The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu
| "The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 6 Episode: 12 |
| Written by | |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Peter Eton |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 92346 |
| First broadcast | 6 December 1955 |
| Running time | 31:10 |
The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the twelfth show in the sixth series. The show was recorded at 9pm on Sunday 4 December 1955. The recording took place at the Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London.
The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Tuesday 6 December 1955 at 8.30pm. It reached a peak listenership of 3.0m.
The show's first and only repeat was the following Saturday at 7.30pm, 10 December 1955, on the Light Programme. It was listened to by 1.9 million.
BBC Audiobooks Synopsis
Let us turn back the clocks to 1895, the year of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. It is the concluding round of the world's international heavyweight saxophone contest and Fred Fu-Manchu with his bamboo saxophone, is competing against the British contender Major Bloodnok. When Bloodnok is declared the winner, Fu-Manchu vows revenge on all English people. Back in Outer Mongolia, he concocts a deadly brew that causes anyone who drinks it to make people explode by pointing their finger. He decants the liquid into a whisky bottle that he leaves in Hyde Park: only for Bloodnok to find it and drink it.
Music
- The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
- Max Geldray plays Exactly Like You (Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh)
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays We'll All Go Riding On a Rainbow (Harry M. Woods)
Technical
Originally recorded on TLO 42416 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).
This tape no longer exists, and the show was rejected for issue by TS. Fortunately, the TS recording of the show was one of a dozen tapes rescued from the washing pile and spirited out of the BBC in the early 1960s. The version released on Compendium Vol 3 was compiled from this tape and a domestic recording.[1]
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2009). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 3 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4084-1044-8.
