Larry Stephens

JONES: For a week now I've been seeing black spots in front of my eyes.
HERSCHEL: Have you seen a psychiatrist?
JONES: No - only black spots.
(Crazy People S1 E10, 2 Aug 1951. Script by Spike Milligan, Larry Stephens & Jimmy Grafton.)

Haha! Very good!

NED: I transferred to the Cavalry & began training. 6 weeks of trotting, cantering & jumping. Arriving back from a 30-mile cross-country gallop we heard the news we'd been waiting for.
SPIKE: Men, tomorrow... We're being issued with horses!
(Crazy People 23 Jul 1951 by Milligan, Stephens & Grafton)

JONES: My family are huntin', shootin' and fishin' people.
HERSCHEL: Landed gentry?
JONES: No. Poachers.
(Crazy People S1 E8, 16 Jul 1951. Script by Spike Milligan, Larry Stephens and Jimmy Grafton)

A portion of very tasty-looking pork scratchings

I'd like to wish you all a bostin #BlackCountryDay! Here, have a photo of some pork scratchings to help you celebrate!

It’s All In The Mind by Julie Warren It’s All In The Mind: the Life & Legacy of Larry Stephens by Julie Warren As a fan of the highly esteemed Goon Show, I was delighted to see that a biography of Larry Stephens – a name I o…

Here's my review of the Larry Stephens biography. 😀 @thegsps.bsky.social

A logo of a book and the title Great Books, that deserve better

Being part of the whole Unbound saga has not been fun; one consolation has been the support of the many other authors involved.
And so, in that spirit, we've put together a list of some of the great books that now need publishers and agents. Please do share!

open.substack.com/pub/therebou...

Goon Show scripts for Peter Sellers found by University of York - British Comedy Guide Previously lost Goon Show material for Peter Sellers has been uncovered in the personal archive of comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, held at the University of York.

‪Incredibly honoured to be performing 'Goon Show' material written for Peter Sellers by the legendary Galton & Simpson as part of @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social on 8th June. I'll be the first actor to perform this material since their original broadcast in 1954!

www.comedy.co.uk/radio/fyi/83...

They didn't even bother to send me a "seemingly impersonal email"!

28th May is National Goon Show Day folks! To receive a quarterly magazine AND be able to buy our exclusive Encyclopaedia Goonicus, JOIN US TODAY via the website and get a whopping 25% off an e-membership! Use the codeword: SPON. Offer only available to new members signing up between 28th May and 4th June 2025. Special offer membership valid for only one year. This offer is not available to lapsed members or members renewing their subscription.

28 May is #NationalGoonShowDay folks! Join us today via the website and get a whopping 25% off an e-membership*! Use the codeword: SPON.
*Offer only available to new members signing up by 4 June 2025. Valid for 1 year. Not available to lapsed members or for renewals.
goonshow.org/gsps/join/

BLOODNOK: Blast! The crocodile's drifting towards the other canoe. I'll ask them to tow it to the bank. (CALLS) Eccles!
ECCLES: Der, yeah?
BLOODNOK: Will you give that crocodile a tow?
ECCLES: Why me? He's had 3 of mine already.
(Goon Show S2 E16, 13 May 1952. Script by Milligan & Stephens.)

I don't know I'm afraid.

'The Super Secret Service' was written by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens and stars Peter Sellers. Plus Graham Stark, Dick Emery and Ray Ellington. Tune in at 6pm!

TIM: They're Royalists! To the guillotine with them!
OMNES: THE GUILLOTINE!
SPIKE: The guillotine? Is it painful?
PETER: No, Gascoigne will only give you a little nick.
SPIKE: Oh - a nicotine!
(Goon Show S2 E15, 6 May 1952. Script by Spike Milligan & Larry Stephens. Edited by Jimmy Grafton)

PETER: Is there any sign of a relief force yet?
HARRY: I don't think so although I can't see ahead of us for the smoke. I'll ask the lookout... LOOKOUT!
SPIKE: Why? What's comin'?
HARRY: No, you. Lookout. Can you see ahead?
SPIKE: Ermm - I can see yours.
(Goon Show 5 May 1953 by Milligan & Stephens)

#OTD 27 April 1956 Hancock made his first series on TV. Two months before Hancock's Half Hour, ITV broadcast The Tony Hancock Show, a sketch show written by Eric Sykes, with Larry Stephens on 1 & 2. Cast included June Whitfield, Hattie Jacques, Clive Dunn, Sam Kydd and Dick Emery

Newspaper report on the death of Goon Show writer Larry Stephens right next to a completely unrelated news item

Owwwww

CRUN: Lord Seagoon!
SEAGOON: Yes, Crun?
CRUN: We'll have to call a halt.
SEAGOON: Why?
CRUN: The piano's out of tune.
SEAGOON: Good heavens! How do you know?
CRUN: It's just dropped over a precipice.
(Goon Show, 28 Apr 1953. S3 E24. Script by Spike Milligan & Larry Stephens. Edited by Jimmy Grafton)

Set your sundials for 7 May at 6pm! The Super Secret Service, a 1953 short film written by Larry Stephens (@lsggbg.bsky.social) and Spike Milligan and starring Peter Sellers, is being shown on Talking Pictures Television (@talkingpicturestv.bsky.social)

FX: LOUD KNOCKING
CRUN: Oh - there's the door. You get it, will you Eccles?
ECCLES: Der - OK
FX: TEARING & SPLINTERING
ECCLES: Ermm... Here's the door. Where shall I put it?

(Goon Show S3 E23. First broadcast on 21 Apr 1953. Script by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens. Edited by Jimmy Grafton.)

On this week’s edition we’re looking at Dishonoured - Again from 1959.

t.co/qeM31DvosT

Includes a discussion about Spike’s differing accounts of the tragic death of Larry Stephens

PUREHEART: Sorry I'm a little late. Stanley Black buttonholed me for a moment.
TIM: Really? He never says two words to me.
PUREHEART: You're lucky. He's always saying two words to me.
(Goon Show, 8 Apr 1952. S2 E11 by Spike Milligan, Larry Stephens and Jimmy Grafton.)

CRUN: Where have you been all day?
ECCLES: I've been at the zoo. It was the penguins' feeding time.
NED: So you like penguins?
ECCLES: Erm.... no. I like fish.

(Goon Show, 7 Apr 1953. S3 E21 by Larry Stephens and Spike Milligan.)

When you hover over a programme listing its details will appear here.

On 6 Apr 1955 the 1st episode of Pertwee's Progress was broadcast. Written by Larry Stephens, Jimmy Grafton & Peter Griffiths the cast included Jon Pertwee, Dick Emery & Fenella Fielding.
genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/f1dcff1...

Curses!

SPRIGGS: I’ll just make a bill of sale out. How do you spell penguin?
NEDDIE: Pee en guin.
SPRIGGS: How do you pronounce it?
NEDDIE: P-E-N-G-U-I-N.
SPRIGGS: Thank you.
(Goon Show S7 E21 by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens)

META BOOK THIEVES. They must #DoTheWriteThing

META stole my book and those of many others to train their AI. I'm asking them to #DoTheWriteThing

A poster advertising the Stockton Heath Methodist Dramatic Society's staging of Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds and Six Charlies in Search of an Author by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens. Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th April 7:30pm. Tickets £9 in advance or £10 on the door.

The Goon Show episode 'Six Charlies in Search of an Author' by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens is being staged at Stockton Heath Methodist Church Hall, Warrington on Thursday 3rd & Friday 4th April. More information and tickets available here:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/shmds/classi...

BLOODNOK: Admit it - you're a spy.
HERR KOMMZEBRIDE: I am not a spy. I'm a shepherd.
BLOODNOK: Ah... a shepherd spy.
(Goon Show, 31 Mar 1953)