The Official Goodies Rule - OK! Fan Club Website

THE GOODIES CLARION AND GLOBE

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF 'THE GOODIES RULE - OK' FAN CLUB

Issue No. 63 15th March 2001

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

Newsletter enquiries: clarion@goodiesruleok.com

General enquiries: enquiries@goodiesruleok.com

'The Goodies Rule - OK!'

Chadstone VIC 3148, AUSTRALIA

THE LADS AND LASSES OF THE C&G

Marilyn Burge, Adam Griffiths, Jayne Brewster-Beard, Daniel Bowen, Andrew Clarke

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO: Tim Brooke-Taylor.

1. THE TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR INTERVIEW - Part One

2. QUIZ & QUOTE - Goodies brainteasers for you and you and you.

3. BOFFO IDEAS - Club happenings and ideas.

4. SPOTTED!!! - The latest Goodies sightings.

5. 2001 AND A BIT - Tim, Graeme and Bill sightings post-Goodies.

6. FEATURE ARTICLE - The Goodies Greatest Hits

7. GOODIES EPISODE SUMMARY - Way Outward Bound

8.. GOODIES FOR SALE!

9.. QUIZ & QUOTE ANSWERS

1. THE TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR INTERVIEW - PART ONE

Our resident Goodie, Tim Brooke-Taylor has been "officially amazing" enough to answer a stack of interesting questions that you, our C&G readers, have sent in to him, so here is the first instalment of Tim's replies:

HOW CLOSE ARE THE THREE OF YOU TO YOUR GOODIES CHARACTERS?

Superficially - very. I happen to be a woolly, left of centre (just) liberal - and not the raving fascist of my character. Bill was pretty far to the left, but not quite so far now I would guess. And Graeme - well - Mr Wise is Mr Wise. Very pragmatic. We always reckoned that Bill's character echoed all our ideas and beliefs more than any other. I am patriotic. But not to the point of turning down Europe. And I do have a double-barrelled name which takes a bit of living down to.

WHAT INSPIRED THE GOODIES TO DO A LIGHTHOUSE EPISODE, AND WAS THE SET IN THIS EPISODE THE SAME ONE USED IN THE DOCTOR WHO EPISODE "HORROR AT FANG ROCK"

I cannot tell you whether this was the Dr Who set. But it's more than likely. I suspect that the whole episode was based on the pun - a little light housekeeping. An uncle of mine pointed out an ad for 'someone to do a little lighthouse keeping, 3 hrs a week'.

ACCORDING TO THE 1976 WISDEN CRICKETERS ALMANAC THERE IS RECORD OF A T.BROOKE-TAYLOR PLAYING IN A 12-A-SIDE CHARITY MATCH AT LORDS ON 18 AUGUST 1975. HE PERFORMED REMARKABLY WELL IN THIS MATCH, CATCHING ONE D.C.S. COMPTON AND RETURNING THE BOWLING FIGURES OF 1-0-8-0 AND THEN FOLLOWING THIS UP WITH 2 NOT OUT WHEN BATTING AT #11 TO TIE THE MATCH... I HAVE TO KNOW, WAS THIS *THE* T.BROOKE-TAYLOR OR SOMEONE ELSE?!

I'm glad you brought this up. And delighted to know that it made Wisden. Yes it was me. I still tell the story of fielding in front of a 17,000 crowd (the ground was full) and a ball coming towards me. I murmured a little prayer, 'Please God, just this once, let me catch the ball in front of so many people'. I did, only to hear the whole crowd let out a huge groan. I had caught the great Denis Compton, on his first appearance at Lords for many, many years, when he was on 49! As he went by I said 'I'm so sorry Denis'. To which he replied, 'Don't worry son, I was knackered'. I got to know Denis quite well later and he appeared as a guest on my 'This Is Your Life' where the great man made out that I was great loss to Test cricket. In fact I was a very average player, but he was a generous man and wanted to make me feel good.

I OFTEN AMUSE MYSELF (PLEASE CONFIRM THAT I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE OUT THERE DOING THIS!!) WITH WHAT NATIONAL SCANDALS THE GOODIES WOULD CHOOSE TO MIMIC IF YOU WERE STILL WRITING SCRIPTS TODAY? (I CAN SEE THE THREE OF YOU DRESSED UP AS MAD COWS AFTER THE SCARE...)

Mad cows certainly. I could see us defining 'mad', for example as a cow that liked watching Nicholas Parsons and playing Max Bygraves records. And being the head of BBC 2 and not re-playing the Goodies.

WHAT FAMOUS PERSONAGES WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LAUGH OFF NOWADAYS? (YOU COULD STILL GET MILEAGE OUT OF CILLA, ROLF AND NICHOLAS PARSONS, THOUGH TONY BLACKBURN AND BARBARA WOODHOUSE WOULD NEED REPLACING)

Anne Robinson. Jeffrey Archer, Oasis, Anne Widdecome, Chris Tarrant, the Teletubbies, Boy Bands. I need to think further on this.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF SOMETHING NEW FROM THE GOODIES?

Strangely enough there's quite a bit of talk of us doing a radio show together. There's quite a bit of interest. I really think we need some UK terrestrial repeats first. Yes I'm still optimistic.

WAS THERE EVER ANY FRICTION BETWEEN TIMBOLINA AND DAME EDNA EVERAGE?

I actually went to see Dame Edna quite a few years ago and found that I'd been put in the front row. I changed my seat. I'm not completely stupid. I am, in fact, a great fan of the dame.

Timita would have put up a good fight, if required.

WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER, APART FROM THE GOODIES?

That's difficult, because somethings become highlights in retrospect - the two radio shows I'm Sorry I'll read That Again and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue being cases in point.

I was very proud of following Peter Cook on the Braden Beat many years ago, in a thirteen week run in a solo spot. Wrote and performed.

The first series of You Must Be the Husband is one of the best things I have ever done. Not so, sadly, the second.

Dying the death with Marty at the Royal Command Show. And writing and acting with Orson Welles.

I'm also very pleased with the radio programme I wrote and presented last year. 'Tim's Links'.

I've just heard an audio tape of Graeme and myself in Broaden Your Mind. Our writing and performing as 'Teddy and Freddie was actually better than I remembered..

Other than that it's quite big things I've 'got away with'

I always forget - 'Hello Cheeky' the radio series were something to be proud of.

IN 'I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T A CLUE', THERE IS A ROUND CALLED 'PICK UP SONG', (WHERE EACH PANELLIST HAS TO TRY TO STAY IN TIME WITH A SONG WHILE THE VOLUME IS TURNED DOWN, AND THEN UP AGAIN AFTER A SUITABLE PERIOD). THE ONLY SONGS THAT I'VE HEARD YOU STAY IN TIME WITH ARE 'THE LONELY GOATHERD' (THE YODELLING CLASSIC FROM THE SOUND OF MUSIC) AND ' LONG HAIRED LOVER FROM LIVERPOOL' BY JIMMY OSMOND - BOTH SUNG IN A RATHER STARTLING FALSETTO. DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT TO MAKE ON THIS? AND HOW DOES GRAEME ALWAYS MANAGE TO STAY IN TIME? DOES HE CHEAT OR HAS HE GOT RHYTHM?

No he doesn't. And, if he does, he's just lucky.

Seriously, he does have a very good sense of time. I've noticed that recently I've had quite a good success rate. I have to admit through sheer luck though, as I've tended to do the 'modern' music (i.e. anything since 1932).

Goatherd and Long haired Lover are easy rhythms - that's why I had a success with the Monkees. To be honest I don't mind if anyone's in time as long as it's a laugh. Willie Rushton was the best. He's mumble a bit of the song, then ramble on about what a rotten song it was and invariably get it right.

WHICH SKETCHES DID YOU WRITE FOR 'AT LAST THE 1948 SHOW'?

I honestly cannot remember in detail. I did write the Chartered Accountant and one about a one man army. I also had a hand in co-writing quite number with Marty. We all wrote the Four Yorkshiremen.

ARE YOU A GRANDFATHER?

Not that I know of. But I have one married son and the other is marrying in August. And anyway I'm far too young.

More of Tim's fabulous replies will appear in next month's C&G. Meanwhile if you have a question that you'd like to ask Tim, please send it in to <clarion@goodiesruleok.com>

QUOTE: "I have already totally exhausted all the possibilities of breeding dogs... with dogs."

(a) Which Goodie was responsible for this rather loony quote?

(b) Which episode is this quote from?

QUIZ: This month's questions are from the episode "Cunning Stunts"

(d) What is the major scoop that Ace Reporter Bill returns to the office with?

(e) How does Bill supposedly win the hand of Mildred Makepeace in marriage?

(f) Who comes to the door seeking to replace Bill as a Goodie?

(g) What is Graeme's verbal response when Mildred rejects him?

(h) Which unusual contest does a depressed Bill enter?

The answers are listed at the end of this newsletter.

You can make it happen here. Liven up the club with a boffo idea for bob-a-job week. E-mail <clarion@goodiesruleok.com> with your comments, ideas or suggestions - meanwhile these are the boffo ideas which our club has been working on this month:

PERTH GOODIES VIDEO NIGHT

A Goodies video night will be held in Perth on Friday March 16, 7pm onwards at

Level 4, 79 Stirling Street (opposite Telstra)

There is a $5 entry fee and the episodes to be screened are: Radio Goodies, Lighthouse Keeping Loonies, Kung Fu Capers and Almighty Cod. Please contact the organiser Sandra Wright at <swright@tlcwa.org.au> for further details.

WORKING THE (TELEPHONE) LINE

(by Kay Dickinson - posted to Goodies-l on March 13th and 14th)

If you fancy The Goodies theme tune blasting out from your mobile whenever you get a call, go to www.dialaring.com - UK and Australia and/or www.mobiletones.com - UK and put in a request for it.

They say that if they have anough request for a tune, they'll do it - so even if your mobile's not compatible, or you're not bothered (or even if you've not got one!) please put in a request so we can get them to at least give us the choice. Anyone got Jane Root's mobile number so we can send it to her??

To request a tune, go to the "Make A Request" link at the top, but with the Mobiletones.com, don't go to "Suggestions and Requests" on the picture of the mobile - click the TV ringtones link and select "Suggest a ringtone" on the left of the screen (for some reason, this brings up a different form to the "suggestions and requests" one)

IT'S ONLY AN ANAGRAM!

(by Lisa Manekofsky and Brett Allender)

Announcing the Goodies Rule - OK! Anagram Challenge

A recent survey of the Clarion & Globe readers found that they would like more Goodies-related games and activities. We'd like to propose an activity for everyone to participate in - the Goodies Rule-OK! Anagram Challenge.

As you probably already know, an anagram is a word or phrase made by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. Some people are very talented at making anagrams; the rest of us can take advantage of the many anagram generators that are available on the web. The challenge is to find interesting or amusing results from the hundreds (or even thousands) of anagrams that can be generated from Goodies-related words or phrases.

A past edition of the C&G has already revealed that the name "Tim Brooke-Taylor" is really just an anagram for the extremely useful "rear lobotomy kit" (who could ever survive without one!) so fire up those anagram generators and reveal what sort of deep and meaningful phrases lie hidden in sayings like "hoots toots och aye the noo", "grand master of eckythump" and "plague of Rolf Harrises" just to name a few!

Interested in taking up the challenge? If so, generate your anagrams, pick the best results, and email them to <clarion@goodiesruleok.com>. Be sure to indicate the original word/phrase you used. The judges' favorite anagrams will appear in upcoming issues of the Clarion & Globe (with credit given to the person who submitted them). And if you're really lucky, you might even win a night of mixed dancing at Disco Bilius with Robin Day, er Yad ... who definitely wouldn't appear in anything as degenerate as the C&G!

More exciting than getting your wig-spotters badge! If you've seen the Goodies recently, e-mail <clarion@goodiesruleok.com>with the details. Here's where we've Spotted!!! The Goodies this month:

THE GOODIES - A TOP TEN REQUEST

Well done and many thanks to my parents who posted me a number of things from home recently including the article "Repeat Performers" which appeared in the Adelaide Advertiser on 3rd January 2001. The article lists the top ten most requested repeat programmes on Australian television, which are (in alphabetical order) "The Brady Bunch", "Brideshead Revisited", "Fawlty Towers", "Friends", "Get Smart", "The Goodies", "SeaChange", "Seinfeld", "The Simpsons" and "The Vicar of Dibley".

Mysteriously, regularly repeated programmes "The Good Life", "To The Manor Born", "The Nanny" and "Keeping Up Appearances" failed to make the list or get a mention by the various network programming supremos interviewed for the article. Whereas the only programme on the list that does not enjoy regular free-to-air repeats, "The Goodies", was discussed enthusiastically by Peter Andrews, program director at Channel 7, Sydney (and not ABC program manager Sue Lester): "People grew up with things and they just love seeing them again - 'The Goodies' is a good example of that. People used to come home from school and tune in to it are always asking us to bring that back. It seems to have this wealth of memories attached to it."

Blimey! If people are saying to Channel 7, who broadcast the LWT series, twice, in 1984 and 1989, that they'd like to see "The Goodies" again, how many requests must the ABC be getting? You'd think they'd do something about it, wouldn't you? That address again:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

ABC Corporate Relations

Meanwhile, the only place you can see top 10 most requested repeat programme "The Goodies" is UK-TV, part of the Foxtel and Austar pay-TV networks. It is at this point that I should probably say something terribly nice about Murdoch-owned TV empires having the right attitude, but I wouldn't want to go too far, after all these are the people who made Cornelia Frances host of the Australian "Weakest Link". Actually that's quite funny. Hahahahahahaha. That Rupe, he's a right laugh!

GOODIES CDS IN MELBOURNE

(from information posted to Goodies-l by Brian Labza, Daniel Bowen and Andrew Clarke)

(March 9th) Quick news item if you live in the Melbourne area:

The CD "FUNKY GIBBON - THE BEST OF THE GOODIES" is available for $10 at the

Hipper CD shop, in Southgate Shopping Centre (city).

When I was there they had about 40 copies (40!!), all in pristine condition, 'wrapped in plastic'. This shop traditionally has a high turnover, as everything in the shop is $10, so if you would like one, I would suggest you get yourself there very quickly!

(March 12th) Just to let people in Melbourne know, as of yesterday Hipper still had at least 10 copies. Note that JB Hi Fi in Elizabeth Street has several copies of "Yum Yum" (the one with 4 more tracks and a rather sarcastic written piece from Bill Oddie) for $17.99.

Track list for Funky Gibbon:

Track list for Yum Yum:

RADIO LANCASHIRE, BOOM!

(contributed by Kay Dickinson)

Tim Brooke-Taylor was recently interviewed by BBC Radio Lancashire presenter Dave Swanton, and the interview was broadcast on Saturday 3rd March on Dave's "Sounds Like The Seventies" show.

The interview starts with The Goodies Theme tune.

DS: Well, that's the biggest clue you're going to get tonight. My favourite television programme in the 1970s and one of the stars of the Goodies, good evening Tim Brooke-Taylor.

DS: Well, I was just looking through the record books - The Goodies ran for twelve years - it must have been a lot of fun?

TBT: Yes it was - the great thing was that we were good mates anyway. It was hard work, I have to say, trying to make a programme look expensive when it wasn't that expensive but it was great, it was - we were very lucky.

DS: You had some top guests on the show round about that time - Cilla Black; Tony Blackburn, a big guest [laugh from Tim]; John Cleese, Patrick Moore and Eddie Waring.

TBT: Eddie Waring was great, yes, he was on a few times I think. John Cleese came on under sufferance - called us "childish" [laughs]. I'm not sure Cilla was actually on, I think she was only a... we had her in the background I think - we tried to put her down...

DS: Aaah - who wrote the scripts to the shows - did you all three of you pile in together and say "right, this is what we're going to do"?

TBT: I have to give the credit to the other two really - I mean, I wrote bits and we used to at the beginning of each series, we'd sit around and think of different ideas. We usually, actually, had quite a straight list of subjects and the one I can always remember is - we all came from the North, I came from Buxton and Graeme came from Preston and Bill came from Rochdale - and we were going to do "The North" in flat caps and things like that. And kung-fu was around and something else and we did a whole thing about "Ecky Thump", which was the Northern kung-fu. And it was one of those ways you could do a sort of sketch with a story that was running through, that was the idea of it.

DS: One thing I always remember about The Goodies as well, was you always used to wear the suit with the Union Jack waistcoat - how did that come about?

TBT: Well... it didn't start that way. Basically, the premise was that we represented sort of Tory, middle-of-the-road, bolshy left - you can guess which one was which! And so I played the cowardly upper class twit, and gradually the Union Jack came in as a part of my patriotic side. I was a fairly unpleasant character, actually!

DS: No, I wouldn't say that [Tim laughs] - no, I don't think anybody would agree!

TBT: I've agreed with the "cowardly" bit!

DS: [laughs] I've got the CD actually - there were loads of hits - obviously, The Funky Gibbon, The Inbetweenies, Black Pudding Bertha and a very, very famous Christmas one which I play every year, Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me...

TBT: That was never played at the time...

DS: No, I'm not surprised!

TBT: It's one of the reasons that The Inbetweenies sold so well - it's because it was the naughty double-A side, I think it was.

DS: The sad thing about it is that The Goodies has never been re-run on British television, but they're absolutely massive at the other side of the world, in Australia!

TBT: Yeah - they're bright people! [both laugh]. I went there, as you probably know, last April to a Goodies convention and the point is that it's gone on being shown there, and they used to show it sort of early evening, with Dr Who - and the great thing was that the kids that watched it when they were young came back to it when they were in their twenties and suddenly realised there was a bit more than they'd realised the first - a bit like the Simpsons, actually.

DS: I was going to say, to be honest, I think all our listeners should write to the BBC and ask for it to be on - even if it goes on a cable channel. If Ted Rogers with "3-2-1" can be on, The Goodies should be on there as well.

TBT: Well I think what amazed us was they've just done "I Love The 70s" and they were going to put a Goodies out each week 'cos we covered the whole decade and then it was going to be one show and then they didn't put out one. And you thought, if you're dealing with comedy in the whole of the 70s, surely they should've, instead of another repeat of The Good Life or Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em which we do see - good though they are - rather too often.

DS: As well as that, people can still hear you on the radio today - you must have one of the longest running radio shows with "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" - been on radio 29 years.

TBT: Funnily enough, I've just been watching - because there was nothing else on - University Challenge yesterday and suddenly somebody in desperation said, "Mornington Crescent!" - that's a radio game now played, which of course we do on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, but it was the idea that on University Challenge it should come up in a question, it's bizarre! But it is, it's 28 years - 29 years...

DS: As well as that, in the mid-1980s there was another television programme, very successful, "Me & My Girl"

TBT: Mmm - with Richard O'Sullivan, who was a terrific comedy actor, great guy, good friend.

DS: And when we were discussing it on the telephone this morning, I actually said to you, "you were in the film Willy Wonka, weren't you?" - Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory?

TBT: Yes, yes - you have to be quite bright to see me, I'm there for about a minute, I think. I was a guy in charge of a computer, trying to spot where the golden tickets were, and I eventually told the computer what to do with its golden tickets! But it's one of those things that when it first came out, Willy Wonka, it was no success at all, it didn't even get general release, it's one of those things that appears at Christmas and actually, I think, gets better and better somehow. I think Gene Wilder's a genius in it.

DS: He certainly is. Never get tired of watching that film, actually. I remember buying the book for my kids and they said, "No, we don't want the book, we want to watch the film.

TBT: Well, they're bright kids... [both laugh]

DS: Yeah, well that was a while ago - they're teenagers now and know it all!

TBT: Well now they can see The Goodies - I think there are still a couple of videos the BBC keep very very quiet about...

DS: Top of the Pops as well - that must've been a lot of fun, doing things like The Funky Gibbon and Black Pudding Bertha?

TBT: That was brilliant - because it wasn't our job, if you see what I mean, we weren't pop singers - and to go on something like that and dance around and then go out to eat with Pan's People afterwards was my idea of sheer heaven! And I was going to say "and be taken seriously" but only seriously in a musical sense in that actually, our backing tracks were brilliant - the problem with us was that we had to do it with the live band there - most people nowadays mime, never mind do it to their backing track, we had to do it to the band, which was fairly hair-raising but great fun because it was one of those things, "Am I on Top of the Pops? - Yes!!" I used to say we were far too old, because we were in our mid-30s but actually, half the people on the show were probably in their 60s and the other half were about 14 [laughs] - hence, "The Inbetweenies"!

DS: Do you still keep in touch with the other two, Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden?

TBT: Yeah - Graeme I still do I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue with, of course, so I see him regularly and Bill and I just phone each other every now and again - usually to whinge about the fact the BBC haven't repeated The Goodies! - and various other things and, we're still friends but obviously for about 11 or 12 years we practically lived together - people thought of us like The Wombles, really - just lived in some burrow somewhere.

DS: The other thing as well - "One Foot In The Grave" - 1997 Christmas edition. [TBT: Yeah] You were in that - did you enjoy working with Richard Wilson?

TBT: I loved that - the really annoying thing about that was - Angus Deayton moved out and so - they do a lot of auditioning for people and after a lot of it, it came down to me, and I moved in and there was a Christmas special.

DS: Well, what we're going to do, we're going to ask all our listeners to write to the BBC, as we said earlier, to get The Goodies back on TV and we're going to take full credit! Tim Brooke-Taylor, thanks for your time, thanks for joining us.

Plays out with "Funky Gibbon"

I wonder if Tim realised that, as with the BBC Entertainment website's "Sketchpad", he yet again had the ignominity of following Nicholas Parsons, who was interviewed by Dave Swanton the week before!!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GOODIES SKETCH

(from information contributed by Jane Brewster-Beard)

http://www.tradingfaces.freeservers.com is the website of Goodies fan club member and artist Jayne Brewster-Beard. Her "virtual gallery" contains an excellent drawing of the Goodies which she exhibited in London a couple of years back. Apparently Tim was very complimentary about it when Jayne posted him a copy, as he thanked her for making him look 'like a greek god'. "I used to see myself that way," he added, " Then I'd wake up...."

T'ANCIENT LANCASTRIAN ART OF ECKYTHUMP CAN GET YOU EXPELLED... !

The following newsgroup posting was forwarded to the Goodies-l list by Daniel Bowen on February 28th:

From: Simon Tushingham

Sent: Wednesday, 28 February 2001 14:29

To: visbas-OT@yahoogroups.com

Subject: RE: [visbas-OT] Ecky Thump!

From a website re: my alma mater (not me writing & the Hudson referred to D B Hudson, headmaster):

My brother who was five years ahead of me at Stand told me of your site. I was at Stand from 1971 to 1979. Does anyone remember Dave Crook?

He was bet by his so called "mates" that he wouldn't hit Hudson on the head with a black pudding during morning assembly. Sure enough on the day he crept onto the side of the stage, dressed in cloth cap, braces, and rolled up trousers and bovver boots. He walked up to Hudson, tapped him on the shoulder, and hit him on the head with the pudding to the war cry "ecky thump!". He was expelled on the spot although most of us were laughing so much we didn't hear that bit!

There followed a (not very strenuous) "Dave Crook is innocent campaign" but alas the lad lost his place at Stand and I believe a job for which he had an offer.

He did get his 15 minutes of fame though as it got 1/3 page in a leading tabloid.

Simon Tushingham has also been in touch with GROK separately regarding this famous "ecky thump" attack and is very interested in unearthing further information about it, particularly a copy of the article from the unknown tabloid. Do any of our British GROK members know anything more about this story?

5. 2001 AND A BIT

If you've sighted Tim, Bill or Graeme in a post-Goodies role, e-mail <clarion@goodiesruleok.com> so that we can tell everyone where to spot a Goodie nowadays.

WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY

(from information contributed by Adam Griffiths)

Foxtel's Comedy Channel is showing "Whose Line Is It Anyway" every weekday at 7:30pm. It features Graeme as his clever and witty self and it's likely that the shows will be repeated again soon.

GRAEME ON RADIO 4

Graeme Garden was in a Radio 4 play 'Spy Nozy and the Poets' by Paul B

Davies on Thursday 22nd at 2.15pm. Martin Clunes also starred.

To celebrate this years Comic Relief, 'TOTP2' (a retro version of Top of the Pops) featured comedy records (hmm, where have we seen that before) at 6pm Wednesday 14th March and the Goodies were in the line up.

Graeme appeared in the comedy series 'Baddiel's Syndrome' on satellite channel Sky One on Monday 12th March at 10.30pm and repeated Tuesday 13th March at 11pm.

Bill's episode of 'The Detectives' had another airing on digital satellite channel Bravo at 5.20pm also on Monday 12th March.

'Barney', the cartoon series voiced by Tim will be shown on BBC Choice at 6.55am, 9.55am, 1.25pm and 4.25pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

BILL'S TRAVEL TASTES

(contributed by Marilyn Burge)

The following interview with Bill Oddie appeared in the 'Rites Of Passage' column in the travel section of the 'Telegraph' some time between March 1998 and August 2000.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST TRIP ABROAD?

A school trip to Germany near the Black Forest when I was in the cadet force. We stayed at a ghastly British army camp with some horrible soldiers and spent all the time tramping through woods in the snow.

WHAT WILL YOU NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT?

My binoculars - I always carry a cheap spare pair in the car for emergencies.

WHAT IRRITATES YOU MOST ABOUT TRAVELLING?

The unreliability of flights. I used to love flying but now it's like catching a train and about as comfortable. I was stuck at Tobago airport for 11 hours - and the airline made no attempt to apologise.

WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO MEET WHILE AWAY?

Local birders. One of the nicest things about birding is that it is a surprisingly small world. You can be in the most remote parts of the world and bump into birders.

WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF TRAVEL ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN?

Avoid boats. If I can fly, I will.

WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST WHEN YOU ARE AWAY?

WHERE DID YOU SPEND YOUR LAST HOLIDAY?

Disneyworld, Florida.

WHAT IS THE BEST SOUVENIR YOU HAVE BROUGHT BACK?

Bits of ethnic nonsense. From Papua New Guinea, for example, a tribal carved wooden crocodile. When customs tried to charge us we said "OK you can keep it", and we got away with it.

WHICH IS THE BEST HOTEL YOU HAVE EVER STAYED IN?

The Pax Lodge guesthouse in Trinidad - part of a monastery complex run particularly for people who are looking for birds.

IS THERE ANYWHERE YOU WOULD NOT VISIT AGAIN?

Morocco. I hated the pestering. I just wanted to kill people. I might risk it again with three or four burly birders by my side.

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO BE RIGHT NOW?

Texas or Arizona. This time of the year is great for migrating birds coming north. I was out there with my family last year on a ranch holiday - wonderful.

6. FEATURE ARTICLE

THE GOODIES GREATEST HITS

After a couple of enquiries concentrating on the incidental music and songs heard in "The Goodies", I thought that a compilation of the information available on the BBC shows might be of use. What follows is the information logged by the BBC on their programme-as-broadcast information sheets for each programme, listing all the specific cues where they are catalogued. Unfortunately, some episode simply refer to "Incidental Music" (generally by Michael Gibbs in Season One) or "Background Songs" (e.g. 'The Commonwealth Games') or "Goodies Instrumental" (e.g. 'The Movies'). I am omitting "The Goodies - Almost Live" which is a music special and which has been thoroughly documented elsewhere, and also live performances of familiar songs by the cast in the context of the episode. The listing is incomplete, but I'm sure will be a starting point for a more detailed and dedicated listing. All items are composed by Bill Oddie, sometimes with a co-composer.

"Needed": Beefeaters, Snooze, Give Police A Chance, Playgirl Club, Army Games, Cecily, Pirate Radio, Montreux 1972

"Catch Me If You Can" (with Michael Gibbs): Beefeaters, Plum Pudding (Englebert)

"Goodies Tea Set": Beefeaters

"Fairy Puff": Beefeaters