The Tay Bridge
| "The Tay Bridge" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 9 Episode: 15 |
| Written by | Spike Milligan |
| Based on | The Tay Bridge Disaster |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | John Browell |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 77465 |
| First broadcast | 9 February 1959 |
| Running time | 30:33 |
| Guest appearance | |
| George Chisolm | |
The Tay Bridge is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the fifteenth show in the ninth series. The show had George Chisolm (away from his role as regular trombonist with Wally Stott's orchestra) as a guest performer.
Two pre-recording sessions took place:
- Wednesday 4 February 1959, 3pm. Aeolian Hall Studio 2 (TLO & C/DLO 77722)
- Saturday 8 February 1959, 4pm, The Camden Theatre (DLO 77465/A)
The recording for transmission was created at 8pm on Sunday 8 February 1959, at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (TLO 72138).
The first Home Service broadcast was the next day at 8.30pm on Monday 9 February 1959, its ratings were 1.1 million.
The show was repeated the following Wednesday at 9.31pm, 11 February 1959, on the Light Programme to 1.9 million listeners.
Transcription Service Synopsis
Here is a programme specially stuffed with haggis and steaming porridge to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the poet Burns. It is difficult to understand what the building of a bridge over the River Tay has to do with this, but Spike Milligan, as usual, has an answer.
Music
- The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
- Max Geldray plays Once in Love with Amy (Frank Loesser)
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Is You Still My Baby Now? (Brocon)
Technical
Originally recorded on TLO 77465 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).
The master tape survived in TS, but had the Banerjee/Lalkaka episode removed, none too tidily, for the General Overseas Service repeat. Although the cut was preserved 'behind the red', that is, at the end of the reel. For the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 11, the missing fragments at the top and tail of the cut were restored from the TGS disc.[1]
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2015). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 11 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-7852-9129-6.
