Product Description

The Goons first went on air at the BBC as The Crazy People on 28 May 1951. There then began a terrible rasping, squealing, giggling, snorting period of lunacy which continued unabated until 1960. Fifty years after the first show there is still a huge interest in the Goons, with each new generation dicovering afresh the anarchic humour that has had such a huge influence on so many of today's top comedy performers. This fascination collection of reminscences, photographs and sketches is the definitive story of Eccles, Bluebottle, Neddy, Bloodnok, Grytpype-Thynne, Moriarty, Minnie Bannister, Henry Crun et al from those who know them best. Under the patient guidence of Spike's Manager, Norma Farnes, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, along with a select handful of friends including Eric Sykes, delve into their dusty old memories to help piece together the history of the Goons.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99280 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Norma Fames has been Spike Milligan's manager for more than 30 years, having initially applied for a job as his personal assistant and deciding to give it a try for three months. They have never had a formal contract but sealed their professional relationship with a simple handshake. Norma has previously edited two highly successful volumes of Spike's correspondence, The Spike Milligan Letters which was published in 1977, and More Spike Milligan Letters, published in 1984.

Customer Reviews

Not the definitive Goon book
Norma Farnes introduces this as 'the definitive Goon Show book'. Well, the story of how the Goons met and worked together has been told many times before and that accolade really belongs to Roger Wilmut's excellent "Goon Show companion" of 1976. There is no acknowledgment of Wilmut's book, or indeed any bibliography of previous accounts, and frustratingly, no index. The book includes a list of Goon Show titles but this is not as detailed as Wilmut's "Goonography".

Relying more on interviews with the then surviving Goons (Secombe being still around then), Farnes draws together personal reminiscences and quotes from the great men themselves. However, the book is shamelessly padded out with the full scripts of two of the shows; this is completely gratuitous - the scripts have been published before and the shows are available on audio. No reader is going to be bothered to read through the scripts.

Any serious Goon fan will want to add this to their collection anyway.

Long awaited story of the goons by its creator
I would suggest this book to ardent Goon/Milligan fans,a large amount of the information has already been published in the Goon scripts etc,a large number of the photographs are new and of interest.The chapter concerning Eric Sykes is very good to see, as up till now his contriution to the shows has been unknown.All in all o.k,- i wish Spike were a bit more forthcoming on The Goon Show, it is of too much importance in the history of comedy to be paid what amounts to "lip service" to by its creator.

He's fallen into the water ! - A great book !!
I'm not old enough to remember them the first time round, but i have heard and seen recordings of their antics, - I'm sure they were partly the inspiration behind Monty Python and other comedies, - This book is a great addition to any Goon fan's collection.