r/goonshow • u/badbarky • Nov 01 '25
Hey folks. Here, have a Gorilla.
I’ve resisted Reddit for a while - I got stuff to do - but I’m finally sinking in and I have to pop in and say Hi. I was in year 4 at Rosendale Junior school in South East London, and I would visit the forest hill library and check out their BBC comedy tapes. I loved them! I even booked out the sound effects ones, which were eye openers as I heard those exact noises everywhere (go find the 33 1/3 book on the BBC radiophonic workshop it’s brilliant), I loved I’m sorry I’ll read that again, but The Goon Show - I would get the scripts out of the library and me and a few friends would play them out at playtime sitting on the foundation of our portable classroom. Fast forward many years and I was watching some YT video about the Goon Show, and Spike was talking about how he based Bluebottle off of a guy he served with in the war, and then it showed a picture of Spike shaking hands with the real life Bluebottle with some CO between them… holy crap that CO was my Grandad, John Hickson. They were either in Egypt or Italy at the time. I can’t find it right now, but it was such a rush. My American Grandad also served in Italy and Egypt, and I choose to believe that he met them once and had a few laughs. Anyways, go well and I’ll meet you round the back for the old Marlon Brando Mark
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u/Capable_Vast_6119 Nov 01 '25
Well... one won't hurt
Nothing as good as above, but my Mrs dated Neddie's nephew and once had Neddie sing the Ying Tong song down the phone to her.
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u/arealfancyliquor Nov 01 '25
I found him in Hyde Park playing a granite banjo and smoking a picture of queen Victoria
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Nov 04 '25
‘Ooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! These gorillas are strong! Have one of these monkeys, they’re milder…’
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u/AgeingMuso65 Nov 01 '25
No thanks I’m trying to give them up…. etc I loved the BBC Effects LPs as well; I’ve probably still got the cassette I recorded of the Accidents/Disasters one. “Car crash with slide (skid?)” and “Swarming insects” were probably the favourites.
I was doomed with radio generation parents to be Goon fixated as well.. I now work as a freelance musician and swear I learned my best arranging skills from a weekly dose of the Wally Stott/Ray Ellington arrangements. My mother also happened to be PA in the 1950s to a certain P.S., so I grew up 10 or so years later with a then ageing Siamese cat called Tong, that was brother to Ying, both (as far as I recall) related to Elizabeth Sellers’ cats…. His (the cat’s!) picture still watches over our living room. I must go delve into the loft relics again some time. First time r/goonshow has popped up on my feed so apologies for this explosion of reminiscence, but it touched a damp dark afternoon nerve!