The Man Who Won the War
| "The Man Who Won the War" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 6 Episode: 1 |
| Written by | |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Peter Eton |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 86722 |
| First broadcast | 20 September 1955 |
| Running time | 30:04 |
The Man Who Won the War (a.k.a. Seagoon MCC) is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the first show in the sixth series. The show was recorded at 9pm on Sunday 18 September 1955. The recording took place at the Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London.
The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Tuesday 20 September 1955 at 8.30pm. It reached a peak listenership of 1.9m.
The show's first repeat wasn't until 37 years later at 1.02pm, Saturday 9 May 1992, on Radio 2 as part of the Comedy Hour: the Radio 2 Comedy Season.
Synopsis
Adapted for the wireless from the best seller I Was Hitler's Undervest. Drafted into the armed forces at the outbreak of the last Great War to end all Wars, young Neddie Seagoon, a civilian part-time dustman (see Beerstains Round My Trouser Tops, Bidley Bonce, 4/6d) found himself unable to face the task of sharing a barrack-room with other men (see I Was Fred Nurke's Batwoman, price 13/6d at all good chemists). His endeavours to secure his discharge on the grounds of insanity led to a series of fantastic inventions which drastically altered the course of the War (see Bagpipes Over Alamein, price 7/6d at all good) [sic]. This is a War story to end all War stories, price 1/6d or sent post-free in a plain wrapper from Naitsoyle Publications, Blackpool
Music
- The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
- Max Geldray plays You Go to My Head (J Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie)
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Razzle Dazzle (Charles Calhoun
Technical
Originally recorded on TLO 86722 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). The original tape no longer exists and the TS master tape was accidentally destroyed in the 1960s. The programme version included on Compendiums Vol 3 was retrieved from metal parts and the resulting tape was declicked by cutting, as was the practice at that time. Fortunately there also exists an excellent domestic tape recording of the original transmission — the show was compiled from the two sources.[1]
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2009). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 3 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4084-1044-8.
