#Michael Bentine

[yonderghostshistories]

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 2002 – Death of Spike Milligan, a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier, and actor.

‘All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.’ –Spike Milligan Spike Milligan’s early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the British government declared him stateless. Spike Milligan, Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, was born in Ahmadnagar, India. He was…

[ohblahdo]

Another post about Ivan Vaughan reminded me of the parts in Chris Salewicz's Paul biography where Institute classmate Peter Sissons is like, okay, yeah, Paul and John were talented, but Ivan Vaughan, now THERE was a real original:

But it was Ivan Vaughan who stood out even more to [Peter] Sissons and, he claims, to the school in general. “He was the only other key figure there at the time who I would have thought would make it as some sort of creative personality. He stood out head and shoulders above everybody.” The dominating feature of Vaughan’s life was “an entirely distinctive sense of humor.” This, in turn, was influenced by “The Goon Show,” the British radio humor program starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine to which every schoolboy would avidly tune in. But Vaughan’s surreal originality extended even beyond that, being, according to Sissons, “some ten or fifteen years ahead of his time.” A fatherless boy, one of the many members of the cast surrounding Paul McCartney who had lost a parent, Vaughan one day painted his name in three-foot-high letters across the front of the house while his mother was out. Another time, he arrived at school with, for no apparent reason, the dull appearance of his regulation black shoes having been altered by a thick, vivid coat of canary yellow paint. Later Vaughan employed a more subtle creativity with regard to his footwear: playing truant for days at a time, he would reappear at the Institute with an explanatory note, in his own carefully disguised handwriting, declaring his absence to have been caused by “shoes gone to the menders”—an absolute master stroke, for what member of the staff would dare question the undreamt tales of poverty and hardship that lay behind such circumstances? [...] “John Lennon was a highly original character,” sums up Peter Sissons. “But in my opinion, much of the outrageousness and unpredictability he displayed later in life came from Ivan Vaughan, and not the other way round.” [...] Peter Sissons has no doubts at all as to exactly how the balance in the relationship between the two Institute boys weighed up. Though Paul’s intelligent sense of humor was beyond question, he was by far the most conventional of the pair, his Ted-like appearance notwithstanding. “Ivan was certainly the leader: people followed him around because he was such an outrageous character, such a funny guy to be with, always making quirky jokes, which were never evil or yobbish, but just downright hilarious. So people would follow him around just to be amused.”

-McCartney, Chris Salewicz, 1986

[hellomarkyboy]

The Grafton Arms, birthplace of The Goons.

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1918 – Birth of comedian, writer and actor, Spike Milligan, in India.

‘All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.’ –Spike Milligan Spike Milligan’s early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the British government declared him stateless. Spike Milligan, Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, was born in Ahmadnagar, India. He was…

[richardhenrysellers]

Down Among the Z Men (1952)

Harry follows the Professor to Warwell Atomic Research Camp where he meets the commander (Peter Sellers), who, mistaking him for one of the new "Z" reservists, makes him fall in and Harry is in the Army. Unbeknownst to all, international crooks are trying to steal the formula and have also enlisted in the "Z" men.

[graemegardenappreciationsociety]

Tie-in book to the TV show ‘Quick on the Draw’

[wohlbruecks]

1951, The Crazy People (or as they would be later called , The Goons) - Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine in the back, with Spike Milligan and fellow script writers in front.

[chuckbbirdsjunk]

[glennk56]

chubby guys on British TV in the 1960s

Harry Secombe

Harry Secombe began his career on British radio as part of a comedy duo with Spike Milligan in 1950. By 1951 they formed the radio comedy show, The Goon Show with Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine. The comedy of The Goon Show was primarily orchestrated by Milligan and was, to say the least, unconventional, and ground-breaking. It has been described as “Avant-Garde”, "surrealist", "abstract", and "four dimensional" and influenced others like Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Firesign Theatre in the US.

The show lasted until 1960 as Secombe developed a dual career as a singer/comedian, appearing in movies, musical theater and becoming a regular guest on TV programs throughout the 60s. He starred in the British theater musical, Pickwick in 1963 which gave him his first hit single, “If I Ruled the World”. He was also nominated for a Tony when the play toured the US.

In 1968 he appeared in the film musical “Oliver” and was given his own sketch-comedy variety show, “The Harry Secombe Show” which lasted until 1973. In 1969 he starred in the made for TV production of “Pickwick.”

[zippocreed501]

Spike Milligan (1918-2002)

[theparanormalperiodical]

Spook Of The Day #211 • the ghosts of RAF Wickenby

RAF Wickenby is just one of the many haunted WW2 sites dotted across the UK. Briefly used as an RAF station housing bombers, over 1000 lives were lost here. And it’s the lives lost that has given it its spooky reputation. The entire station is allegedly haunted, from the control room to the runways. Footsteps and scraping sounds on the walls are often heard, and a mysterious pilot is sighted there, too. The most famous tale from Wickenby, however, has to be the sighting of Pop by Michael Bentine during its operations. He claimed to have a full conversation with him one morning before finding out Pop actually died 2 days before. Want to hear about more haunted places? Click the link in my bio to get lost in an archive of real ghost stories + hit follow!

[fredthealienproductions]

FRED Watch Episode 25: Down Among the Z Men (1952)

FRED Watch Episode 25: Down Among the Z Men (1952)

DOWN AND OUT.

VCI Entertainment.

Goon fanatic Phillip introduces Wayne to a movie that is quite confusing and incredibly disappointing. It’s Down Among the Z Men (1952)…

  Listen to their review here:

https://soundcloud.com/fredthealienproductions/fred-watch-25

  Watch a scene:

Starring: Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1918 – Birth of comedian, writer and actor, Spike Milligan, in India.

#OTD in 1918 – Birth of comedian, writer and actor, Spike Milligan, in India.

‘All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.’ –Spike Milligan Spike Milligan’s early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the British government declared him stateless. Spike Milligan, Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, was born in Ahmadnagar, India. He was…

[angelicguy]

tea

A flea circus is a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached (or appear to be attached) to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing.

The first records of flea performances were from watchmakers who were demonstrating their metalworking skills. In 1578, Mark Scaliot produced a lock and chain that were attached to a flea. The first recorded flea circus dates back to the early 1820s, when an Italian impresario called Louis Bertolotto advertised an “extraordinary exhibition of industrious fleas” on Regent Street, London.[1] Some flea circuses persisted in very small venues in the United States as late as the 1960s. The flea circus at Belle Vue Zoological Gardens, Manchester, England, was still operating in 1970. At least one genuine flea circus still performs (at the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany[2]) and Svensons in the UK occasionally use real fleas, but most flea circuses are a sideline of magicians and clowns, and use electrical or mechanical effects instead of real fleas.

Fleas typically live only for a few months and are not trained.[citation needed]  Fleas are observed to see if they have a predisposition for jumping or walking. Once sorted, they are harnessed by carefully wrapping a thin gold wire around their neck.[3] Once in the harness, the fleas usually stay in it for life. The harnesses are attached to the props and the strong legs of the flea allow them to move objects significantly larger than themselves. Jumping fleas are used for kicking small lightweight balls. They are carefully given a ball; when they try to jump away (which is not possible because of the harness), they shoot the ball instead. Running fleas can pull small carts and vehicles or rotate a Ferris wheel.[4]

There are historical reports of fleas glued to the base of the flea circus enclosure. Miniature musical instruments were then glued to the flea performers and the enclosure was heated. The fleas fought to escape, giving the impression of playing instruments.[5]

Some flea circuses may appear to use real fleas, but in fact do not. A variety of electrical, magnetic, and mechanical devices have been used to augment exhibits. In some cases, these mechanisms are responsible for all of the "acts", with loose fleas in the exhibit maintaining the illusion. These circuses are known as "Humbug" flea circuses. Michael Bentine gave a mechanical flea circus a regular slot on his television show, It's a Square World in the 1960s.[6]