THE misanthrope’s misanthrope himself, Philip Larkin, pointed to 1963 as being the “Annus Mirabilis” when naughty nookie became available to all and a New World Order took hold. In short, he was trying to pinpoint the start of The Swinging Sixties.

And in a sense he was right. The advent of the pill “Between the end of the Chatterley ban and The Beatles’ first LP” was undoubtedly a watershed moment in a time of great social change.

It doesn’t take much thought to realise, though, that 1963 wasn’t the start of it all, but merely the moment when the crescendo of change finally became the sonic boom that all the world could hear. No, the sixties were just the continuation of unfinished business started in The Roaring Twenties and interrupted by WWII, itself a continuation of the unfinished business of WWI.

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All of which, as I’m sure you’ve already realised, brings us inexorably to The Goons. First broadcast in 1951 it was, in contrast to Larkin’s temporal relationship to ’63, just too soon for me, and I must confess that I’m not its greatest fan. That said, it was to radio comedy what the pill was to horizontal jogging, and changed our expectations for ever. Like it or loathe it, ‘twas important stuff.

“Spike” is a new play co-written by Ian Hislop, which tells the story of Spike Milligan during his time writing The Goons for the BBC. Thick with Spike’s anti-authority humour, The Goons was seen as incredibly subversive and was detested by many “suits” in the hierarchy of Auntie Beeb, making Spike their Public Enemy no.1.

Wounded at Monte Cassino and suffering from shell shock, it’s clear that writing The Goons was a form of therapy for Milligan, and therein lies the paradox: the more he wrote, the more the public wanted; the more the B.B.C. pressured him to write faster; the worse his mental health became. The therapy became the problem, and Spike suffered a mental breakdown and spent time in a psychiatric unit.

The play highlights his constant fights with the top brass at Broadcasting House, interspersed with short re-enactments of some Goons’ sketches. John Dagleish (“The Bill”; “Silent Witness”) is reasonably convincing as Spike, while Jeremy Lloyd is endearingly true-to-life as Harry Secombe, portrayed here (correctly, in my view) as a man of limited talent but huge compassion and a good friend to the ailing Milligan.

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The tour de force of the evening, however - from both acting and writing standpoints – was Margaret Cabourn-Smith (“Motherland”; “The Hustle”) as Janet, the sound effects lady. Hislop cleverly uses her to introduce each half of the show, and she lapped up the fun and attention all the way.

So, worth seeing or not? Well, the play seems to attract two sorts of audience. Diehard Goons fans looking for the re-working of some favourite old jokes will enjoy it up to a point, but are better served by some of the Goons tributes that pop up every year or two. Milligan aficionados seeking insight into their hero’s mindset and troubles will find little that they didn’t already know and may well be disappointed.

But, hey! This was our first time back at the theatre since before the lockdowns, so I’ll abandon my misanthropic tendencies and concede that it was a passable, if forgettable, bit of fun.

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