Sixty years ago the Beatles smashed onto the silver screen in living black & white! With the coming-together of so many perfect elements - a Goonish director, a writer with an intuitive ear for dialogue, a superb supporting cast and of course a willing and capable quartet as yet unburdened by cynicism - A Hard Day's Night remains the greatest musical comedy ever committed to celluloid!

Writer Eddie Robson is this month's guest on Goon Pod Film Club - head over to patreon.com/GoonPod to sign up and listen instantly - in the meantime, here's a preview of some highlights from this month's show!

Seven years after the publication of Vladimir Nabokov's scandalous novel Lolita Stanley Kubrick brought it to the big screen, having adapted the author's screenplay sufficiently, assembled a fine cast and applied the directorial flourishes that would come to mark his films out as unique.

As Humbert Humbert Kubrick cast James Mason, who portrayed the predatory intellectual with just the right amount of creepiness, while allowing his character enough vulnerability and weakness that audiences, while not rooting for him by any means, weren't wholly repulsed.

His antagonist, and the shadow that hangs over the entire film, is Clare Quilty, played with aplomb by Peter Sellers in his first collaboration with Kubrick. Although his actual screen-time is limited, Quilty is a ubiquitous presence, a quietly menacing threat to Humbert's happiness and ultimately the agent of his downfall.

Most people know the story and it wasn't for nothing that the tagline for the film was 'How did they make a movie of Lolita?' Through masterful direction, insinuation and nuance Kubrick managed to do it, and did it well, and while we can feel disgust towards some of its themes there's no denying that it's a powerful film.

Joining Tyler to talk about it is actor Patrick Strain, who puts up a spirited argument that it is one of Kubrick's best.

Sean Gaffney returns to talk about a favourite Goon Show episode from 1956 - Six Charlies In Search Of An Author, loosely based on a play by Fred Pirandello.

Was it a cry for help from Spike? A thinly-veiled portrait of a man whose life was beset by the weekly demand for a funny script, pouring scorn and contempt upon the very characters he created? Or was it just a neat idea for a particularly shambolic (and funny) episode?

We shall see.

Plus: an AI-generated 80,000-word examination of Series 7 of The Goon Show which leaves a LOT to be desired!

Fred Nurke is missing!

An over-ripe banana in a deserted Cannon Street shipping office is the only clue to his whereabouts. Inspector Ned Seagoon follows the trail to a British Embassy in South America.

Why are Senor Gonzales Mess and his gang trying to cut down the only banana tree in the Embassy gardens, and what is the connection between Fred Nurke and the over-ripe banana?

Find out (maybe) by listening to this week's edition of Goon Pod, in which Tyler is joined by Jonathan Roberts!

They also examine the wider usage of the word 'nurk' (in its various spellings), wonder at a major US news anchor referencing this particular show and discuss the Guatemala revolution of 1954. Larry Stephens gets some well-deserved props too and they even manage to squeeze in Ed Wood's Bride Of The Monster!

Best known to audiences around the world as Lt Gruber from 'Allo 'Allo! Guy Siner joins Tyler this week to talk about the show, his career and his brand new podcast - Listen Very Carefully - in which he and friends & colleagues Kim Hartmann (Helga) and Richard Gibson (Herr Flick) look back fondly and drink gin.

Before landing the role of Gruber Guy had appeared in Genesis of the Daleks up against Tom Baker and had a brief role in Secret Army - ironically the very programme which inspired 'Allo 'Allo!

Post-'Allo 'Allo! his career has flourished and as well as films (such as Pirates of the Caribbean) and television (including Seinfeld) Guy is (possibly) the only person to have appeared in all four major sci-fi franchises: Dr Who; Star Trek; Babylon 5 and Star Wars (he did voice work on the game Star Wars: TIE Fighter)

We talk briefly about the Goons and the Kenneth Connor connection but this episode is very much given over to focusing on Guy and 'Allo 'Allo! in particular - both shows share a silliness and sense of the absurd so there should be a big crossover of fans.

Listen Very Carefully (Guy's new podcast): https://podqp.podbean.com/

A chaotic naval lieutenant, who cannot be discharged due to his connections, is transferred from the Admiralty to a mothballed destroyer whose crew is running dodgy Bilko-esque money-making schemes.

David Tomlinson stars as Lt Fairweather and Peter Sellers, with a whiskery Irish brogue, plays Chief Petty Officer Doherty.

Returning guest Graham Rinaldi discusses Val Guest's 1958 comic romp - does it still hold water after all these years?

John Rain & Paul Litchfield join Tyler to discuss Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 1978 adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes story, an attempt to make a hit mainstream comedy but which failed to find an audience.

Mostly owing to it not being very good.

Directed by American Paul Morrissey this was the first major film project he made without the involvement of Andy Warhol. Rather bizarrely Morrissey was a fan of the Carry On films and he was keen to bring that sort of humour to the screen, enlisting Kenneth Williams to play Sir Henry Baskerville and stuffing it full of familiar faces from the world of British comedy.

The result was a bit of a mess, with indoor fog and urinating dogs small compensation for proper belly laughs but there is still plenty to talk about and some titters among the dross. It's not a complete dog of a film.

And why are we covering it on Goon Pod? Why, for the small scene-stealing cameo from Spike Milligan as a policeman. Enjoy!

Many thanks to the wonderful Jonathan Roberts for this episode’s artwork! There’s also a taster of August’s edition of Goon Pod Film Club, in which Tim Worthington talks Billy Liar! Head over to www.patreon.com/GoonPod

It's 50 years since Spike Milligan recorded an LP version of his children's story Badjelly the Witch, with music by Ed Welch.

The story is simple and hilarious. Two children, Tim & Rose, go in search of their lost cow Lucy and along the way have adventures with characters such as Binklebonk the tree goblin and his grasshopper Silly Sausage, Mudwiggle the worm and Dinglemouse, a former banana. Peril is just around the corner however, as they are captured by the terrifying witch Badjelly who wants to eat them up for breakfast!

The record was a huge hit with kids in New Zealand, thanks to radio broadcasts in the seventies and eighties, and even today the mere mention of the name 'Badjelly' will elicit broad grins of recognition across generations, yet oddly it barely registers with people in Britain.

Hoping to put this right is cartoonist and writer Roger Langridge (who also designed this week's delightful artwork) who chats to Tyler about the history of Badjelly and shares favourite moments.

There's also a lovely return visit from Jane Milligan who talks warmly about the baddest witch in all the world and hints at what the future holds.