CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX This index comprises a complete chronological listing of the ten broadcast series, together with the 'Vintage Goons' series recorded for: Transcription Services concurrently with the 8th series, and the specials such as 'Cinderella', 'The Starlings', 'The Reason Why' and 'Archie in Goonland'. Short contributions to other programmes are also included if they were recorded during Goon Show sessions, but appearances by the Goons in other programmes and on television are listed in Appendix 4, which also includes 'The Last Goon Show of All', and other appearances since the Goon Shows proper finished in 1960. The Chronological Index is laid out as follows: PAGE HEADINGS: Producer, script credits, day of broadcast and pre-recording, and changes of cast applicable to the whole series. The script credits are given as in the official documentation; in fact it seems likely that Larry Stephens made at least some contri- bution to many of the scripts credited to Milligan alone, and that some of the scripts listed as collaborations were largely Milligan's work. In general, Stephens's plots tend to have a beginning, a middle, and an end; whereas Milligan's tend to have a middle.... SHOW-BY-SHOW DETAILS SERIES NUMBER: Straight numerical listing within each series. Some BBC files list cumulative numbers; these get progressively more inaccurate. TRANSMISSION DATE: Date of first transmission only. All first transmissions were on Home Service except 'The Goons Hit Wales' (Light Programme 1-3-56), and 'Operation Christmas Duff' (General Overseas Service, 24-12-56). Most in-series shows were repeated a few days after the first placing, usually on Light Programme. Many shows also went out on the General Overseas Service. None of these repeats has been listed. There were also a number of repeats between series, and since the shows ended; for details of these see Appendix 1. To facilitate the repeats on Light Programme, most shows from the 6th series on had separate Light Programme announcements pre-recorded and cut into the tape after the first transmission to replace the Home Service identifica- tions. RECORDING NUMBER: Reference number of the original record- ing - made over landline, usually at Broadcasting House, from the outside studio (the Playhouse Theatre, the Camden Theatre, etc.). SLO = 33 r.p.m. coarse groove 16" disk recorded at Broad- casting House. SBU = ditto recorded at Bush House. TNC = ditto recorded in Newcastle (!) TITLE: The title given here is the official BBC title; references are given to the notes following. Transcription Services have adopted different tides for several shows; these have been shown adjacent to the original title. The first two series do not have titles, as the shows are episodic. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Changes of cast for individual shows (mostly the addition of guest artists) and recording dates other than the previous Sunday are also shown. Except where noted, the shows are nominally half an hour long, usually with about a minute and a half of playout to bring the duration to just over thirty minutes. NOTES Notes to each series (except the first two, which do not require detailed notes) follow each series listing. Announced titles which differ from the official have been detailed, together with any other relevant information. NOTE 1 indicates throughout that the show is not announced by any coherent tide (except, of course, as 'The Goon Show'); for the pur- poses of these notes, only announcements at or near the beginnings of the show are being considered, not those after the musical items. The 3rd series shows are not included in this, as the tides given do not usually apply to the first sketch, which often does not have a title in any case. Those 4th series shows which are episodic have been detailed in the notes; there is usually no very coherent tide given to the first episode in these shows. TECHNICAL CREDITS The technical work in the studio is divided as follows; 'Panel' Studio Manager (balance and control - the term derives from 'mixing panel', the old-fashioned name for the studio desk); 'Grams' SM (playing pre-recorded effects on disk and tape, as well as gramophone records); and 'Spot Effects' SM (live effects in the studio). It has not been possible to assemble full show-by-show credits for the technical staff who worked on the Goon Shows over the years, as no official records have been kept (apart from occasional credits on the fronts of scripts, and in a few closing announcements at the ends of series); and at this remove those involved cannot remember accurately which shows they worked on. The information which follows lists the main team of Studio Managers for each series, but in some cases members of this team were replaced owing to leave, sickness, etc. 1st series - no details available; it appears that there was no regular team. 2nd series - 'technical supervision' of the series (i.e. panel SM) is credited to Keith Fell in the closing announcement of the last show. 3rd, 4th & 5th series - Panel - John Browell (who later produced the 9th and lOth series) Grams - Ian Cook Spot - John Hamilton (David Allen on some shows) 'The Starlings' - Panel - Harry Green Grams- Barry Wilson, assisted by Ron Belchier 6th, 7th & 8th series - Panel - Bobby Jaye Grams - Ian Cook Spot - Ron Belchier 9th series - Panel - Brian Willey Gram- Ian Cook Spot - Harry Morriss 1st Series Billed as: 'CRAZY PEOPLE, featuring Radio's own Crazy Gang- 'The Goons".' with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, The Ray Ellington Quartet, The Stargazers, Max Geldray, and except where stated) the BBC Dance Orchestra, conducted by Stanley Black. Announcer Andrew Timothy, except nos. 8-10, announcer Denys Drower. Scripts written by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens, edited by Jimmy Grafton. Produced by Dennis Main Wilson, except 11-14 Produced by Leslie Bridgmont. Nos. 1-9 broadcast on Mondays, nos. 10-17 on Thursdays. All pre-recorded the previous Sunday. The shows consist of four or five short sketches separated by musical items. 1 28-5-51 SLO 90268 2 4-6-51 SLO 90269 3 11-6-51 SLO 90452 4 18-6-51 SLO 90366 5 25-6-51 SOX 59949 6 2-7-51 SLO 91295 (with the BBC Revue Orch. cond. by Robert Busby) 7 9-7-51 SLO 91565 (with the BBC Revue Orch. cond. by Robert Busby) 8 16-7-51 SLO 92262 9 23-7-51 SLO 92468 10 2-8-51 SLO 92867 11 9-8-51 SOX 61088* 12 16-8-51 SLO 93368 13 23-8-51 SOX 61088* 14 30-8-51 SLO 93400 15 6-9-51 SBU 71149 16 13-9-51 SLO 94892 (with the BBC Revue Orch. cond. by Robert Busby) 17 20-9-51 SLO 95143 (without Geldray, with Marie Benson (vocalist) and the Skyrockets Orch. cond. by Woolf Phillips) SP 26-12-51 SLO 99928 CINDERELLA (pantomime) with Lizbeth Webb as Cinderella, Graham Stark as Prince Charming: The Goons: The Stargazers: The Ray Ellington Quartet: Max Geldray and the Augmented Dance Orchestra con- ducted by Stanley Black. Produced by Dennis Main Wilson. Recorded 16-12-51 * obviously these shows can't both have had the same number, but it has not been possible to cross-check any further the information given in those official files which still exist. 2nd Series Billed as 'THE GOON SHOW, featuring those crazy peop!e . . .' Cast and musicians as for the previous series for the first SIX shows after which the Stargazers left. Scripts by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens, edited by Jimmy Grafton (who also wrote special lyrics for some shows). Produced by Dennis Main Wilson. Broadcast Tuesdays, pre-recorded the previous Sunday (except nos 24 & 25). 1 22-1-52 SLO 1768 2 29-1-52 SLO 2147 3 5-2-52 SLO 2519 12-2-52 No transmission owing to the death of King George VI 4 19-2-52 SLO 3334 (BBC Dance Orch. cond. by Stanley Andrews) 5 26-2-52 SLO 3627 6 4-3-52 SLO 4021 7 11-3-52 SLO 4179 8 18-3-52 SLO 5112 The Goons' version of Rider Haggard's 'She' - entitled 'Her'* 9 25-3-52 SLO 5277 10 1-4-52 SLO 5380 11 8-4-52 SLO 5684 (without Milligan) 12 15-4-52 SLO 6306 13 22-4-52 SLO 6737 14 29-4-52 SLO 6959 15 6-5-52 SBU 83555 16 13-5-52 SLO 7761 17 20-5-52 SLO 8202 18 27-5-52 SLO 8179 19 3-6-52 SLO 9302 (with the BBC Revue Orch. cond. by Robert Busby) 20 10-6-52 SLO 9307 (with the BBC Dance Orch. cond. by Wally Stott) 21 17-6-52 SLO 9638 (without Bentine) 22 24-6-52 SLO 9955 23 1-7-52 SLO 10474 24 8-7-52 SLO 11378 (recorded 29-6-52) 25 15-7-52 SLO 10808 (recorded 6-7-52) * this is the first in-series show to have a single plot lasting right through the programme. 3rd Series From now on billed as 'THE GOON SHOW' Basic cast - Sellers, Secombe, Milligan, with Geldray, Ellington and orchestra conducted by Wally Stott. Announcer Andrew Timothy. Bentine has now left. Produced by Peter Eton, except 18 & 19 produced by Charles Chilton Scripts by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens, edited by Jimmy Grafton. All except 7 broadcast Tuesdays: pre-recorded the previous Sunday (except 2-22). The shows have 3 parts; the title given is usually that of the middle episode. 1 11-11-52 SLO 17297 Fred of the Islands(2) 2 18-11-52 SOX 82948 The Egg of the Great Auk(3) 3 25-11-52 SLO 18332 I Was a Male Fan Dancer(2) 4 2-12-52 SLO 18613 The Saga of HMS AldQate(2) 5 9-12-52 SLO 18848 The Expedition for Toothpaste(4) (without Milligan) 6 16-12-52 SLO 19414 The Archers(2) (without Milligan) 7 26-12-52 SLO 19526 Robin Hood(6) (Christmas Pantomime- 45 minutes: without Milligan; with Dick Emery & Carole Carr) 8 30-12-52 SLO 19783 Where Does Santa Claus Go in the Summer?(6) (without Milligan, with Ellis Powell) 9 6-1-53 SLO 20338 The Navy, Army, and Air Force(2) (without Milligan, with Dick Emery) 10 13-1-53 SLO 20695 The British Way of Lif(2) (without Milligan, with Graham Stark) 11 20-1-53 SLO 20948 A Survey of Britain(2)(without Milligan, with Dick Emery) 12 27-1-53 SLO 21647 Flint of the Flying Squad(2) (without Milligan, with Graham Stark) 13 3-2-53 SOX 86757 Seaside Resorts in Winter(2) (without Milligan, with Dick Emery) 14 10-2-53 SLO 22493 The Tragedy of Oxley Tower(3) (without Milligan, with Graham Stark & Valentine Dyall) 15 17-2-53 SLO 22860 The Story of Civilization(7) (without Milligan, with Dick Emery) 16 24-2-53 SLO 22973 The Search for the Bearded Vulture(3) (without Milligan, with Graham Stark) 17 3-3-53 SLO 23540 The Mystery of the Monkey's Paw(8) (Milligan returns; with Dick Emery) 18 10-3-53 SLO 24224 The Mystery of the Cow on the Hill(9) 19 17-3-53 SLO 24432 Where Do Socks Come From?(3) 24-3-53 No transmission owing to the death of Queen Mary 20 31-3-53 SLO 24764 The Man Who Never Was(10) (recorded 22-3-53) 21 7-4-53 SLO 25520 The Building of the Suez Canal(3) (recorded 29-3-53) 22 14-4-53 SLO 25873 The De Goonlies(3) (recorded 5-4-53) 23 21-4-53 SLO 26517 The Conquest of Space(2) 24 28-4-53 SLO 26797 The Ascent of Mount Everest(3) 25 5-5-53 SLO 27952 The Story of the Plymouth Hoe Armada(3) SP 3-6-53 SLO 29390 Coronation edition(11) (40 minutes; recorded 1-6-53; without Geldray, with Graham Stark) Notes to 3rd series The titles given (with one exception) are taken from the fronts of the scripts in BBC Script Library, where they have been pencilled in. In most cases the title is applicable to the middle section of the show (details are given below). As these shows are episodic any titling is bound to be somewhat arbitrary, but it should be emphasized that, from the point of view of the listener, this series would not be regarded as having titles, still being in the traditional variety format. 2. Title given is that of middle part of show. 3. Title given is that of parts 2 and 3 of show. 4. At this point Milligan went into hospital suffering from a nervous breakdown. This show and the next bad already been written; after a few weeks Milligan resumed writing the shows in collab- oration with Larry Stephens. The title given here is of the middle sketch, which later re-appeared in the 20th of the 4th series. 5. This show, which has a straight-through plot, is credited on the front of the script to 'Thomas Alcock & William Bull (from the original Alcock and Bull story)'. It was in fact mostly written by Jimmy Grafton (working for 36 hours continuously!), Milligan being in hospital and Larry Stephens unwell. The opening few pages were re-used in the 14th of the 5th series. 6. In the absence of an official title, the title of the final sketch has been adopted (the answer being that he stays in Greenland on account of Eskimo Nell). The middle sketch is a re-make, with a few additions, of 'The Archers' (middle part of no. 6 of this series). Ellis Powell, who makes a brief appearance, was the current Mrs. Dale of 'Mrs. Dale's Diary'. 7. 'The Story of Civilization', which is the middle episode, is a re-make of part of the 6th of the 1st series. 8. The title given here is of the first sketch; the remainder of the show is 'The Search for Brigadier Winchmold'. 9. The title given here is that of the first sketch; the remainder of the show is 'The Siege of Khartoum', used again in no. 18 of the 4th series. 10. The title given is parts 2 and 3; this story appears again, in expanded form, as the 27th of the 6th series, and then again as the 21st of the 8th series. 11. This show, which sticks to one plot the whole way through, purports to present a recorded commentary on the Coronation procession.