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» #19 Jun 1997
THE GOODIES CLARION AND GLOBE
THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF 'THE GOODIES RULE - OK' FAN CLUB
Issue No. 19 12th June 1997
IN THE C&G THIS MONTH...
Graeme Garden's a busy boy this month with another pilot programme and if you're in London you can go along to the recording! Plus, have you ever wanted to know what's in Bill Oddie's fridge? No? Well, we'll tell you anyway. There's some good news for "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Fans" and most exciting of all, a new Goodies CD is out soon! That's right, The Goodies on CD - at last!
1. BOFFO IDEAS
AUSTRALIAN PETITION
The Australian petition to get The Goodies re-screened on ABC TV is going very well. We already have hundreds of signatures, which is a very good sign. And judging by the number of people collecting signatures, there are hundreds more to come. But remember, the more signatures we have, the better. So if you'd like to help out, visit our petition homepage for details:
And remember if you are already involved with the petition, please return your completed petition forms to me by 1st August 1997, so I can collect them up and send them to the ABC.
.
A GOODIES NEWSGROUP AND OTHER COMPUTER/GOODIES STUFF
by Grayden Hanson <ghanson@mountains.net.au>
I might see what it takes to start a new newsgroup such as rec.arts.tv.goodies or alt.tv.goodies, since that the old mailing list is no more.
I'm also looking for a FTP site to store a mpeg audio for the complete Earthanasia episode (6 megs) which will accompany my Earthanasia web transcript.
Also in the works is a Goodies theme for Windows95. Contributions are welcome.
EDITOR'S REPLY: Great ideas Grayden. If there's anyone out there who's got any ideas or would like to help Grayden with these projects, e-mail him at the above address.
GOODIES CONVENTION 2000
There's a lot of support out there for our Goodies Convention, judging from your response. But a lot of people are asking what sort of things will be happening at the Convention. Well, this will be worked out by the committee. But the sort of things that people have suggested so far include screening some of the rarer episodes, such as the black and white ones or the LWT episodes and perhaps some other interesting stuff like The Goodies' appearances on Top of The Pops. There have also been other ideas like a costume competition with a prize for the best Goodies look-a-like and a dinner (though perhaps black pudding and rancid halibut giblets won't be on the menu!). And of course, our big plan is to fly in one, two or even all three of The Goodies for a mammoth question and answer session and autograph signing.
Of course all this will cost money (probably quite a bit of money) and we'll have to work out things like where we hold it and at what time. The committee will have to decide this, based on the responses to our convention questionnaire. You'll be hearing more about what we're planning in future newsletters, but remember you can get involved and have a real say in what goes on at our convention. You can either e-mail us your ideas or sign up for the convention committee <carrot@olis.net.au>. We will be holding our first meeting, which anyone can attend, on IRC soon. We'll let you know when.
Remember, if you'd like to come the convention, please fill in the form below and return it to <carrot@olis.net.au>. Your input will help us to plan the sort of convention you want.
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INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put a * in the [ ] next to your answer.
2. Send this form to <carrot@olis.net.au>.
QUESTIONS
1. In which city would you prefer the convention to be held?
ADELAIDE [ ]
ALICE SPRINGS [ ]
BRISBANE [ ]
CANBERRA [ ]
DARWIN [ ]
HOBART [ ]
MELBOURNE [ ]
PERTH [ ]
SYDNEY [ ]
2. If the convention is not held in your preferred city would you be willing to travel to another city to attend the convention?
YES [ ]
NO [ ]
3. What is the *maximum* amount of money you'd be willing to pay for entry to the convention and accommodation?
less than $50 [ ]
$50-100 [ ]
$100-150 [ ]
$150-200 [ ]
over $200 [ ]
*Your answers will be kept in strictest confidence *
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2. SPOTTED!!!
Seen a Goodie recently? Mail <carrot@olis.net.au> with the details...
THE GOODIES ON CD!
by Duncan Lilly <duncan.lilly@uk.drsolomon.com>
As I struggled manfully with the task of waking up the other morning, who should waft out of my radio alarm but Bill Oddie!!
He was on Virgin Radio's breakfast show with Russ and Jono to promote a new Goodies album!!!
"Yum, Yum - The very best of The Goodies" is a collection of 20 classic Goodies musical moments (apparently, I haven't seen it yet - I shall go on a hunt during my lunch break!). They played a brief bit of The Funky Gibbon, which Bill sang along to in the studio.
Further to this morning's missive I have been to my local HMV store and placed an order for the Goodies musical efforts on Compact Disc. The details on my order form are:
Title: Yum, Yum - The Very Best of the Goodies
Catalogue Number: MCCD294
Price: 6.99!!
So all UK members should rush out and buy one! And everyone else should start hassling (nicely!) their local music importer!
(Possibly) Even more important... you got a mention!!!!!!! (Sort of!) Bill was asked if there were Goodies conventions like Star Trek ones; he said "No, but I know there is a Goodies web site and it's based in Australia" (this is not a direct quote, I couldn't find a tape in time to record it - damn!) Then he made some comment about not understanding it at all!! (The internet that is, not your site!)
So now you can go around with a warm fuzzy feeling that a real Goodie knows all about your work! Well done!
Also; Graeme Garden was the guest celebrity on this week's edition of MasterChef. Graeme talked mainly about food and cooking (though he was introduced as an ex-Goodie) but he was quite entertaining anyway. (In case you don't know MasterChef is a cookery program where three people cook a meal then the guests [one real chef and a celebrity] and presenter pick a winner - very dull really!)
FOOTBALL CRAZY
by Daniel Frankham <danielf@merlin.net.au>
Thought you might be interested in this odd Goodies reference in The Advertiser last week. An ad for a Superleague match between Australia and England on p3 is headlined "SEE SALFORD GET AN ECKY THUMPING" :)
FURTHER CAPERS OF GOODY GRAEME
Last month we reported that Graeme Garden was involved in the pilot episode of a new comedy series called "If I Ruled The World". Here's some more about it...
by David Balston <david.balston@virgin.net>
"If I Ruled The World" was a good laugh. I thought it would go without saying that anything with ol' Greyboots in would be hilarious, naturally he stole the show with his solo round: a question and answer session where would be prime-minister Graeme had to give his solutions to certain problems, a performance which swung about 95% of the votes (the audience had voting buttons). The good news is that according to programme makers "Hat Trick" the show is being commissioned as a series, this doesn't mean to say however that the pilot will be screened as the format may be modified or set changed etc, but I'm sure Graeme will be asked back, in my opinion he should be team captain.
AND speaking of pilots involving Graeme Garden:
Doctor Graeme is involved in another pilot show, this time for BBC Radio 4, a medical quiz called "This Won't Hurt" recording at BBC Broadcasting House, London on June 28th at 7.30pm. Tickets can be obtained by e-mailing <radio.ticket.unit@bbc.co.uk> or sending a stamped addressed envelope to:
BBC Radio Ticket Unit
London
W1A 4WW
MORE KUNG FU KAPERS
by Keith Topping <keith@tooon.demon.co.uk>
On Saturday 24th May 1997 Bill Oddie made a brief appearance in the BBC2 documentary 'The Kung Fu Years' (the opening programme of BBC2's Kung Fu Night), long with several clips from 'Kung Fu Kapers'. Bill mentioned the oft-told story of the man who died laughing at the episode (evening highlighting the exact point in the episode - it's where Tim is highlighting the Scottish martial art of 'Hoots-Toot-ochaye'!) The Radio Times describes Bill as "ornithologist and *former* comedian Bill Oddie"(!)
THAT ELUSIVE LWT SERIES VIDEO
by Grayden Hanson <ghanson@mountains.net.au>
A copy the LWT tape is available to hire for Blockbuster Video in Sydney's West. 205-209 High Street, Penrith. The video quality is very good despite the slimy casing. Circa 1982. It has the episodes: Robot / Football Crazy / Big Foot / A Change of Life
INSIDE BILL ODDIE'S FRIDGE
by Keith Topping <keith@tooon.demon.co.uk>
I was leafing through a back of old magazines during tea-break (as you do) and came across the 22 March 1997 edition of a British woman's magazine called 'Saturday' which featured a one page Eithne Power interview with Bill Oddie (a sort-of tie in with 'Birding') called "Kitchen Sink Drama" basically, concerning, well, the contents of Bill's kitchen. Here's a few selected highlights:
"Ornithologist, comedian and author Bill Oddie, 55, is perhaps best known for his role in the popular 70s series The Goodies, in which he starred with Tim-Brooke Taylor and Graeme Garden, both of whom he met while at Cambridge University. He lives in North London with his second wife, Laura Beaumont, a children's writer, and their daughter Rosie, 10. he now presents Birding with Bill Oddie on BBC2: 'I've racked my brains trying to think of the kitchen of my childhood and for the life of me, I can't remember it (it was just dad and myself). There wasn't much cooking. dad used to cook egg and chips and that was it. The kitchen at Cambridge wasn't very notable either - more a sort of scullery in your college. But after university, Stephen Frears asked me to share a flat with him in London and I remember the kitchen being reasonably tidy...Other bloke's kitchens, I do remember. Somewhere off Baker Street, there was this fatal combination of John Cleese, Graham Chapman, and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and it was the most God- awful place I've ever seen, just like The Young Ones, strewn with old takeaways and congealing chips. I swore my kitchen would never get like that'
'The biggest change in my life, kitchenwise, took place after my first marriage, to Jean. We had a huge seventies kitchen. At one stage it was communal with half a dozen people there with cooking rotas and all that Seventies stuff. That's when I learned stir-fry, which required no skill whatsoever...The kitchen had a lot going for it - you created your own coffee bar right there. We even had a mattress where people could lie in true meditational fashion and other people could fling their washing; children often got lost under the clutter. So, when Laura and I moved into our present home, we didn't have a conversion, because I knew that after two weeks the builders would say 'Thing is, we'll have to rebuild the whole house'. We decorated the kitchen just after we'd developed a passion for Disney. We went for red, white, black and yellow - bold and unashamed - and the kitchen shelves house the greater part of our Disney collection. Both Laura and I work from home - maybe that's why neither of us are keen cooks. We often go out for breakfast and we eat loads of salad. If raw food tastes that good, why cook it? As for Rosie, she lives on pasta. Now and then, we'll give a dinner party. I really envy people who enjoy cooking, who find it therapeutic. Neither Laura nor I do, but we still spend a lot of our time in there; it's our centre. But every so often Laura will say 'Let's change everything. let's have a Fifties coffee bar'. I wait for the moment to pass - and thankfully it always does."
Bill's fridge (complete with picture) contains Rosie's diet coke, Laura's Yakult yoghurt drink, lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions, parsley, "strange jars of festering foreign foods", pasta and mint sauce, lemon marmalade, baked beans, cheese for Rosie's sandwiches, a bottle of champagne to celebrate the TV series, hummas, taramasalata, self-raising flour (kept in the fridge because Laura is "wary of weevils"!), fruit juice, puttanesca sauce, "a sultry partner for pasta and pizza", flora and milk...."
So, there you go - didn't you always want to know what was hidden in Bill Oddie's Fridge?!
BILL ODDIE'S TEN OF THE BEST (VH-1: 17/05/97)
by Keith Topping <keith@tooon.demon.co.uk>
Ten of the Best is a programme on the British music satellite channel VH-1 in which a guest will pick their ten favourite music videos (or at least ten examples of the work of their favourite artists). A bit like 'Desert Island Discs' only with videos and without an interviewer. On Saturday 17th May the guest was Bill Oddie.
Unfortunately, I missed Bill's first choice due to an overrun of another programme I was recording, but what follows are the rest of Bill's choices plus some of his comments on them.
2) Ricki Lee Jones and Dr. John - 'Makin' Whoopi'
3) Miles Davis - 'Tutu Medley'
(During this Bill revealed he had been a DJ on 'Jazz FM' at one point)
4) Little Feat - 'Let it Roll'
("great driving music")
5) The Police - 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'
(a special request for his wife because "Sting gets his shirt off in this!")
6) Ry Cooder - 'Little Sister'
("my favourite guitarist")
7) Stevie Wonder - 'Superstition'
8) Frank Zappa - 'Peaches En Regalia'
9) Julia Fordham - 'Where Did Time Go?'
("What's happened to Julia Fordham" asks Bill, revealing that one of the best gigs he'd ever been to was one of hers).
10) The Jacksons - 'Blame it on the Boogie'
("a song that makes you happy from a long time ago when Michael Jackson was very young... and black!")
Bill invested the same energy and enthusiasm as he puts into all of his television appearances, linking the video's with some witty banter and a few regrets - two of his favourite bands (The Band and Steely Dan) didn't have any video's to show. VH-1 often repeat their Ten of the Best's ad nauseam so all British readers with satellite or cable might be advised to keep an eye on their daily listings magazines in case it pops up again.
GOODIES BLOOPER
by Quentin Hall <quentin@highway1.com.au>
Have you noted that on the episode of the Goodies the one with "Sparkly Pegs Toothpaste" and the around the world "bounce" that the spelling of the Sahara Desert is "Saharah"? Someone stuffed up! Maybe it was a joke?
SPIDERBAIT'S RUN
by Casey Glass <artienne@iinet.net.au>
In seeing the Goodies theme song (in the last newsletter), don't forget that their other tune "Run", by Bill, is covered by Spiderbait, and what a great cover it is :)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Indeed, it's a excellent cover. Some of our long time members might remember a previous discussion on this is a newsletter last year. Apparently the video clip involves the three members of Spiderbait re-enacting classic moments from Goodies episodes. Australian members might be able to catch it on Rage, because apparently they replay it every now and then.
* STOP PRESS *
I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T A CLUE IS BACK!
Thanks again to David Balston who e-mailed us with the news that "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" will be back for a new series this year on BBC radio. This is despite the death of long time panellist Willie Rushton late last year. We'll bring you further updates as they come to hand.
3. GOODIES TRIVIA QUIZ
Test your Goodies knowledge with this month's brain-teasers, written by quiz-master David McAnally <dsm@maths.uq.edu.au>.
1. What surprising win did Tim have in the episode "Chubbie Chumps"?
2. Who did Graeme marry in "Women's Lib"?
3. What did all of the animals have in common in "Black and White Beauty"?
4. According to the Druid Priest, in "Wacky Wales", what does the word 'Eisteddfod' mean?
ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH'S QUIZ QUESTIONS
1. How was the Giant in "The Goodies and the Beanstalk" different to other giants?
A: He was petite in size, according to the giant, himself - or, as Bill said sarcastically: "You're a ruddy midget!".
2. What was Bill's name when he appeared on 'Mastermind' in "Frankenfido"?
A: Cuddly Scamp Hairylegs of Cricklewood
3. What effect did the American Army's mysterious 'Tomato Soup' have on every person it came in contact with?
A: It changed everyone into clowns.
4. Which famous astronomer appeared, as himself, in some Goodies' episodes?
A: Patrick Moore. He appeared in: "Lighthouse Keeping Loonies"; "Animals"; "Invasion of the Moon Creatures", "Goodies Rule - OK?" and "Rock Goodies".
* NEXT MONTH * Crossword lovers look out! The Goodies crossword is coming!
4. QUOTE REQUEST
Forgotten the exact wording of your favourite Goodies quote? E-mail <carrot@olis.net.au> and we'll publish it for you next month.
by Keith Topping <keith@tooon.demon.co.uk>
Here's a special request for the bit from 'It Might as Well Be String' about "dirty old Arab carpets, trodden on by dirty old Arabs"!
AND HERE IT IS:
GRAEME: (narrating the "Wonderful World Of String" documentary) ...The string at this stage is fairly unpleasant stuff, coming as it does from dirty old Arab carpets, trodden on by dirty old Arabs, with their smelly old socks all soaked in camel wee and oil and soggy bits of half chewed dinner and belly dancer's sweat...
THE END
Well that's it for this month. But one last bit: The 7th of July is Bill Oddie's 56th birthday, so don't forget to buy him a skateboard. But do watch out for Graeme's "Skateboard Destruction Kit"!
Cheerio,
Alison Bean
<carrot@olis.net.au>
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DISCLAIMER
This is an archive newsletter of The Goodies Rule - OK! International Fan Club (copyright The Goodies Rule - OK! 1997). Some of the information in this newsletter may now be incorrect. Current information can be obtained from http://www.goodiesruleok.com
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