The Spon Plague

"The Spon Plague"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 8 Episode: 23
Written by	Spike Milligan John Antrobus
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Charles Chilton
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Ellington: Mambo With Me Geldray: Lady of Spain
Recording Number	TLO 50040
First broadcast	3 March 1958 (1958-03-03)
Running time	30:17
Guest appearance
George Chisholm

SHOW 8/23: The Spon Plague (CD 4, Track 11)

Pre-recording: Sunday 2 March 1958, 6.30pm, Camden. DLO 50040B.

Recording: Sunday 2 March 1958, 9pm, Camden.TLC 50040.

First Home Service Broadcast: Monday 3 March 1958, 8.30pm. Ratings: 1.5 million. RI: 61.

Repeats: Thursday 6 March 1958, 10pm, 2.3 million [Light Programme]; Saturday 19 September 1970, 8.02pm, 0.5 ·million [Radio 4 in Vintage Goons].

Transcription Service Synopsis: Of all the plagues familiar to man the Spon plague is the worst and the most common, since the symptoms – bare knees – are known and dreaded everywhere. Great medical minds are mobilised to find a cure, but when it is finally discovered, the cure proves to be worse than the plague itself! Once again all the unusual participants, including Messrs. Banajee and Laikaka, are concerned in the unfolding of this tale.

Music: The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Mambo With Me (Tito Puente); Max Geldray plays Lady of Spain (Robert Hargreaves/Tolchard Evans/Stanley J. Damerell/Henry J.Tilsley).

The Spon Plague is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the twenty-third show in the eighth series.

A pre-recording (DLO 25010) session took place Sunday 19 January 1958, 5pm. at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London. The recording (TLO 22507) for transmission was created later that same Sunday, also at The Camden, at 9pm.

The first Home Service broadcast was the next day, Monday, at 8.30pm 20 January 1958, its ratings were 2.6 million.

The show was repeated on the following Thursday at 9.30pm, 26 December 1958, on the Light Programme to 2.3 million listeners.

• Friday 9.30pm, 6 March 1964 on the Home Service in Vintage Goons, to 0.5 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 20 August 1965 on the Home Service in Let's Laugh Again, to 0.2 million listeners (the broadcast was affected by a fault on the reproduction equipment).

Transcription Service Synopsis

Of all the plagues familiar to man the Spon plague is the worst and the most common, since the symptoms – bare knees – are known and dreaded everywhere. Great medical minds are mobilised to find a cure, but when it is finally discovered, the cure proves to be worse than the plague itself! Once again all the unusual participants, including Messrs. Banajee and Lalkaka, are concerned in the unfolding of this tale.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays I Kiss Your Little Hand, Madame (Ralph Erwin (music) / Fritz Rotter (lyrics))
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays The Late Late Show (Murray Berlin (music) / Roy Alfred (lyrics))

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 50040 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). The TLO 50040 master tape no longer exists, and the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 8 was compiled from the TGS master tape, the POTG master tape and an exceptionally good domestic recording of the original transmission.

Show Notes

• The Spon Plague was recorded the same day as the remake of the series four The Great Bank of England Robbery from 1954, for the Vintage Goons series for Transcription Services, The Great Bank of England Robbery.

• Although credited solely to Spike on the original script, on The Spon Plague Spike had, in fact, been assisted by a young writer represented by Spike's company Associated London Scripts. This was John Antrobus who abandoned military training at Sandhurst to enter the world of entertainment and had contributed to Spike and Peter's Associated-Rediffusion series A Show Called Fred.

• During this script, although Peter had previously got into trouble with his impersonations of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he was able to imitate Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, with his comment on how ‘most of our people have never had it so good’ which Macmillan had made at a Conservative rally in Bedford in July 1957.

• The Spon Plague is unflattering about the medical profession in general – there was a perception abroad that hospital consultants had done rather too well out of the formation of the NHS, fostered by the declaration of Aneurin Bevan, architect of the NHS, that he had ‘stuffed their mouths with gold’ to ensure their co-operation. They were not only well paid for NHS work, but were still free to charge for private consultations.