The Spon Plague
From The Goon Show Depository
| "The Spon Plague" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 8 Episode: 23 |
| Written by | |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Charles Chilton |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 50040 |
| First broadcast | 3 March 1958 |
| Running time | 30:17 |
| Guest appearance | |
| George Chisholm | |
Show Notes
- The Spon Plague was recorded the same day as the remake of the series four The Great Bank of England Robbery from 1954, for the Vintage Goons series for Transcription Services, The Great Bank of England Robbery.
- Although credited solely to Spike on the original script, on The Spon Plague Spike had, in fact, been assisted by a young writer represented by Spike's company Associated London Scripts. This was John Antrobus who abandoned military training at Sandhurst to enter the world of entertainment and had contributed to Spike and Peter's Associated-Rediffusion series A Show Called Fred.
- During this script, although Peter had previously got into trouble with his impersonations of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he was able to imitate Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, with his comment on how ‘most of our people have never had it so good’ which Macmillan had made at a Conservative rally in Bedford in July 1957.
- The Spon Plague is unflattering about the medical profession in general – there was a perception abroad that hospital consultants had done rather too well out of the formation of the NHS, fostered by the declaration of Aneurin Bevan, architect of the NHS, that he had ‘stuffed their mouths with gold’ to ensure their co-operation. They were not only well paid for NHS work, but
were still free to charge for private consultations.
