View source for Count Jim Moriarty

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Count Jim Moriarty''' (also called '''Count Jim Moriarty of the House of Roland'''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://members.fortunecity.com/comgar/bookofgoons.htm |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-03-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628183606/http://members.fortunecity.com/comgar/bookofgoons.htm |archivedate=2011-06-28 }}</ref>) is a character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy ''[[The Goon Show]]''. He was voiced by [[Spike Milligan]].  In the episode "The Macreekie Rising of '74", [[Harry Secombe]] filled-in for the role in Milligan's absence.

Moriarty is an impoverished member of the French aristocracy who has turned to crime to support his lifestyle. Despite having carried out many high-paying cons and robberies during the series, he and his criminal counterpart [[Hercules Grytpype-Thynne]] always appear to be permanently destitute. Although his surname is pronounced ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɔr|i|ˈ|ɑ:r|t|i}} {{respell|MOR|ee|AR|tee}}), Grytpype-Thynne would occasionally pronounce it {{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|r|aɪ|.|ər|t|i}} {{respell|mə|RY|ər|tee}}.

Over the years, Moriarty changed from a suave, debonair and efficient French criminal mastermind and confidence trickster into a cringing sidekick of Grytpype-Thynne, who is often disparaging of his manic behaviour, referring to him  as "you steaming French nit",  "my fast disintegrating friend", or "you crutty French schlapper". Moriarty's deterioration was accompanied by a change in the character's voice, becoming higher in register and losing its smooth diction as the series progressed.

With his thick faux-French accent, he is often found scavenging in dustbins looking for food and uttering nonsensical, half-French curses such as "Sapristi nabolas!", "Sapristi nyuckoes!", or "Sapristi bombpetts!" (incorporating an old-fashioned French expletive that meant originally "by the body of Christ") and "Sacre Fred!" (a Milligan coinage from ''[[Sacrebleu]]'') in the episode "Lurgi Strikes Britain".

==Various Names==

Grytpype often introduces him ("and I quote from his death certificate") with a middle name such as "Thighs", "Knees", "Kidney Wiper", etc., along with an appropriate sound effect (e.g. rattling bones, swannee whistle) or Moriarty's catch-phrase "Oooowwwwww", and descriptions of his prowess in various fields:

* "Who has played the male lead in over 50 [[French postcard]]s"
* "Minister Without Underpants to the Principality of [[Monte Carlo]]"
* "Champion barbed-wire hurdler until his tragic accident"
* "[[Gypsy]] [[Saxophonist]] to the [[House of Romanoff]]"
* "Schlapper Royal and noted amateur postman"
* "Husband extraordinary by appointment to the House of [[Rita Hayworth]]"

There is also some suggestion that the character is a parody of the Sherlock Holmes villain, [[Professor Moriarty]]. In ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles According to Spike Milligan]]'', a preface by Milligan explains that Sherlock "did not stay dead for long", and after chasing him up a mountain did in fact kill Professor Moriarty, but he "later became a character in ''The Goon Show''".

{{reflist}}
{{Goons}}

[[Category:The Goon Show characters|Moriarty, Count Jim]]
[[Category:Male characters in radio|Moriatry]]
[[Category:Radio characters introduced in 1951|Moriatry]]