The Nasty Affair at the Burami Oasis

"The Nasty Affair at the Burami Oasis"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 7 Episode: 1
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Based on	Buraimi Dispute
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Peter Eton
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: When You're Smiling Ellington: Stranded in the Jungle
Recording Number	TLO 12681
First broadcast	4 October 1956 (1956-10-04)
Running time	30:29

The Nasty Affair at the Burami Oasis is an episode from The Goon Show. (although it isn't coherently announced), a British radio comedy. It was the first episode of the seventh series.

The recording for transmission was created at 9pm on Sunday 30 September 1956, at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London.

The first Home Service broadcast was the following Thursday at 8.30pm on 4 October 1956, its ratings were 3.4 million.

The show was repeated:

• Monday 8pm, 8 October 1956, on the Light Programme to 3.4 million listeners.
• Thursday 8.30pm, 4 April 1957 on the Home Service to 1.5 million listeners.
• Saturday 1.02pm, 30 May 1992 on the Radio 2 in Comedy Hour:the Radio 2 Comedy Season

Transcription Service Reissue Synopsis

The Burami Oasis situation has deteriorated. The British Garrison is under constant attack from Sheik Rattle and Roll Ar Leg. Now the British Government decide to play their trump card – Admiral Neddie Seagoon in charge of HMS Thespus. Broken up into four-inch squares, the 42,000 ton battleship is packed into crates cunningly marked ‘Date Fertiliser’ and, with the Admiral, despatched to the Burami Oasis.

Music

• The BBC Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott.
• Max Geldray plays When You're Smiling (Mark Fisher / Joe Goodwin / Larry Shay).
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Stranded in the Jungle (Ernestine Smith / James Johnson / Al Curry).

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 12681 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

The TLO 12681 master tape survived in TS and was used for the version of the show found on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 5, but cuts made at the time of the simulated stereo POTG issue were not kept. Fortunately, TS made a cover copy with compensation for the poor treble on the original; the cuts have been restored from this source.

Note

There really is a Buraimi Oasis, which was the site of a battle between British-led forces and Arab tribesmen in October 1955 known as the Buraimi Dispute, which the episode loosely parodies, with an actual BBC News broadcast clip opening. The real oasis is considerably larger.

Transcript

The Nasty Affair at the Burami Oasis (transcript)