Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

Death of the Last Goon
Just ran across this news item on the BBC site. Sad to hear of the passing away of the last Goon, Spike Milligan.

I loved The Goon Show when I was a kid. I got into in part because my Father really enjoyed the show -- he could do a good "Bluebottle". I remember that the CBC back in the early 80s used to play BBC comedy shows -- such as Tony Hancock, Round the Horne, Just a Minute, etc -- early in the morning. Soon after I got my first ghetto blaster as a young teen, I remember waking up at 5:30am in order to tape these shows. The Goon Show was always my favourite of the bunch. I remember making treks to Sam the Record Man in downtown Toronto and buying up the ocassional Goon Show records, sometimes just after they were released (they are still some of the very few records I still keep). For a while there, I was even a member of the Goon Show Appreciation Society. I read Spike Milligan's war memoirs (as did my Father) when they were originally published, and within the past year have listened to audio tape versions of his most recent set of memoirs, detailing his early career in show biz (I hadn't realized that he was on the verge of becoming a full-fledged jazz musician -- am sure he made a better choice in doing comedy).

Thanks for the laughs, Spike!