Comedy series tie-in books used to adorn the floors of many a lavatory and we all remember with fondness the likes of The Goodies Book Of Criminal Records and Janet Lives With Mel & Griff. 

In 1972 a bright spark named Jeremy Robson hit upon the genius notion of publishing a book of Goon Show scripts. At the time the Goons’ currency was high owing to The Last Goon Show Of All & its resultant publicity and when The Goon Show Scripts was published later that year it was a runaway bestseller. Featuring brand new content written specially by Spike Milligan and a range of new and archival articles about the show itself, as well as being peppered throughout with reproductions of original doodles lifted from the original scripts, the book featured nine shows taken from Series 5 & 6 including The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler, The Canal and Napoleon’s Piano. The question is: just how ‘carefully selected’ were these scripts…?

Joining Tyler to lick a finger and leaf through the pages is Mike Haskins, author and scriptwriter, who has done a deep dive into the history of the book and over the course of seventy minutes they touch upon many diverse and interesting titbits, including the mysterious Vera Colin, the Goons breaking Royal protocol and a curious link between the book and The Jimi Hendrix Experience!

Mike is on Twitter @MikeHaskins11