SPIKE MILLIGAN fans will be in their element this autumn as the first ever UK tour of the classic radio comedy, The Goon Show comes to the Everyman in Cheltenham next month.

A spokesman said: “In 1951 the landscape of British comedy changed dramatically when The Goon Show burst onto the airwaves of the BBC Home Service.

“Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and co. brought a brand of surreal chaotic humour unlike anything that had been heard before and revolutionised the way radio comedy was produced.

“With its bizarre characters, fantastical plots and hilarious running jokes, The Goon Show captured the imagination of the British public and made household names of its three main stars, all of whom would go on to achieve fame across the globe.

The spokesman added: “Now, in Goon Show creator Spike Milligan’s centenary year, Apollo Theatre Company, who recently produced the 50th anniversary tour of another classic radio comedy, Round the Horne, team up with Spike Milligan Productions to bring the show to the stage for the first time.”

Producer, Norma Farnes, who was Spike’s assistant and manager for 36 years, says of the production: “There is no better time than the centenary of Spike’s birth to celebrate his most enduring creation. The Goon Show was truly original and unlike anything heard before. Spike’s sense of the absurd created a whole new form of comedy which fuelled everyone’s imagination and still does today.”

On how Spike himself reflected on The Goon Show, Norma recalls: “He once said to me, with warmth and affection, ‘it was like one very good summer’.

“After his success with his book, Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall, which sold over a million copies, I congratulated him and viciously he came back with ‘It means nothing. When I die they’ll say, Spike Milligan who wrote The Goon Show died today’.”

The date for the diary is Monday, September 17.

Tickets and further details on 01242 572573.