The Burning Embassy

"The Burning Embassy"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 8 Episode: 3
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Charles Chilton
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: This Can't be Love Ellington: I've Got a Rose Between My Toes
Recording Number	TLO 39928
First broadcast	14 October 1957 (1957-10-14)
Running time	30:25

The Burning Embassy is an episode from The Goon Show, although there was no coherent announcement of that title. It is the third show in the eighth series.

The recording session for transmission took place Sunday 13 October 1957, 9.15pm. at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (TLO 39928).

The first Home Service broadcast was the following Thursday at 8.30pm 14 October 1957, its ratings were 1.9 million. The show was repeated Thursday 9pm, 17 October 1957, on the Light Programme to 2.6 million listeners.

Transcription Service Synopsis

It is a beautiful day at the Wandsworth (London) Fire Station when an urgent fire call comes in from the British Embassy in China. There is only one thing for it – to get a long hose to extinguish che fire. Unfortunately the plan fails, but this episode makes much of our heroes exciting attempt to reach China and what happens when they arrive at their destination.

Story

Fire Chief Seagoon is lying in bed (when will the fellow tell the truth?) in Wandsworth Fire Station as news comes through that the British Embassy in Old Peking is ablaze. The Chinese Government is velly anxious that Blitish flyermen should put flyer out. So Ned sets off for Peking only to find out that his precious water parcels evaporate when they reach the Middle East. Something must be done to put out the sun. So why is Eccles putting another twig on it? And by the time insurance fraud Moriarty gets to the parcels they are smelling suspiciously of petrol. Velly solly.

Music

• The BBC Orchester was conducted by Wally Stott.
• Max Geldray: This Can't be Love (Richard Rodgers (music), Lorenz Hart (lyrics)).
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays I've Got a Rose Between My Toes (Lou Carter).

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 39928 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

The TLO 39928 master tape no longer exists, but C/TLOs of this and the next three shows were found in the 1980s when the deferred facilities at BBC Wood Norton were closed down. As these were intended for transmission in time of national emergency, some "controversial" material was removed, but the programmes were otherwise intact.

Show Notes

• The recording of The Burning Embassy saw the introduction of Neddie Seagoon's speaking trumpet (a megaphone) which would become a frequently employed prop from now on; this was also the first of several shows in which Seagoon would comment on his grandmother keeping a duck farm in Kent.
• Spike's reference as Yakamoto to ‘European Flu’ was an ad-lib connected with the Asian Flu pandemic which had been sweeping the world.
• Another ad-lib came when Peter – as Major Dennis Bloodnok – deviated from the scripted line of ‘I feel no pain’ and remarked ‘I don't know who you are sir, or where you've come from, but you've done me a power of good’; this was the punchline to a completely unbroadcastable joke about a man with piles and same-gender intercourse, but the audience reaction was so strong that it became a new catchphrase for the disreputable military character.
• Bloodnok also acquired a new batman in the form of Singhiz Thing (named Abdul in the script).
• Getting the sound of timber wolves attacking Bloodnok, Eccles and Seagoon during the episode caused problems for Spike as he commented in Books and Art: ‘You'd think the BBC could cope with that. They're supposed to have the greatest record library in the world. But d'you know what happened the other day! I wanted the sound of wolves howling and I was told that the BBC couldn't help. We finished up by doing the howling ourselves.’