The Giant Bombardon

It is 1853, the year of the Crimean War. A major offensive by the Russian Army has forced a British regiment stationed outside the fortified city of Sebastapol to retreat an entire quarter of an inch. Thoroughly scandalised by the scale of this disaster, Major Bloodnok sends Leftenant Neddie Seagoon back to England to arrange for the construction of a mighty weapon that will breach the walls of the fortified city: a giant bombardon.

Points of Interest

(1)
Arguably the most curious feature of this radio play is the use of the word 'bombardon' in The Title and throughout the story itself. The fourth EDition of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary, compiled in 1953, (the same year that 'The Giant Bombardon' was written) contains no mention of a weapon by that name. The word 'bombardon' is listed, but it is defined as "... a low-pitched brass instrument..." (ref 1). Elsewhere (ref 2) the bombardon is described as an ancestor of the modern-day tuba and the sousaphone. The authors of 'The Giant Bombardon'(Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens) Appear to have confused the word 'bombardon' with the word 'bombard' which is described in some detail on another Wikipedia page (ref 3), as a powerful mortar dating from Medieval times (a picture is provided). Innocent though the mistake may have been, it is by no means an inconsistent or even unwelcome addition to an already bizarre storyline. One wonders what messrs Milligan and Stephens would have thought of the British Army using a giant sousaphone to hurl projectiles at the walls of Sebastapol.

(2)
As listed elsewhere in Wikipedia (ref 4) the play was first recorded on Dec 26th 1953 and recorded again on Nov 17 1957. The recording from 1953 no longer exists (ref 4). Evidence that the script was altered at least slightly for the second recording comes from a line read by Peter Sellers under the guise of Gritpype Thynne: "...We were in Siberia at the time, queuing for sputniks..." (ref 5). The Russian satellite Sputnik 2 was launched just two weeks before the second recording and the first sputnik was launched just three weeks before that (see, for example, ref 6). No sputniks existed at the time of the first broadcast.

References

ref 1: The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English, fourth edition, (1953) by Oxford University Press, Amen House, London. No ISBN exists for this book.

ref 2: Wikipedia entry for Tuba

ref 3: Wikipedia entry for Bombard (weapon)

ref 4: Wikipaedia entry for 'Goon Show episodes and archiving'

ref 5: Full transcript of the play, at http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=svge04_the_giant_bombardon

ref 6: Wikipedia entry for Sputnik programme