The Whistling Spy Enigma

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"The Whistling Spy Enigma"
The Goon Show episode
The-Whistling-Spy-Enigma-RT.jpg
Episode: no.Series: 5
Episode: 1
Written by
AnnouncerWallace Greenslade
Produced byPeter Eton
Music
Recording
Number
TLO 62960
First broadcast28 September 1954 (1954-09-28)
Running time30:41
Episode Order
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"The Starlings"
Next →
"The Lost Gold Mine (of Charlotte)"
The Goon Show series 5
List of episodes

The Whistling Spy Enigma is an episode from The Goon Show. It was the first show in series five. It was recorded on Sunday 26 September 1954 at 9pm. It was recorded at The Paris Cinema, 12 Lower Regent Street in central London.

The first Home Service broadcast was on Tuesday 28 September 1954 at 8.30pm. It attracted a peak listenership of 2.6m listeners.

Repeats
Day Date Time Ratings Station Show
Friday 1 October 1954 12.25pm 1.5m Home Service
Friday 29 April 1955 7.30pm 3.4m Light Programme
Tuesday 30 August 1977 10.30pm 0.4m Radio 4 in The Golden Oldies
Monday 27 May 1991 7.02pm Radio 2
Monday 20 December 1993 11.30pm 0.4m Radio 4 in Spike's Pick of the Goons

Story

The story begins as a young Ned Seagoon is sent to go behind the Iron Curtain in order to sabotage the Hungarian national football team, the aim being to assure a revival of Britain's sporting prestige over the next football season. The action takes place at a stadium near Budapest, at a British Embassy Haywards Heath, a haddock stretching factory in Petrograd and outside a deserted maternity home in Mayfair.

Music

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 62960 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

Ted Kendall's Restoration

This tape was copied before transmission through a notch filter to remove a whistle on the line between The Paris Cinema and the recording channel in Broadcasting House. The version included on Compendium Vol 1 was sourced from the Sound Archive shelf copy (T28575) (a 15 ips ¼" tape) and was dubbed to DAT in 1990.