With many people, myself included, spending most of the time at home, you’ll need to indulge me in another non-transport blog post.
I once wrote that the five biggest cultural influences of my childhood were Lego, Tintin, Usborne Books, Doctor Who and The Goodies.
Many Australians of my age fondly remember The Goodies thanks to innumerable early-evening broadcasts on ABC TV. Along with Doctor Who, Kenny Everett and Monkey, it was a staple in the late 70s and early 80s.
They chopped the more adult bits out of The Goodies, but as a result the show had far more exposure in Australia than perhaps anywhere in the world, including Britain where it originated.
Indeed, the show really was multi-layered. Kids appreciated the slapstick, but a lot of the cultural references I only understood later.
How many Australian kids really understood the cod wars, what “ecky thump” meant, that pirate radio stations were real, or why The Goodies would try to buy a disused railway station as their new office?
Looking back at some of the episodes now, fifty years after the show first aired, attitudes towards gender and sexuality, and race have clearly changed, but a lot of the humour still stands up.
Of course I’m writing this post because last week Gen Xers lost one of our greatest childhood heroes.
The loss of Tim Brooke-Taylor from COVID-19 is hard to bear, and a reminder of the appalling toll of the virus in some countries.
On 21st April 2000, twenty years ago today, the “Kitten Kon” Goodies convention got underway, with Tim as special guest.
Organiser Alison Bean is tweeting a retrospective of the Kon, with some great archival photos, video and audio.
Vale Tim Brooke-Taylor, OBE.
Alison Bean’s Twitter threads marking the 20th anniversary of Kitten Kon:
- Introduction (including a cameo from yours truly)
- Organising the Kon
- Tim arrives in Melbourne
- Kitten Kon: Day One
- Kitten Kon: Day Two, including the charity auction
- Also: last month, ABC Radio had a segment to mark 50 years of The Goodies. It’s got so much great stuff in it that I for one can forgive the host mispronouncing Bill Oddie’s surname.
2 replies on “RIP TBT”
Very well put Daniel.
The loss of TBT to this virus really rammed the situation home to me.
Even the seemingly indestructible Goodies are not immune.
The Goodies were a huge part of growing up in the 80’s and TBT will be sorely missed by many.
Who can forget TBT having one of his breakdowns while screaming “I’m a teapot” repeatedly!
And “Bill Oddie!! Billoddie stupid!!!”
RIP Tim Brooke Taylor & thankyou for all the laughs!
I must confess, I am a fan of The Goodies too. Along with some of the British comedy shows of the 1970s and 1980s.