Show 21

"The Return of Handsome Harry Secombe"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 2 Episode: 4
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Announcer	Andrew Timothy
Produced by	Dennis Main Wilson
Music	Stanley Black and The BBC Dance Orchestra Harry Secombe: Tell Me Tonight Max Geldray: Allentown Jail The Stargazers: There’s Always Room at Our House Ellington Quartet: In a Shady Nook (by a Babbling Brook) Incidental music: Wally Stott
Editing by	Jimmy Grafton
Recording Number	SLO 3334
First broadcast	19 February 1952 (1952-02-19)
Running time	27:45

The series 2 shows didn't have 'official' episode names per se, but for ease of reference using the show number is to differentiate them.

The show had now changed its name from Crazy People to "The Goon Show, featuring those crazy people…"

Show 21 (aka The Return of Handsome Harry Secombe) is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the fourth show in the second series.

Its origin had several false starts due to the unexpected death of King George VI on 6 February 1952. The show had been scheduled to be recorded at 7.45pm on Sunday, 10 February 1952, but due to the nation's official mourning period it was rescheduled to Sunday, 17 February 1952 at 7.45pm. The recording session was at Aeolian I, 135–137 New Bond Street, London.

Due to the show's initial cancellation the scheduled broadcast on the Home Service on Tuesday, 17 February 1952 at 9.30pm was also cancelled, and replaced by repeats of The World Today and Everyman. The show was eventually broadcast at 9.30pm on Tuesday, 19 February 1952 (except Wales). It reached a peak listenership of 0.4m.

The show's repeat was broadcast at 12.15pm on Saturday, 23 February 1952 on the Light Programme to an audience of 0.4 million listeners.

Sketches

• Handsome Harry chases Andrew Timothy: Finds Harry accusing the announcer of trying to burn him alive in The Return of Handsome Harry Secombe.
• Captain Pureheart constructs Croydon Airport: is the latest Triumphs of Engineering.
• BBC Programmes crammed together looks at the consequences of the Corporation losing wavelengths to commercial stations and so having to combine programmes like Flint, the Flying Codd.
• Colonel Slocombe fights the Chippawar Tribe: Another tale of encounters with American Indians from Colonel Josh Slocombe.

Music

• Harry Secombe sang Tell Me Tonight(Mischa Spoliansky).
• Max Geldray played Allentown Jail (Irving Gordon).
• The Stargazers sang There’s Always Room at Our House (Bob Merrill).
• The Ray Ellington Quartet pays tribute to Donald Peers with In a Shady Nook (by a Babbling Brook) (Harry Pease/Ed G Nelson).

Show Trivia

The day after Show 20 was recorded, 3 February 1952, the Home Service had decided to take up its option on a second batch of six shows, and indeed fix an option for six beyond that. Then two days later came the news that Britain had feared for months; King George VI’s health had deteriorated over the last year and he had died in his sleep on the morning of Wednesday, 6 February 1952. This resulted in most of the BBC’s scheduled radio broadcasts being removed and replaced by the same programme of orchestral music across each channel. Variety shows were removed until after the period of mourning, which concluded with the royal funeral on Friday, 15 February 1952.

Technical

Originally recorded on SLO 3334 (33⅓ rpm, coarse-groove 16" disk recorded at Broadcasting House).