China Story (s05e17)

"China Story"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 5 Episode: 17
Written by	Spike Milligan Eric Sykes
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Peter Eton
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: You're the Cream in My Coffee Ellington: Lover, Come Back to Me
Recording Number	TLO 70610
First broadcast	18 January 1955 (1955-01-18)

China Story is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the seventeenth show in the fifth series. The show was recorded at 9.15pm on Sunday 16 January 1955. The recording took place at the Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London.

The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Tuesday 18 January 1954 at 8.30pm (except the Midlands). It reached a peak listenership of 3.0m.

Repeats

Day	Date	Time	Ratings	Station	Show
Friday	21 January 1955	12.25pm / 12.30pm	1.9m	Home Service
Friday	17 June 1955	7.30pm	3.4m	Light Programme
Tuesday	22 November 1955	8.30pm	3.0m	Radio 4	replaced The Pevensey Bay Disaster
Saturday	15 August 1970	8pm	0.8m	Radio 4	in Vintage Goons
Monday	26 October 1992	11pm		Radio 4

Synopsis

During the year of the Boxer Rising when the Far East, from Shanghai to Pekin, was seething with spies and arms smugglers, 'Raffles' Seagoon, a swaggering racketeer and part-time dustman, was approached by Mandarin Grytpype-Thynne and General Kash-Mai-Chek to join them in the most staggering international financial coup of all time.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays You're the Cream in My Coffee (Ray Henderson (music) / Buddy DeSylva (lyrics) / Lew Brown (lyrics))
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Lover, Come Back to Me (Sigmund Romberg (music) / Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics))

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 70610 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).