Index
» #11 Oct 1996
THE GOODIES CLARION AND GLOBE
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THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF 'THE GOODIES RULE - OK' FAN CLUB
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Issue No. 11 12th October 1996
INTRODUCTION
Recently Bill Oddie appeared on Australian TV talking about The Goodies; his appearance was brief, probably about a minute, but he made a rather interesting (perhaps even controversial?) comment about the writing of The Goodies. Read on for the complete transcript.
Also in this month’s C&G, get involved in the re-screening campaign, find out about the first producer of The Goodies and you’ve got the chance to own “From Fringe To Flying Circus”. Read on...
CONTENTS
1. BOFFO IDEAS
2. SPOTTED!!!
3. ANYTHING, ANYTIME
4. GOODIES TRIVIA QUIZ
5. DID YOU KNOW?
1. BOFFO IDEAS
OUR WEB SITE’S ON THE MOVE
Our web site will be moving to a new address in January. Nik Whitehead, will still be maintaining the site for us at this address:
But until January we’ll still be at our current site:
We’ll let you know when the new site is up, which will feature at least one picture (thanks heaps to David McAnally <dsm@maths.uq.oz.au>) and several automated pages.
ANNIVERSARIES
Fast approaching is the 26th anniversary of The Goodies’ premiere on BBC TV. Episode one, “Tower Of London” was first broadcast on 8th November 1970. So with that in mind, I’d welcome any suggestions for how we should celebrate. Also coming up in November, is this club’s first anniversary. So perhaps a combined event would be nice? All I’ve been able to come up with is an IRC meeting or a video night, but if you’ve got a better idea, let me know <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>.
HOUSEKEEPING
A huge thanks to all those people who’ve changed e-mail addresses recently and have let me know. If you want to keep receiving this newsletter it’s important that you let me know where your new address is. I know that people’s accounts run out and people change jobs, but I’d really appreciate it if you let me know. It’s hard enough making sure you all get the newsletter at the best of times with servers stuffing up all the time. So if you don’t get the newsletter on the 12th of each month, please mail me and I’ll re-send it to you.
LETTER TO THE GOODIES
We’ve been planning to write to The Goodies for a while, but with various other projects on the go, we’ve got a bit sidetracked. Over the next month I’ll be drafting a letter, which I’ll send you all a copy of next month. If anyone has any suggestions about what we should say, they’re most welcome to send them in <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>.
GOODIES-L - HOPE STILL LINGERS
All right, it’s getting desperate. Surely someone out there knows how we can get another Goodies-L going? For those who don’t know, Goodies-L was a mailing list where you could post Goodies-related information (or basically anything). It was a lot of fun and I know a lot of people miss it. I’ve tried to mail America On Line, but I didn’t get any response (so much for their 24 hour reply guarantee!). Send you suggestions to <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>.
RE-SCREENING CAMPAIGN IN AUSTRALIA
The re-screening campaign continues in Australia. There has been a huge response ever since we opened our petition homepage and it’s great to see so many members getting involved. Remember if you’d like to get involved, visit our petition page at:
Or you can e-mail me for a copy of the official petition letter and petition form. The letter and form are in Microsoft Word format, but those using other software can create their own petition form and copy the letter from the homepages. Of course when the homepages move in January you’ll be able to sign the petition on-line and download the letter and petition form files, but for the moment e-mail me at <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>
RE-SCREENING CAMPAIGN IN THE USA
Jamie Evangelista <ale@townsqr.com> is starting a petition to get The Goodies screened on AETN in Missouri. If you’re in the area and you’d like to get involved e-mail Jamie for details.
Members in South Carolina can write to Marf Shopmyer <mls@waitdress.agrl.lib.sc.us> for details on a letter writing campaign to PBS.
Other US members are welcome to start up a campaign, contact Marf or myself <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au> for details.
2. SPOTTED!!!
KRAMER IN THE GOODIES?
from Clive Robertson < rober_cp@lab.eng.usyd.edu.au>
Just a bit of a question really.
Did the Goodies use Kramer (from Seinfeld) as an extra? If so was this his start into TV comedy?
I was watching the Goodies episode about the Cream and Strawberry Jam and Scones (and ScOnes) the other night. When Tim and Bill are walking through the streets to fight Graeme, there's a whole heap of people scattering off the street and into houses. One of them is wearing a coat and runs for a front door with his wife (?). Well I think that this guy is a dead ringer for Kramer out of Seinfeld. I just wondered whether anyone else could verify this for me. Seinfeld happened to be on TV at the time and I switched off the Goodies tape to check the likeness on Seinfeld. To me its pretty close.
40 YEARS OF TV STARS - THEN AND NOW
On the 20th of September 1956, Channel 9, Sydney put out its first broadcast. So to celebrate the start of TV in Australia, Channel 9 broadcast a 2 hour special, on 20th September 1996, called ‘40 Years Of TV Stars - Then And Now’. Among more than 60 TV of stars of the past 40 years, was Bill Oddie. Bill was shown bird watching and working in his study, which is a large room, filled with bird drawings and looking out on to the garden. The short interview also featured footage from several Goodies episodes such as #37 “Clown Virus” and everyone’s favourite #42 “Kung Fu Kapers”, where Bill did his infamous Ecky Thump.
For those who missed it or who don’t live in Australia, here’s a transcript of the interview. It was narrated by Australian TV great, Don Lane.
BILL: Our motto, as it were, in the programme, was ‘We Do Anything, Anytime’ and that was the beauty of the programme. You could just take The Goodies approach to absolutely anything.
DON: Bill Oddie has now taken The Goodies approach to bird watching.
BILL: It’s been my hobby since I was a kid, I never really intended to make it work.
DON: A string of books and documentaries has kept Bill in the public eye.
BILL: People think of me now as the bird man, in this country.
DON: Bill’s stand out memory of The Goodies is the collaboration of three comic geniuses, well two out of three he reckons.
BILL: Graeme and I wrote it with Tim’s pen, basically. And we used to pay him a certain amount of money to keep out of the way and, um, he had a few ideas, though we said ‘Well that’s it, thank you very much, you go away and play golf’.
Several Australian members e-mailed me with comments on Bill’s appearance on the show:
Daniel Frankham <danielf@senet.com.au> wrote:
“He was rather nasty to old Timbo I thought.”
Matthew K Sharp <kirseval@werple.net.au> wrote:
“It lends the bit in Radio Goodies a whole new dimension when GG asks about the Post Office plans and TBT is forced to admit he hasn't done anything. "I'm good at thinking up ideas..." My concern was that it implies that TBT couldn't write, which I don't think is true, since he seems to have performed well on At Last The 1948 Show, and of course Broaden Your Mind, where the writing credit is "TBT and GG with BO".”
So do you think Bill’s comments were justified or not? Was it a joke that came out the wrong way? All views welcome to <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>.
BILL’S BIRD DOCUMENTARIES
As mentioned above, Bill Oddie has presented a number of bird documentaries, which have apparently been shown all around the world (although I’ll confess I’ve never seen one). Proof of Bill’s world wide fame is in Michael Palin’s diary of “Around The World In 80 Days”. When Palin and his BBC crew were travelling on a cargo ship between China and Japan (I think) a Yugoslavian sailor turned to him and exclaimed “You are Monty Python!” and then turned to one of the cameramen and said “And you do those bird shows!”, the sailor mistaking the cameraman for Bill Oddie. Incidentally the cameraman resembles Bill only vaguely.
BILL HANGING OUT WITH THE ANIMALS AGAIN
from Anthea Skinner <askinner@minyos.its.rmit.edu.au>
I noticed Bill Oddie's name in the credits of Jim Henson's The Animal Show, on channel 10 on Sundays at 8:30am (I think... it could be 8). I wasn't paying much attention, so didn't have time to see what he was doing on it.
GRAEME IN YES MINISTER
What does the ABC do when they run out of episodes of “Yes (Prime) Minister”? Answer: Show them again. Which gives us Goodies fans another chance to see Graeme Garden in the classic “Yes Minister” episode “The Death List”. Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington) is on an assassination list and who better to provide advice than Commander Forest (Graeme Garden). Graeme is wonderful as the uncompromisingly honest Forest, so make sure you don’t miss it next Tuesday at 6.30pm on ABC TV.
Incidentally here’s how Commander Forest was described in “Yes Minister - The Diaries Of A Cabinet Minister”:
“He was a tall thin cadaverous-looking individual, with a slightly nervous flinching manner. He didn’t really inspire confidence”.
DOCTOR WHO/GOODIES RECYCLING
from Daniel Frankham <danielf@senet.com.au>
I believe Tim's chair was used in Doctor Who, as the throne of the “Keeper of Traken”. Can anyone confirm this?
A IS FOR ADVERTISING MEN
The influence of The Goodies on Australian culture is everywhere. Australian members might have seen that ad for a brand of party pies (the name escapes me) where the pies are dressed as cowboys and have a show down at dawn, shooting tomato sauce at each other. I ask you, who did it first?
3. ANYTHING ANYTIME
*Goodies related plugs, your questions answered, where to buy Goodies merchandise etc.*
REVIEW IN FERAL FUNSTERS
Thanks a lot to new club member Anthea Skinner <askinner@minyos.its.rmit.edu.au>, who is editor of Australian comedy fanzine “Feral Funsters”. She’s promised a review of this club’s homepage in the upcoming issue. If you want to subscribe to “Feral Funsters”, which is a bargain at only $A10 a year, write to Anthea at:
Feral Funsters
48 Jellicoe Ave
Monbulk
Victoria 3793
AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FAN CLUBS
Thanks also to Linda Kay <lknafc@aol.com> who runs the National Association Of Fan Clubs in the USA. She’s promised to give us a plug, which is great.
SWIRLY THING ALERT
New club member, Benjamin Evans <benjamin@om.com.au>, is editor of Swirly Thing Alert a fanzine which covers Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, HHGttG, the Discworld series, and just about anything else the fans of those would enjoy. The next issue will be out in late November and it’s a bi-monthly publication. Ben’s thinking of chucking in the odd Goodies article as well. Subscription enquires should be directed to Ben at his above e-mail address.
FROM FRINGE TO FLYING CIRCUS
For those who haven’t come across it, “From Fringe To Flying Circus” by Roger Wilmut, is the definitive book on British comedy in the 60s and 70s. This brilliant book charts the careers of The Goodies, the Monty Python team, Beyond The Fringe and more. It features an entire chapter on The Goodies as well as chapters on ISIRTA and Monty Python. This is highly recommended reading and now you have the chance to buy it! That’s right, I found a hardcover copy at a second hand bookstore, which is selling for $A20, so if anyone wants me to get it for them, I’ll send it to you, as long as you send me the money to cover purchase and postage. The first person who e-mails me, gets it <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>
4. GOODIES TRIVIA QUIZ
THIS MONTH’S QUESTION
In 1975 The Goodies released their hit single “The Funky Gibbon”. What was the highest position it reached in the British charts?
ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH’S QUESTIONS
There are many Monty Python references in The Goodies, but how many members of Monty Python actually appeared in The Goodies?
ANSWER: 1. John Cleese appeared in the special ‘The Goodies And The Beanstalk’, episode #32.
What does the above heading STUFF FROM THE BROOKE-TAYLOR FAMILY SWAG refer to?
ANSWER: In episode #57 ‘Alternative Roots’ we find out that the Brooke-Taylor family were sheep stealers, among the family heirlooms is a sack with SWAG written on it.
GOT A GOODIES TRIVIA QUIZ QUESTION? SEND IT TO <carrot@olis.mtx.net.au>.
5. DID YOU KNOW?
John Howard Davies who was producer of The Goodies for the first two series was once a child star. He played the title role in the 1948 film “Oliver Twist”, Paul Grahame the 1950 film “The Rocking Horse Winner” and Tom Brown in the 1951 film “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”. He went on to direct “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and “Fawlty Towers” and produce “The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Perrin”. Thanks to Daniel Frankham <danielf@senet.com.au> and the Internet Movie Database http://us.imdb.com/ for information.
THE END
Well that’s it for this month, look out for our 1st birthday edition next month!
Cheers,
Alison Bean
<carrot@olis.mtx.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! 1996). 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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