, discs and tapes
Go to www.6868.me.uk and search for goons

The Goon Show at GSMC Classics- Podcast – at www.listennotes.com

Advert: Florette Salad – Bags of Goodness  Music: The Goons – Eeh! Ah! Oh! Ooh! (so that’s what Prince Harry does now)

Now welcome to crazy song version corner!

The Bee Gees Sing The Goons – The Ying Tong song

Not to be outdone, Yes lead singer Jon Anderson does his version

Finally its the turn of the Muppets (scroll through to clip 8)

Peter Sellers

A Tribute To Peter Sellers

A Tribute To Blake Edwards

Another former Sellers car goes under the hammer
at www.carandclassic.com

1968 portrait of Sellers

The Best of British Laughs – Peter Sellers with Barry Took

A Profile at alchetron.com

Peter Sellers according to John Hester – at www.theargus.co.uk

Balham Gateway To The South – transcribed – at lproven.livejournal.com

Merrie Spaeth on Peter Sellers in The World of Henry Orient – on Facebook

For those interested in The Kings Theatre Southsea, where baby Sellers was carried on stage, here’s an interesting Facebook page

George Martin – A Painter In Sound. A 4 CD set including some tracks by Sellers as well as Bridge Over The River Wye and some tracks by Milligan and Bentine, Unchained Melody and a clip from a Goon Show.

PG Tips – The very first chimps TV commercial featuring the voice of…
on Facebook

Peter Sellers BBC TV film trailers from Christmas 1982

For those wanting to know how to get hold of The Ghost Of Peter Sellers, here’s a download site. Although there was a DVD release in the USA, there’s no DVD release in the UK

Spike Milligan

Nice piece on Spike at www.irishtimes.com

A Profile – at alchetron.com

Michael Bentine

A Profile – at alchetron.com

A great collection of cards including Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine
at www.moviecard.com

Harry Secombe

A Profile – at alchetron.com

And Finally…

If you’re not a member of The Goon Show Preservation Society, where have you been? 

For a ridiculously small annual subscription, you can join today and get access to the amazing Encyclopedia Goonicus, the only one-stop shop for all things Goon!
Simply open your wallet and say after me… “Help Yourself!” 

Born in 1972 as a direct result of The Last Goon Show Of All, the society celebrated its 50^th birthday in 2022.

Finally, don’t forget to listen to the legend that is Tyler Adams’ GoonPod   Go on… you know you want to!

This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan – Goon Pod

“You call this a life?”This week we dip into the big red book and examine Spike Milligan’s two famously chaotic appearances on This Is Your Life — first in 1973 at an army reunion in Bexhill and again in 1995 in the wake of Spike’s infamous crack at Prince Charles at the British Comedy Awards. From bungled surveillance operations and surprise reunions to war memories, old squeezes, secret sons and unresolved tensions, these programmes offer an occasionally revealing — and sometimes unsettling — portrait of Spike at two very different points in his life.Joining Tyler this week is co-host of World Of Telly John Williams and the pair try to navigate the uneasy compression of a vast, contradictory life into television-friendly fare.Along the way we encounter Peter Sellers in Nazi garb, Robert Graves refusing retakes because “the milkman is part of life”, Harry Secombe on VT, Eric Sykes restoring some semblance of order to proceedings, Michael Bentine getting a warm reception, Roger McGough falling a bit flat and a surprise appearance from a reclusive billionaire. We also examine the differing styles of Eamonn Andrews and Michael Aspel – the former being all awkward and lacking spontaneity; the latter oozing affable charm and keeping the show on the rails. These two programmes, separated by 22 years, chart not just Spike Milligan’s public career but his private fractures — family divisions, emotional debts, and the limits of nostalgia. They also expose the clumsy mechanics of This Is Your Life itself: a format built for uplift struggling to contain a life defined by contradiction, pain, brilliance and refusal to behave.

1. This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan 01:31:48
2. One Way Pendulum (1965) – with David Quantick 01:01:19
3. Yellow Submarine (1968) – with Joel Morris 01:38:11
4. The Curse of Frankenstein 01:15:21
5. The Sale Of Manhattan 01:14:48

That’s all for now. Watch out for more A Kick Up The Archives Specials coming to a screen near you! Now wash your hands!