The Thing on the Mountain

"The Thing on the Mountain"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 8 Episode: 15
Written by	Larry Stephens Maurice Wiltshire
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Tom Ronald
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: My Heart Stood Still Ellington: Long Black Nylons
Recording Number	TLO 45929
First broadcast	6 January 1958 (1958-01-06)
Running time	30:27

The Thing on the Mountain is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the fifteenth show in the eighth series.

A pre-recording (TLO 45929A) session took place Sunday 6 January 1958, 5pm. at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London. The recording (TLO 45929) for transmission was created later that same Sunday, also at The Camden, at 9pm.

The first Home Service broadcast was the next day, Monday, at 8.30pm 7 January 1957, its ratings were 1.9 million. The show was repeated on the following Thursday at 9pm, 9 January 1958, on the Light Programme to 2.6 million listeners.

AudioGO Synopsis

The reward in 1952

Our story opens at the bottom of the great Mount Snowdon in a little Welsh village… One bitter winter night, all of a sudden running down the mountain comes a terror-stricken madman. It seems a monster is on the mountain – and it must be captured! This sounds like a job for Neddie Seagoon – especially as there's a five pound reward. Meanwhile, in a small pigsty nearby, it is feeding time with Moriarty and Grytpype-Thynne. They're happy to help Neddie find the monster and offer him a Snow master Mountaineering Kit: a box of matches. As Seagoon searches the lower slopes of the mountain, he gets help from mountaineering expert Major Bloodnok who can get Neddie to the top of the mountain in two seconds. But his aim is off and Neddie finds himself at the top of Blackpool Tower instead – without a ticket.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays My Heart Stood Still (Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart)
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Long Black Nylons (Don Raye / Sonny Burke)

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 45929 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

This tape no longer exists and the TGS master tape was destroyed in 1963. The version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 7 was compiled from the TGS disc, and a domestic recording of the original transmission.

Show Notes

On Sunday 5, the cast recorded The Thing on the Mountain which had been written by Larry in association with Maurice Wiltshire, a former Daily Mail journalist who had been writing revues and eagerly submitting scripts to the BBC since 1947.