Neddie Seagoon
Encyclopedia
Neddie Seagoon was a character in the 1950s British
radio comedy
show, The Goon Show
. He was created and performed by Welshman Harry Secombe
.
Seagoon was usually the central character of a Goon Show episode, with Spike Milligan
and Peter Sellers
' many characters interacting with him and each other.
Neddie Seagoon was an affable but gullible idiot. Often chronically poor and/or part of the government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil servant), Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
(Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty
(Milligan), and needs the help of Bluebottle
(Sellers), Eccles
(Milligan), and sometimes even Major Bloodnok
(Sellers) to rescue himself.
Neddie's appearance was based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect. Thus, he was often described as very short, round and immensely fat. In "The Greenslade Story", John Snagge
describes him as "a little ball of fat", while in "The Mummified Priest" Bloodnok identifies him as Seagoon on the grounds "Who else could walk under a piano stool?" He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs). He shares Secombe's tenor
voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons". He was also generally Welsh; in "Tales of Men's Shirts" and "The Last of the Smoking Seagoons" he is referred to as Ned of Wales, and in "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", Greenslade introduces him with the line "a bundle of Welsh rags suddenly becomes animate."
His fatness is a particular subject of gags. In "Dishonoured" and "Dishonoured - Again", he gives his body mass as either 17 or 18 stone (in metric, 108-114kg) and his head mass at 20 stone (127kg), totalling either 235 or 241 kg, depending upon episode. Once, upon visiting Henry Crun's house in "Tales of Men's Shirts", Crun remarks "Did you know they've sent a rocket
to photograph the other side of you?" In the episode "Nineteen Eighty Five" (a parody of Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell) he says, "Over the weeks that they tortured me my weight dropped by ten stone
, I went down to a mere twenty stone." In "Robin Hood", Prince John (Dennis Price
) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Valentine Dyall
) discuss their adversary:
He also appears to have been Major Bloodnok
's batman at some point of time. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", we learn that he once loaned Bloodnok 100 pounds, which Bloodnok was willing to forget all about.
Neddie was usually the one who greeted the audience at the beginning of the show, referring to them as "folks" or "Dear Listeners", and introducing that week's story. He would often step out of the frame of the story, explaining elements of the plot to the audience or narrating some of the plot, and would usually converse with Wallace Greenslade
(The Goon Shows announcer); for instance:
The Seagoon character would sometimes have a different name depending on the setting of the plot; for instance:
Seagoon had several catch-phrases, seemingly random gibberish that became his trademarks, such as "Ying tong iddle I po!” (followed by a shout of “GOOD!” by someone else) and "Needle-nardle-noo". He would also express intense surprise by repeating the word "What?!" rapidly and in rising pitch, as "Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" (in "The Moon Show", Grytpype replies to this by saying, "Only ten whats [watts as in the unit of electricity]; you're not very bright, are you?"), and would do likewise with the word "Yes?" as "Yesyesyesyesyesyes?", generally motivating Grytpype-Thynne to request "Please don't do that." Seagoon also occasionally spouts patriotical nonsense, at which Grytpype says, "You silly twisted boy, you.” Often, at the end of a bout of the “Whatwhatwhats”, Seagoon would segue into making the sound of a clucking chicken.
Neddie Seagoon was a character in the 1950s British
radio comedy
show, The Goon Show
. He was created and performed by Welshman Harry Secombe
.
Seagoon was usually the central character of a Goon Show episode, with Spike Milligan
and Peter Sellers
' many characters interacting with him and each other.
Neddie Seagoon was an affable but gullible idiot. Often chronically poor and/or part of the government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil servant), Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
(Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty
(Milligan), and needs the help of Bluebottle
(Sellers), Eccles
(Milligan), and sometimes even Major Bloodnok
(Sellers) to rescue himself.
Neddie's appearance was based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect. Thus, he was often described as very short, round and immensely fat. In "The Greenslade Story", John Snagge
describes him as "a little ball of fat", while in "The Mummified Priest" Bloodnok identifies him as Seagoon on the grounds "Who else could walk under a piano stool?" He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs). He shares Secombe's tenor
voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons". He was also generally Welsh; in "Tales of Men's Shirts" and "The Last of the Smoking Seagoons" he is referred to as Ned of Wales, and in "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", Greenslade introduces him with the line "a bundle of Welsh rags suddenly becomes animate."
His fatness is a particular subject of gags. In "Dishonoured" and "Dishonoured - Again", he gives his body mass as either 17 or 18 stone (in metric, 108-114kg) and his head mass at 20 stone (127kg), totalling either 235 or 241 kg, depending upon episode. Once, upon visiting Henry Crun's house in "Tales of Men's Shirts", Crun remarks "Did you know they've sent a rocket
to photograph the other side of you?" In the episode "Nineteen Eighty Five" (a parody of Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell) he says, "Over the weeks that they tortured me my weight dropped by ten stone
, I went down to a mere twenty stone." In "Robin Hood", Prince John (Dennis Price
) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Valentine Dyall
) discuss their adversary:
He also appears to have been Major Bloodnok
's batman at some point of time. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", we learn that he once loaned Bloodnok 100 pounds, which Bloodnok was willing to forget all about.
Neddie was usually the one who greeted the audience at the beginning of the show, referring to them as "folks" or "Dear Listeners", and introducing that week's story. He would often step out of the frame of the story, explaining elements of the plot to the audience or narrating some of the plot, and would usually converse with Wallace Greenslade
(The Goon Shows announcer); for instance:
The Seagoon character would sometimes have a different name depending on the setting of the plot; for instance:
Seagoon had several catch-phrases, seemingly random gibberish that became his trademarks, such as "Ying tong iddle I po!” (followed by a shout of “GOOD!” by someone else) and "Needle-nardle-noo". He would also express intense surprise by repeating the word "What?!" rapidly and in rising pitch, as "Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" (in "The Moon Show", Grytpype replies to this by saying, "Only ten whats [watts as in the unit of electricity]; you're not very bright, are you?"), and would do likewise with the word "Yes?" as "Yesyesyesyesyesyes?", generally motivating Grytpype-Thynne to request "Please don't do that." Seagoon also occasionally spouts patriotical nonsense, at which Grytpype says, "You silly twisted boy, you.” Often, at the end of a bout of the “Whatwhatwhats”, Seagoon would segue into making the sound of a clucking chicken.
Neddie Seagoon was a character in the 1950s British
radio comedy
show, The Goon Show
. He was created and performed by Welshman Harry Secombe
.
Seagoon was usually the central character of a Goon Show episode, with Spike Milligan
and Peter Sellers
' many characters interacting with him and each other.
Neddie Seagoon was an affable but gullible idiot. Often chronically poor and/or part of the government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil servant), Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
(Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty
(Milligan), and needs the help of Bluebottle
(Sellers), Eccles
(Milligan), and sometimes even Major Bloodnok
(Sellers) to rescue himself.
Neddie's appearance was based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect. Thus, he was often described as very short, round and immensely fat. In "The Greenslade Story", John Snagge
describes him as "a little ball of fat", while in "The Mummified Priest" Bloodnok identifies him as Seagoon on the grounds "Who else could walk under a piano stool?" He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs). He shares Secombe's tenor
voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons". He was also generally Welsh; in "Tales of Men's Shirts" and "The Last of the Smoking Seagoons" he is referred to as Ned of Wales, and in "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", Greenslade introduces him with the line "a bundle of Welsh rags suddenly becomes animate."
His fatness is a particular subject of gags. In "Dishonoured" and "Dishonoured - Again", he gives his body mass as either 17 or 18 stone (in metric, 108-114kg) and his head mass at 20 stone (127kg), totalling either 235 or 241 kg, depending upon episode. Once, upon visiting Henry Crun's house in "Tales of Men's Shirts", Crun remarks "Did you know they've sent a rocket
to photograph the other side of you?" In the episode "Nineteen Eighty Five" (a parody of Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell) he says, "Over the weeks that they tortured me my weight dropped by ten stone
, I went down to a mere twenty stone." In "Robin Hood", Prince John (Dennis Price
) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Valentine Dyall
) discuss their adversary:
He also appears to have been Major Bloodnok
's batman at some point of time. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", we learn that he once loaned Bloodnok 100 pounds, which Bloodnok was willing to forget all about.
Neddie was usually the one who greeted the audience at the beginning of the show, referring to them as "folks" or "Dear Listeners", and introducing that week's story. He would often step out of the frame of the story, explaining elements of the plot to the audience or narrating some of the plot, and would usually converse with Wallace Greenslade
(The Goon Shows announcer); for instance:
The Seagoon character would sometimes have a different name depending on the setting of the plot; for instance:
Seagoon had several catch-phrases, seemingly random gibberish that became his trademarks, such as "Ying tong iddle I po!” (followed by a shout of “GOOD!” by someone else) and "Needle-nardle-noo". He would also express intense surprise by repeating the word "What?!" rapidly and in rising pitch, as "Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" (in "The Moon Show", Grytpype replies to this by saying, "Only ten whats [watts as in the unit of electricity]; you're not very bright, are you?"), and would do likewise with the word "Yes?" as "Yesyesyesyesyesyes?", generally motivating Grytpype-Thynne to request "Please don't do that." Seagoon also occasionally spouts patriotical nonsense, at which Grytpype says, "You silly twisted boy, you.” Often, at the end of a bout of the “Whatwhatwhats”, Seagoon would segue into making the sound of a clucking chicken.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio comedy
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
show, The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
. He was created and performed by Welshman Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
.
Seagoon was usually the central character of a Goon Show episode, with Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
' many characters interacting with him and each other.
Neddie Seagoon was an affable but gullible idiot. Often chronically poor and/or part of the government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil servant), Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne was a character from the British 1950s comedy radio programme The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers. In the episode "Who Is Pink Oboe?", Valentine Dyall filled-in for the role in Sellers' absence....
(Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty
Count Jim Moriarty
Count Jim Moriarty is a character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Spike Milligan...
(Milligan), and needs the help of Bluebottle
Bluebottle (character)
Bluebottle is a comedy character from the Goon Show, a 1950s British comedy radio show. The character was created and performed by Peter Sellers....
(Sellers), Eccles
Eccles (character)
T.F. Eccles is the name of a comedy character, created and performed by Spike Milligan, from the 1950s United Kingdom radio comedy series The Goon Show. In the episode "The Macreekie Rising of '74", Peter Sellers had to fill-in for the role in Milligan's absence...
(Milligan), and sometimes even Major Bloodnok
Major Bloodnok
Major Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
(Sellers) to rescue himself.
Neddie's appearance was based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect. Thus, he was often described as very short, round and immensely fat. In "The Greenslade Story", John Snagge
John Snagge
John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge OBE was a long-time British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio.Born in Chelsea, London, he was educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in law. He then joined the BBC, taking up the position of assistant director at...
describes him as "a little ball of fat", while in "The Mummified Priest" Bloodnok identifies him as Seagoon on the grounds "Who else could walk under a piano stool?" He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs). He shares Secombe's tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons". He was also generally Welsh; in "Tales of Men's Shirts" and "The Last of the Smoking Seagoons" he is referred to as Ned of Wales, and in "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", Greenslade introduces him with the line "a bundle of Welsh rags suddenly becomes animate."
His fatness is a particular subject of gags. In "Dishonoured" and "Dishonoured - Again", he gives his body mass as either 17 or 18 stone (in metric, 108-114kg) and his head mass at 20 stone (127kg), totalling either 235 or 241 kg, depending upon episode. Once, upon visiting Henry Crun's house in "Tales of Men's Shirts", Crun remarks "Did you know they've sent a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
to photograph the other side of you?" In the episode "Nineteen Eighty Five" (a parody of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
by George Orwell) he says, "Over the weeks that they tortured me my weight dropped by ten stone
Stone (weight)
The stone is a units of measurement that was used in many North European countries until the advent of metrication. It value, which ranged from 3 kg to 12 kg, varied from city to city and also often from commodity to commodity...
, I went down to a mere twenty stone." In "Robin Hood", Prince John (Dennis Price
Dennis Price
Dennis Price was an English actor, remembered for his suave screen roles, particularly Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and for his portrayal of the omniscient valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G...
) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...
) discuss their adversary:
He also appears to have been Major Bloodnok
Major Bloodnok
Major Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
's batman at some point of time. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", we learn that he once loaned Bloodnok 100 pounds, which Bloodnok was willing to forget all about.
Neddie was usually the one who greeted the audience at the beginning of the show, referring to them as "folks" or "Dear Listeners", and introducing that week's story. He would often step out of the frame of the story, explaining elements of the plot to the audience or narrating some of the plot, and would usually converse with Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Greenslade was a BBC announcer and newsreader. He is mainly remembered for being the announcer - and frequently the straight man - for the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show during most of its run.Greenslade was born at Formby, Lancashire...
(The Goon Shows announcer); for instance:
The Seagoon character would sometimes have a different name depending on the setting of the plot; for instance:
- Caractacus Seagoon, as the ancient Welsh tribal chieftain, in "The Histories of Pliny The Elder",
- Winston Seagoon (a parody of Winston SmithWinston SmithWinston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
) in "Nineteen Eighty Five" - Professor Ned Quatermess in "The Scarlet Capsule" (a parody of the Quatermass sci-fi TV series Quatermass and the PitQuatermass and the PitQuatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
) - Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
in "The Flea", set in the London of 1665 (Bloodnok briefly refers to him as "Sea Goon", using it as a descriptive term referring to Pepys' state as secretary to the Navy.) - Neddie Toulouse-Lautrec in "Tales of Montmartre"
- Ned Scratchit in "A Christmas Carol", a parody of Dickens' Christmas story, and
- Robin HoodRobin HoodRobin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
in "Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest”.
Seagoon had several catch-phrases, seemingly random gibberish that became his trademarks, such as "Ying tong iddle I po!” (followed by a shout of “GOOD!” by someone else) and "Needle-nardle-noo". He would also express intense surprise by repeating the word "What?!" rapidly and in rising pitch, as "Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" (in "The Moon Show", Grytpype replies to this by saying, "Only ten whats [watts as in the unit of electricity]; you're not very bright, are you?"), and would do likewise with the word "Yes?" as "Yesyesyesyesyesyes?", generally motivating Grytpype-Thynne to request "Please don't do that." Seagoon also occasionally spouts patriotical nonsense, at which Grytpype says, "You silly twisted boy, you.” Often, at the end of a bout of the “Whatwhatwhats”, Seagoon would segue into making the sound of a clucking chicken.
Neddie Seagoon was a character in the 1950s British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio comedy
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
show, The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
. He was created and performed by Welshman Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
.
Seagoon was usually the central character of a Goon Show episode, with Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
' many characters interacting with him and each other.
Neddie Seagoon was an affable but gullible idiot. Often chronically poor and/or part of the government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil servant), Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne was a character from the British 1950s comedy radio programme The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers. In the episode "Who Is Pink Oboe?", Valentine Dyall filled-in for the role in Sellers' absence....
(Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty
Count Jim Moriarty
Count Jim Moriarty is a character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Spike Milligan...
(Milligan), and needs the help of Bluebottle
Bluebottle (character)
Bluebottle is a comedy character from the Goon Show, a 1950s British comedy radio show. The character was created and performed by Peter Sellers....
(Sellers), Eccles
Eccles (character)
T.F. Eccles is the name of a comedy character, created and performed by Spike Milligan, from the 1950s United Kingdom radio comedy series The Goon Show. In the episode "The Macreekie Rising of '74", Peter Sellers had to fill-in for the role in Milligan's absence...
(Milligan), and sometimes even Major Bloodnok
Major Bloodnok
Major Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
(Sellers) to rescue himself.
Neddie's appearance was based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect. Thus, he was often described as very short, round and immensely fat. In "The Greenslade Story", John Snagge
John Snagge
John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge OBE was a long-time British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio.Born in Chelsea, London, he was educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in law. He then joined the BBC, taking up the position of assistant director at...
describes him as "a little ball of fat", while in "The Mummified Priest" Bloodnok identifies him as Seagoon on the grounds "Who else could walk under a piano stool?" He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs). He shares Secombe's tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons". He was also generally Welsh; in "Tales of Men's Shirts" and "The Last of the Smoking Seagoons" he is referred to as Ned of Wales, and in "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", Greenslade introduces him with the line "a bundle of Welsh rags suddenly becomes animate."
His fatness is a particular subject of gags. In "Dishonoured" and "Dishonoured - Again", he gives his body mass as either 17 or 18 stone (in metric, 108-114kg) and his head mass at 20 stone (127kg), totalling either 235 or 241 kg, depending upon episode. Once, upon visiting Henry Crun's house in "Tales of Men's Shirts", Crun remarks "Did you know they've sent a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
to photograph the other side of you?" In the episode "Nineteen Eighty Five" (a parody of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
by George Orwell) he says, "Over the weeks that they tortured me my weight dropped by ten stone
Stone (weight)
The stone is a units of measurement that was used in many North European countries until the advent of metrication. It value, which ranged from 3 kg to 12 kg, varied from city to city and also often from commodity to commodity...
, I went down to a mere twenty stone." In "Robin Hood", Prince John (Dennis Price
Dennis Price
Dennis Price was an English actor, remembered for his suave screen roles, particularly Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and for his portrayal of the omniscient valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G...
) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...
) discuss their adversary:
He also appears to have been Major Bloodnok
Major Bloodnok
Major Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
's batman at some point of time. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", we learn that he once loaned Bloodnok 100 pounds, which Bloodnok was willing to forget all about.
Neddie was usually the one who greeted the audience at the beginning of the show, referring to them as "folks" or "Dear Listeners", and introducing that week's story. He would often step out of the frame of the story, explaining elements of the plot to the audience or narrating some of the plot, and would usually converse with Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Greenslade was a BBC announcer and newsreader. He is mainly remembered for being the announcer - and frequently the straight man - for the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show during most of its run.Greenslade was born at Formby, Lancashire...
(The Goon Shows announcer); for instance:
The Seagoon character would sometimes have a different name depending on the setting of the plot; for instance:
- Caractacus Seagoon, as the ancient Welsh tribal chieftain, in "The Histories of Pliny The Elder",
- Winston Seagoon (a parody of Winston SmithWinston SmithWinston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
) in "Nineteen Eighty Five" - Professor Ned Quatermess in "The Scarlet Capsule" (a parody of the Quatermass sci-fi TV series Quatermass and the PitQuatermass and the PitQuatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
) - Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
in "The Flea", set in the London of 1665 (Bloodnok briefly refers to him as "Sea Goon", using it as a descriptive term referring to Pepys' state as secretary to the Navy.) - Neddie Toulouse-Lautrec in "Tales of Montmartre"
- Ned Scratchit in "A Christmas Carol", a parody of Dickens' Christmas story, and
- Robin HoodRobin HoodRobin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
in "Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest”.
Seagoon had several catch-phrases, seemingly random gibberish that became his trademarks, such as "Ying tong iddle I po!” (followed by a shout of “GOOD!” by someone else) and "Needle-nardle-noo". He would also express intense surprise by repeating the word "What?!" rapidly and in rising pitch, as "Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" (in "The Moon Show", Grytpype replies to this by saying, "Only ten whats [watts as in the unit of electricity]; you're not very bright, are you?"), and would do likewise with the word "Yes?" as "Yesyesyesyesyesyes?", generally motivating Grytpype-Thynne to request "Please don't do that." Seagoon also occasionally spouts patriotical nonsense, at which Grytpype says, "You silly twisted boy, you.” Often, at the end of a bout of the “Whatwhatwhats”, Seagoon would segue into making the sound of a clucking chicken.
Neddie Seagoon was a character in the 1950s British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio comedy
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
show, The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
. He was created and performed by Welshman Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
.
Seagoon was usually the central character of a Goon Show episode, with Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
' many characters interacting with him and each other.
Neddie Seagoon was an affable but gullible idiot. Often chronically poor and/or part of the government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil servant), Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne was a character from the British 1950s comedy radio programme The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers. In the episode "Who Is Pink Oboe?", Valentine Dyall filled-in for the role in Sellers' absence....
(Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty
Count Jim Moriarty
Count Jim Moriarty is a character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Spike Milligan...
(Milligan), and needs the help of Bluebottle
Bluebottle (character)
Bluebottle is a comedy character from the Goon Show, a 1950s British comedy radio show. The character was created and performed by Peter Sellers....
(Sellers), Eccles
Eccles (character)
T.F. Eccles is the name of a comedy character, created and performed by Spike Milligan, from the 1950s United Kingdom radio comedy series The Goon Show. In the episode "The Macreekie Rising of '74", Peter Sellers had to fill-in for the role in Milligan's absence...
(Milligan), and sometimes even Major Bloodnok
Major Bloodnok
Major Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
(Sellers) to rescue himself.
Neddie's appearance was based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect. Thus, he was often described as very short, round and immensely fat. In "The Greenslade Story", John Snagge
John Snagge
John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge OBE was a long-time British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio.Born in Chelsea, London, he was educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in law. He then joined the BBC, taking up the position of assistant director at...
describes him as "a little ball of fat", while in "The Mummified Priest" Bloodnok identifies him as Seagoon on the grounds "Who else could walk under a piano stool?" He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs). He shares Secombe's tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons". He was also generally Welsh; in "Tales of Men's Shirts" and "The Last of the Smoking Seagoons" he is referred to as Ned of Wales, and in "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", Greenslade introduces him with the line "a bundle of Welsh rags suddenly becomes animate."
His fatness is a particular subject of gags. In "Dishonoured" and "Dishonoured - Again", he gives his body mass as either 17 or 18 stone (in metric, 108-114kg) and his head mass at 20 stone (127kg), totalling either 235 or 241 kg, depending upon episode. Once, upon visiting Henry Crun's house in "Tales of Men's Shirts", Crun remarks "Did you know they've sent a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
to photograph the other side of you?" In the episode "Nineteen Eighty Five" (a parody of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
by George Orwell) he says, "Over the weeks that they tortured me my weight dropped by ten stone
Stone (weight)
The stone is a units of measurement that was used in many North European countries until the advent of metrication. It value, which ranged from 3 kg to 12 kg, varied from city to city and also often from commodity to commodity...
, I went down to a mere twenty stone." In "Robin Hood", Prince John (Dennis Price
Dennis Price
Dennis Price was an English actor, remembered for his suave screen roles, particularly Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and for his portrayal of the omniscient valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G...
) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...
) discuss their adversary:
He also appears to have been Major Bloodnok
Major Bloodnok
Major Denis Bloodnok, IND. ARM. RTD. coward and bar is a fictional character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Peter Sellers.-Basis of character:...
's batman at some point of time. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy", we learn that he once loaned Bloodnok 100 pounds, which Bloodnok was willing to forget all about.
Neddie was usually the one who greeted the audience at the beginning of the show, referring to them as "folks" or "Dear Listeners", and introducing that week's story. He would often step out of the frame of the story, explaining elements of the plot to the audience or narrating some of the plot, and would usually converse with Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Greenslade was a BBC announcer and newsreader. He is mainly remembered for being the announcer - and frequently the straight man - for the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show during most of its run.Greenslade was born at Formby, Lancashire...
(The Goon Shows announcer); for instance:
The Seagoon character would sometimes have a different name depending on the setting of the plot; for instance:
- Caractacus Seagoon, as the ancient Welsh tribal chieftain, in "The Histories of Pliny The Elder",
- Winston Seagoon (a parody of Winston SmithWinston SmithWinston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
) in "Nineteen Eighty Five" - Professor Ned Quatermess in "The Scarlet Capsule" (a parody of the Quatermass sci-fi TV series Quatermass and the PitQuatermass and the PitQuatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
) - Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
in "The Flea", set in the London of 1665 (Bloodnok briefly refers to him as "Sea Goon", using it as a descriptive term referring to Pepys' state as secretary to the Navy.) - Neddie Toulouse-Lautrec in "Tales of Montmartre"
- Ned Scratchit in "A Christmas Carol", a parody of Dickens' Christmas story, and
- Robin HoodRobin HoodRobin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
in "Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest”.
Seagoon had several catch-phrases, seemingly random gibberish that became his trademarks, such as "Ying tong iddle I po!” (followed by a shout of “GOOD!” by someone else) and "Needle-nardle-noo". He would also express intense surprise by repeating the word "What?!" rapidly and in rising pitch, as "Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?" (in "The Moon Show", Grytpype replies to this by saying, "Only ten whats [watts as in the unit of electricity]; you're not very bright, are you?"), and would do likewise with the word "Yes?" as "Yesyesyesyesyesyes?", generally motivating Grytpype-Thynne to request "Please don't do that." Seagoon also occasionally spouts patriotical nonsense, at which Grytpype says, "You silly twisted boy, you.” Often, at the end of a bout of the “Whatwhatwhats”, Seagoon would segue into making the sound of a clucking chicken.