The Seagoon Memoirs

"The Seagoon Memoirs"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 9 Episode: 7
Written by	Larry Stephens Maurice Wiltshire
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	John Browell
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: I Kiss Your Little Hand, Madame Ellington: The Late Late Show
Recording Number	TLO 72138
First broadcast	15 December 1958 (1958-12-15)
Running time	30:03

The Seagoon Memoirs is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the seventh show in the ninth series. At the time Spike was struggling to write scripts due to the deterioration of his mental health. Larry Stephens and Maurice Wiltshire were asked by John Browell to help Spike out. They did so, and wrote the script for this show.

Three pre-recording sessions took place at three locations:

• Wednesday 10 December 1958, 4.15pm. Aeolian Hall Studio 2 (DLO 71859)
• Saturday 13 December 1958, 4.15pm, The Paris (DW 71274)
• Sunday 14 December 1958, 4pm, The Camden Theatre (DLO 72138/A)

The recording for transmission was created at 8pm on Sunday 14 December 1958, at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (TLO 72138).

The first Home Service broadcast was the next day at 8.30pm on Monday 15 December 1958, its ratings were 1.1 million.

The show was repeated:

• Wednesday 9.31pm, 17 December 1958, on the Light Programme to 2.3 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 6 March 1964 on the Home Service in Vintage Goons, to 0.5 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 20 August 1965 on the Home Service in Let's Laugh Again, to 0.2 million listeners (the broadcast was affected by a fault on the reproduction equipment).

Transcription Service Synopsis

'To open the scene, take a knife and cut along the dotted line. Inside you will find the Great North Road in an icy blizzard.' This is how Spike Milligan describes the setting for the start of the latest unexpurgated edition of Seagoon's memoirs. Listeners can, in fact, buy a copy (in a plain sealed envelope) at any local Second Class Slipper Bath.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays I Kiss Your Little Hand, Madame (Ralph Erwin (music) / Fritz Rotter (lyrics))
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays The Late Late Show (Murray Berlin (music) / Roy Alfred (lyrics))

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 72138 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

The TLO 72138 master tape no longer exists, and the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 10 was compiled from the TGS disc, the POTG master tape and domestic recordings of both the original transmission and the 1964 repeat.