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18th
DEC 2021: Several minor corrections.
13th
AUG 2021: Several minor updates and clarifications here:
Film Credits table.
8th
AUG 2021: I have begun what I hope will be a long series of
Telegoons website updates. Part of
the impetus for this is an upcoming new edition of The Encyclopædia
Goonicus (EG in its less Latin-looking abbreviation). EG was created
by Neil Trickey, its chief conductor and bottle washer. I wish that he
may long have the knees to continue this work. Anyway, suddenly out of
the blue, a batter pudding landed on me, tossed over the pond by Neil. A
paraphrased version of the message written on it still echoes in my mind
in the voice of Peter Sellers' character Willium "Mate" Cobblers:
"Pardon me, mate, but there's no loitering allowed 'ere..., I need those
Telegoons scripts an' videos, mate,
right away, mate! Before me retirement, mate!"
EG is a Goon Show Preservation Society (GSPS) project
dedicated to preserving the memory of stray Goon things in an orderly
form. I highly recommend that you support it by becoming a dues-paying
GSPS member, details of which are available at the official GSPS
website, goonshow.org. There is also a Facebook page
www.facebook.com/TheGSPS which (allegedly) will also get you
to the official GSPS website. It is also possible to get there via a
link in the main menu page of this very webpage (click the bottom menu
item that says GSPS Main Site). Another alternative is to send an email
to membership.gsps@btinternet.com,
where the Membership Secretary will gladly help.
GSPS membership brings certain privileges. These include a
quarterly newsletter (paper or PDF) and invitations to events (there's
an annual gathering at a London pub, an occasional 'do' at the BFI,
etc.). Also, member-only access to The Encyclopædia Goonicus
(See goonshow.org/goonicus for
details, where you can also see an artist's impression of Neil hard at
work with his quill pen and a pre-modern version of the steam abacus).
As currently advertised on the GSPS website, the Fifth Edition of EG is
now over 3 years old. It will eventually be replaced (no availability
date set at this time) by the Sixth Edition once a brand-new selection
of Goons Goodies has been rounded up.
The Tele-Goonography section of this website includes a
substantial new detail: Each Telegoons
episode description now lists GSPS holdings of mp4 and MPEG-2 versions.
These are newly cleaned-up and restored digital transfers of
The Telegoons 16 mm cine films held
in the GSPS archives, where they have been for a couple of decades. They
are of much higher resolution than previous GSPS transfers and include
several segments of newly restored audio. They represent the final
deliverables of The Great Telegoons Telecine Project. I began
this preservation project in July 2003 in East Tilbury, Essex, England.
Finally, I completed it in July 2021 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Remarkably, the duration of this project was almost 18 years to the day!
During much of that time, the episodes languished nearly half a world
away from GSPS HQ, on MiniDV tapes, not to mention a succession of
magnetic hard drives and thumb drives. By the time I was able to work on
the project again, computers and audio/video editing software had
advanced considerably. This is no small point because video rendering
used to be extremely slow on a PC. However, after 18 years of biennial
performance improvements under Moore's law, the digital editing, which
would have been many months of my time, was reduced to about 40 hours!
Along the way to completing The
Telegoons telecine project, the only scary story I have to
tell is a near loss of my primary digital backup copy of the films, all
90 GiB of them. This was a considerable amount of data back in the day
(nowadays, not so much). The culprit was a severe Florida electrical
storm. We saw a flash as a lightning bolt hit our DSL Internet pillar
(outback on our rear boundary, which served our group of about six
homes). In a hot millisecond, it fried almost every piece of electronics
in my house, including my all-important network-connected backup drive!
After obtaining some excellent British-made RAID recovery software named
"UFS Explorer", it took me several weeks to do a software RAID
reconstruction of the 4-disk RAID 5 array, the old bare drives littering
my desk during the process, each attached to my new computer on a USB
interface. Three of my four RAID-striped drives were OK. One was KO'd.
The UFS software told me that if one more drive had been KO'd,
recovery would have been impossible. Although the file recovery was a fingernail-biting exercise, I
did not fret too much because if worse came to worst, I knew I still had
my MiniDV tapes.
It's been a long and winding road. Still, on successfully
completing this work, I can say that The
Telegoons have never looked and sounded better in these
newly-minted digital transfers! The mp4 version of The
Telegoons episodes, and also an equivalent set of MPEG-2
files (a format more readily viewable on smart TVs), are expected to
eventually become part of The Encyclopædia Goonicus (EG),
governed by the latest version of the EG end-user agreement and
copyright statement. In Essence, the new mp4 and MPEG-2 Telegoons files
are restricted for use only by Goon Show Preservation Society (GSPS)
members. They may not be passed to anyone who is not a member. Said
members must, of course, have electricity. Copying or uploading any EG
video in any form is prohibited and cannot be sold, lent, rented,
traded, or otherwise distributed. Public performance or broadcasting of
these videos is not permitted. It would need to be negotiated with the
BBC and other copyright holders, including any presumed heirs of
Grosvenor Films Ltd's assets.
As always, you are welcome to
email me (aroxburgh@ieee.org)
with comments, corrections, or just to ask, "What time is it?"
4th
JUL 2021: Today seemed like a good day to commemorate the
passing
of some giants of the Goons and Telegoons universe, all of whom
became friends as I worked to document their stories. But time waits for
no one, and the least I can do is mark my sadness at their passing with
this small
tribute to their creative and steadfast endeavors of a Goon kind:
Bill Nunn (1954-2004)
will be remembered for his enthusiasm and the many hours he spent on
GSPS matters. He did a stint as treasurer from January 1999 to
January 2000, and helped to run the Goon Show Shop (including running
a stall at GSPS event such as Bournemouth in 1995 and Brighton in
1997, also managing back issues of the GSPS newsletter and (its
predecessor, Goon News) since 1982. Bill maintained a close
friendship with Spike and Shelagh Milligan. I was introduced to Bill
by Maxine Ventham, who told me he was the
№ 1 fan of
The Telegoons
in the GSPS, which I found to be true. Both Bill and I had been
fortunate to have seen the original TV broadcasts of The Telegoons
in 1963/1964, but living in New Zealand at the time I did not know
of the GSPS until I managed to trade batter puddings with them about
1997. Bill's made his massive collection of
Telegoons
stuff available for me to study during two research visits to
London, providing plenty of fodder for the initial versions of this
website. In 2003 Bill told me he was under doctor's orders to take
things easily. On 29 September 2004, after suffering heart failure
in hospital, Bill passed away peacefully, too soon, aged 50. Bill's
funeral service, which included the Ying Tong Song among other
things, was reportedly unique (see GSPS NL 112). They don't make Goons
and Telegoons
fans like Bill any more. Long will he be missed.
Violet (Phelan) Philpott
(1922-2012). As one of the principal puppeteers for
The Telegoons production
with 15 episodes to her credit, Violet graced our highly esteemed 2003
Egham convention (Great Grandson of a Weekend Called Fred) with her
gentle presence. I fondly recall ringing her doorbell in
Lissenden Gardens, London, with melting ice-creams in
hand (chocolate, her favorite) on a hot July afternoon in 2003. I was introduced to Violet by
Robert Whelan who, many moons ago as a young fan entranced by
Violet's puppetry art, became firm friends with her during long
summer holidays at the beach. One of Violet's last projects was an
audio interview with Spike Milligan, which I was given to clean up
and produce as an mp3 and audio CD. Violet passed away 14 December
2012, aged 90.
Audrey (Taylor) Titcombe (1931-2010) will long be remembered for
her Tat the Cat
children's books (for which husband Bill drew the illustrations).
However, writing was just one of her many talents. She was also
known for her support of unions and especially the National
Union of Mineworkers during the strikes of 1983-64. During a stint
with husband Bill, running the Three Horseshoes pub in Birchinger,
Essex, her generosity of spirit and benevolence came to the fore
with the free lunches she provided for local pensioners. Audrey and Bill
Titcombe were charming hosts during my Telegoons research trip to
Norfolk in 2000. Asking about the unusual roof timbers in the upstairs guest room in
their 400 year old town house, I was told they were salvaged from Spanish Armada
ships wrecked off the Norfolk coast. My gift of two videotapes of The Telegoons
episodes were of great interest because neither Bill nor Audrey had ever seen the
BBC's 1963-64 television transmissions. In the heartfelt obituary Bill
wrote for Audrey he remembered her as an inspiration to all who knew
her (see
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/sep/13/audrey-titcombe-obituary).
Bill Titcombe (1939-2021) was a versatile and talented artist, illustrator,
and cartoonist who worked on more than 65 franchised cartoon characters
throughout his career, but is probably most famous for his artfully
drawn full-color Tom and Jerry comic strips that ran on the cover of
TV Comic from 24th June 1969 (issue 810) into the 1980s. Bill's
Wind in the Willows strips for Pippin were exquisite. He also
created style-guides for the BBC's Teletubbies and
Tweenies (used by the BBC's licensing department to define the
look of cartoon characters to make it easier for other artists, such
as who make tie-in merchandise, to achieve the correct look and feel
of the characters). He also breathed new life into
The Telegoons,
extending the show's 26-episode TV run with a popular 2-page strip
in TV Comic that was notable for its varied adventures of Eccles,
Neddie Seagoon, Bloodnok, and company, achieving a
three-year run. Bill took great delight in showing me his art studio in his back garden, not to mention a guided tour of
the Dad's Army Museum in nearby Thetford whose fame he helped spread
with his memorable comic strip version of the TV series. Following
retirement, Bill took up painting, mostly horses and birds. Bill
died on 12 Feb 2021, aged 82. Here is a link to an obituary written by his
good friend, magician Olly Day:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/12/bill-titcombe-obituary
2nd
NOV 2018:
After a long hiatus, during which some of the batter
puddings have grown quite cold, some long-needed revisions are in
process for this website, still the only one of its kind on the
Internet. Beware of imitations! May Neddie Seagoon, Eccles,
Bluebottle, Major Dennis Bloodnok, Minnie Bannister, Henry Crun,
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, and Count Jim Moriarty, live long in our imaginations! ;-)
Bloodnok's British Army Fusiliers uniform is now khaki! (blue was wrong;
my apologies to supporters of the RAF!). Problem was I had no color
reference, until I found one in the Telegoons colouring book, of all
places. While not as reliable a reference as a color photograph of the
puppet, this will do for now. By the way, while we're on the topic of
Major Bloodnok, his three arm stripes sort of make custard out of his
claim to have the rank of army major, n'est-ce pas? But Eccles is
sometimes Field Marshal Eccles, so what do I know? ;-)
IMPORTANT: The link for cartoonist Hunt
Emerson's website
has been updated. Click on n Famous Fans, above, or you can just use this link:
www.largecow.com
1st SEPT 2007:
I would like to use a little column space here to acknowledge
Rowan Wiltshire. He was kind enough to write to me with some fresh biographical details about his father, Maurice. Very much appreciated,
Rowan. If such things are possible, and as the major contributor to the
television version of the Goons, I'm sure Maurice still gets to hang out
with them, in that place where old comedians go, endlessly debating
whether or not Goon humour translates to the small screen! ;-)
1st FEB 2007:
Postscript to the 9th JUL 2006 site log entry: Recently a DVD production
company contacted me to say that they are in negotiations with the BBC for
the right to transfer The Telegoons
to DVD! This sounds like great news, but in the absence of any known
whereabouts of Wendy Danielli, who just may be the last surviving
shareholder in the (now defunct) Grosvenor Films Ltd., the BBC is stuck in
one of its characteristic rights management quandaries. So, if anyone
knows Wendy's whereabouts, please don't keep it to yourself, by dropping
me a line at aroxburgh@ieee.org.
9th
JUL 2006:
Greetings dear visitor. Contrary to appearances over
the past year, The
Telegoons website has not been forgotten. Having recently
completed one of the busiest periods of my life, I am once again able to
contemplate ways in which the website can be improved. Over the next year
I hope to be able to do far more than just keep the site log up-to-date.
Indeed, I have a lot of "new" and rare Telegoons-related
material that still needs to see the light of day, and which will help bolster
the literary, comedic, and historical significance of The
Telegoons.
I wrote the following paragraph in response to an email that discussed the
popularity of The Telegoons, and later realised that it might be of
general interest, so here it is (in a somewhat abridged) form:
Somewhere on the website I discuss a tragedy concerning Spike
Milligan and the BBC's audience research department. Due to the fact that
The Telegoons was originally aimed at
an adult audience, the Beeb's audience research department polled parents,
totally ignoring their children, who were the show's real audience, albeit
unintended, and who were the only ones who really loved it. The BBC's
programme department unfortunately presented a dismal view of the series
to Spike.
The
fact that Spike did not find out about his audience of young
Telegoons fans until he was getting too old to care what the BBC did or didn't do
with his scripts, is the real tragedy of the matter.
In Spike's final years, Maxine Ventham, former secretary of the Goon Show Preservation Society
(GSPS) and founder of the Peter Sellers Appreciation Society
(PSAS) had a conversation or two with him about this.
Based on Maxine's correspondence with me on this topic, clearly I'm not the only one who would have liked to have taken Spike back to that
distant time and those places (the school grounds of England and the
Commonwealth in 1963 and 1964) to see for himself that the Goon puppets were
in fact a huge hit. In a 2004 conversation I had about this with Spike's
daughter Jane,
her parting words were, "We really must get The Telegoons back on television."
The Telegoons
series was simply ahead of its time. While the adult audience it was
intended for ignored it, unbeknownst to the BBC, the series' former
audience is now adult and is now (more than) ready for it, waiting for its second run.
So please play it again, BBC. One of my goals this year is to present this
perspective to the BBC, together with all of the names and
comments on the BBC Telegoons petition (see
green button, above).
2nd
FEB 2006:
Out of the blue, I heard from Telegoons assistant film editor, Jim
Elderton. Jim now lives in Canada where he works as a film producer,
director, and cameraman, producing his own films.
31st
DEC 2005:
One of the biggest news events of 2005 was the surprise revelation that three
of The Telegoons string puppets are alive and well on the Isle of Wight!
And now that a series of behind-the-scenes negotiations between their
owner and the Goon Show Preservation Society (GSPS) have been
completed (in which the GSPS wasn't able to buy the puppets), I am pleased to be
able to tell you about their discovery. I said "alive and well",
but the puppets are showing their age, and to be utterly frank, although
still "alive" are none too "well", as the following photographs
attest. These newly discovered Eccles, Bluebottle, and Minnie Bannister
string puppets,
like the Ned Seagoon rod puppet before them, are suffering from hardening
and disintegration of the foam latex material that makes up their faces,
hands and arms, etc. Fortunately they are have all of their original
clothing, and Minnie's elaborate hair-do is still intact. Incredibly, she is still
wearing her original pearl and gemstone necklace. Unfortunately
the email address I have for the present owner of these historically
important puppets is no longer valid, so if she would like to contact me
confidentially at aroxburgh@ieee.org,
I would like to propose that a section of this website be turned over to
these puppets so that they may promote themselves to help build interest for possible future
auction.
1st
AUG 2005:
The Telegoons website has just undergone its first big makeover in several
years. All of the FAQs to do with people have now been moved to their own
section. New material has been added; just look for the "NEW"
tags. Perhaps the biggest news is that the petition to the BBC has
collected over 1,000 signatures. I hope to submit it to the BBC and
Network soon. After submission the petition
will be kept going, and will again be resubmitted when it gets to over
3,000 signatures (the petition is accessible from the menu page on the
site).
9th MAY 2005:
Longtime Goon Show Preservation Society (GSPS) chairman Bill Horsman (who due to his profession and hobbies
was a.k.a.
as the Steam Count, a handle bestowed on him early on by former GSPS
newsletter editor, Chris Smith) finally ran out of steam, and passed away
today. Bill was well known for frequently renting
The Telegoons films and presenting them to the assembled NE GSPS throng,
and when the film rental company went out of business, purchasing all 26 of
the films, all of them 16 mm, which were later donated to the GSPS archive. Bill will long be
remembered for his wry sense of humour, and for travelling the length and
longth of the country in 1999 to join the Sussex Mod in attempting to (in Goonish
fashion) set the English channel on fire. He also joined them in trying to
locate various Goon landmarks in southern England. More recently, Bill
took part in a very entertaining "Goon Show" specially
writted for the GSPS's weekend convention in Egham, July 2003. (Since
attending said convention, I have a tendency to write writted, rather than
written ;-).
1st
AUG 2005:
One of the Goons' greatest and most ardent fans, Bill Nunn, passed away
today after an extended period of ill health. Recognizing early on the
importance of The Telegoons in the Goon scheme of things, Bill was
instrumental in helping get this website off the ground. A Goon Show
Preservation Society (GSPS) core
member, he served as treasurer for many years.
6th
MAR 2005:
I am very pleased to announce the long-promised Goon/Telegoon map of
London. To see it, just mosey on over to the FAQ section of the website,
and click on "Where on earth did the Goons & Telegoons stuff take place?"
The map is slightly incomplete in respect of the Albert Hall and the
Houses of Parliament. These will be added once I have found a way to fit
them in.
19th
SEPT 2004:
The
event in Egham, Surrey, 4th - 6th July 2003 was enjoyed by all who
attended.
Other news: After a long hiatus due to time pressure from other projects, some updates
have been made to The Telegoons website. The most obvious of these is a
new introductory section called "What what what what...".
Although actually uploaded last May, it was incorrectly linked. This has
now been corrected. My apologies if you tried to access it and found
something else!
Previous
entries are here.
I
need your help in locating Telegoons ephemera (old newspaper
articles, magazine articles, films, toys, etc.) If you come across any
such items (perhaps lagging the hot water
pipes, or lining the old winter overcoat), I would be very pleased to receive
them, or even a good photocopy or photograph. Anything would be greatly appreciated! I will
gladly cover the cost of postage and any
photocopying. Please e-mail
me if you
find anything that you think I might possibly find useful.
All contributions will be acknowledged.
This website would not have been possible
without the
invaluable assistance I received from the following people:
Steve Arnold * Chris Smith * Nigel Knapton * Mary Royle
Robert Whelan * Violet Philpott *
Mike Fox * Bill Nunn
Richard Wheeler * Hunt Emerson *
Bill Titcombe
Audrey Titcombe * Robbie James * John Heyes * Neil Trickey
Richard Stevens * Richard Parsons * Roger Langridge
Doreen Soan * Ann
Perrin * David Brunt * Janet Roxburgh
Monica Roxburgh *
Maxine Ventham * Andrew Gannon
Francois Bayard * Shaqui Le Vesconte * Mike McCormick
Jim Elderton * Rowan Wiltshire * Zoe Mildare * Terry Mildare
Site designed and maintained by
Alastair Roxburgh  (Kiwi at
large).
No batter-puddings were harmed in the making of
this website.
Unattributed text
Copyright © 1999-2021 Alastair Roxburgh
Terms of Use:
This web site and all of the contents herein contained are protected by
United States and International trademark and copyright laws. The
information contained on this site is for the private enjoyment of the
user and may not be copied or disseminated in any form or for any purpose
without the express written consent of Alastair
Roxburgh. Alastair Roxburgh and the Goon Show Preservation Society may
not control the copyright of all images and sounds on this website. Infringement of
copyright includes, but is not limited to, copying images or graphic elements
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