Following up on our coverage of the new Hancock’s Half Hundred book, its editor and designer, Peter Embling, let us know about Goon Show News – the Book, another of his projects, which features a cover by the brilliant Hunt Emerson.
Goon Show News, released in 2024, a production from the The Goon Show Preservation Society is full of articles from 52 years of publishing articles by and about the whole myriad of persons that were involved in the making of the ground-breaking 1950s The Goon Show BBC radio comedy, including other projects by the main players.
A unique, hugely influential radio show, which enjoyed repeat airings I listened to avidly in the 1970s, the principal cast – Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine – were aided by terrific writers and talented musicians in their efforts to entertain the nation. Which they most definitely did, over 238 regular and irregular Goon Show broadcasts (Series 1 to 10 plus Vintage Goons) and 14 radio specials. The show span out into records and an animated series, The Telegoons, which in turn spawned a long-running comic strip, drawn by the late Bill Titcombe, for TV Comic.
A team at the Goon Show Preservation Society dug deeply into the newsletter archives and chosen a selection of articles to present in Goon Show News, which is peppered with illustrations from Tim Leatherbarrow.
As well as a paper book, offered in hardback and paperback via AmazonUK (Affiliate Link), it’s also available in digital form for your e-reader devices.
Oh, and good news – paid-up members of the GSPS can obtain a copy of The Encyclopædia Goonicus, the world’s most comprehensive repository of information about The Goon Show and associated programmes, recommended reading for all students of the Gooniverse, includes many of those Telegoons strips… so if you’re a fan of the show, or the brilliant work of Bill Titcombe, you just may want to sign up – which you can do right here.
To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Goon Show, a new, seventh, edition of Encyclopaedia Goonicus was released on 28th May 2026.
Peter Embling, by the way, also puts together the quarterly magazine for GSPS and has done so for a few years. We’re very glad he got in touch. Applause, we give him some!
• The Goon Show News is available as a paper book, offered in hardback and paperback via AmazonUK (Affiliate Link), it’s also available in digital form for your e-reader devices
• The Goon Show Collections, books and more on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Animation, Audio, British Comics, Comics, Digital Media, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Television
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