John Antrobus obit

RIP John Antrobus

 

He was not on the list.

Sad news to report from the world of the Goon Show. John Antrobus, the esteemed writer and honorary president of the GSPS, passed away on 15th December at the age of 92.

John was probably the last remaining person who contributed directly to the Goon Show. He co-wrote the scripts to The Spon Plague and The Great Statue Debate episodes from series 8 in 1958.

Having tried army and merchant navy life, John became a full-time playwright and scriptwriter in 1955. At that time met and worked with met Spike Milligan, Larry Stevens, Galton and Simpson, and everyone else at Associated London Scripts.

His other Goon-related involvements included the 1956 Show Called Fred TV series and Spike’s Australian Radio show Idiot Weekly. Later collaborations with Spike included the play, and later film, The Bed Sitting Room, and the 1987 radio series The Milligan Papers.

His books include a memoir of the Goon Show days, Goon But Not Forgotten.

John created many other works during his career and won many awards. A full tribute will appear in the next issue of Goon Show News.

He wrote extensively for stage, screen, television and radio, including the epic World War II play, Crete and Sergeant Pepper at the Royal Court. Antrobus authored the children's book series Ronnie, which includes Help! I am a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory.

John Arthur Antrobus was born in Woolwich, London, on 2 July 1933. His father was a regimental sergeant-major in the Royal Horse Artillery and the family was stationed at the School of Artillery in Larkhill on the edge of Salisbury Plain. After attending Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, Selhurst Grammar School in Croydon and King Edward VII Nautical College in London where he was an apprentice deck officer in the Merchant Navy from 1950 to 1952, Antrobus attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, serving with the East Surrey Regiment from 1952 to 1955, but rebelled and dropped out of the army.

After leaving the Army, spending time also working as a supply teacher and waiter, Antrobus pursued a future writing comedy, and went to Associated London Scripts (ALS), the writers' co-operative set up by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes. Antrobus states "I met Spike in 1954 or 55. I had sent a sample script to Galton and Simpson and they took me on at Associated London Scripts." Antrobus and Milligan "wrote a couple of Goon Shows together. I wish I had done more of them with him but I wanted to be a playwright. I didn't realise they were golden times and how they gave life." The two shows were The Spon Plague, and The Great Statue Debate, both broadcast in March 1958.

At ALS, Antrobus also worked with Johnny Speight on The Frankie Howerd Show in 1956, After contributing material to the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant (1958), he wrote his first movie screenplay: for Idol on Parade (1959), starring Anthony Newley. During 1960 he worked with Milligan and Sykes in the second series of Sykes and A... (August- September 1960).[8] He was also a contributing writer to the television series The Army Game, in the 1958 and 1961 shows, along with Larry Stephens, Maurice Wiltshire, and Lew Schwarz in 1958, and Brad Ashton, Barry Took, Marty Feldman and Wiltshire in 1961.

During the 1960s and 1970s, he provided scripts for television series as diverse as That Was the Week That Was, Television Playhouse and Spike Milligan's Milligan in...  Antrobus wrote for Milligan's last radio series, The Milligan Papers, a BBC Radio Collection released in 2002.

Antrobus' best known play is the surrealist satire The Bedsitting Room (1963) (co-written with Milligan). A film version was released in 1969 and a sequel from 1983. His other plays include Cane of Honour (1965), Captain Oates' Left Sock (1969), An Apple A Day (1970) and City Delights (1978). In October 2005, Antrobus and Ray Galton (with whom he had collaborated on the 1986 sitcom Room at the Bottom and Get Well Soon from 1997) unveiled their play Steptoe and Son – Murder at Oil Drum Lane at the Theatre Royal, York.

Writing credits

Production       Notes   Production company / Distributor

or Broadcaster

Son of Fred    

"Episode #1.1" (co-written with Dave Freeman, John Junkin, Maurice Wiltshire and Spike Milligan, 1956)

Associated-Rediffusion / ITV

Early to Braden          

Unknown episodes (1957)

BBC Television

The April 8th Show (Seven Days Early)       

Co-written with Alan Simpson, Johnny Speight and Ray Galton, 1958)

BBC Television

Carry On Sergeant     

Feature film (co-written with Norman Hudis, 1958)

Peter Rogers / Anglo-Amalgamated

Idol on Parade

Feature film (1959)

Warwick / Columbia

Jazz Boat        

Feature film (co-written with Ken Hughes and Rex Rienits, 1960)

Warwick / Columbia

Sykes and a... 

"Sykes and a Library Book" (1960)

"Sykes and a Cheque Book" (1960)

BBC Television

The Army Game        

"The Kindest Man in Britain" (1960)

Granada Television / ITV

Bootsie and Snudge   

"The Cemetery" (1961)

Granada Television / ITV

ITV Television Playhouse      

"The Missing Links" (1961)

Associated-Rediffusion / ITV

That Was the Week That Was

Unknown episodes (1962)

BBC Television

The Wrong Arm of the Law  

Feature film (co-written with Len Heath and Ray Galton, 1963)

British Lion Films

Room at the Bottom   

"A Show for Monty" (1964)

"It Came from Outer Hollywood" (1964)

"The Show That Died of Shame" (1964)

"A Job with the Other Lot" (1964)

ABC Weekend TV / ITV

A World of Comedy   

"Don't Bank on It" (1965)

Rediffusion / ITV

The Big Job    

Feature film (co-written with Talbot Rothwell, 1965)

Peter Rogers / Anglo-Amalgamated

Q9      

"Episode #1.4" (co-written with Neil Shand and Spike Milligan, 1969)

BBC2

The Bed-Sitting Room           

Feature film (1969)

Oscar Lewenstein / United Artists

The Dustbinmen         

"Episode #3.7" (1970)

Granada Television / ITV

Oh In Colour  

Unknown episodes (1970)

BBC1

Some Matters of Little Consequence

Unknown episode (1971)

BBC2

Ronnie Corbett in Bed           

Sketch show (1971)

BBC1

An Apple a Day         

Television film (1971)

BBC1

Milligan in...  

"Milligan in Spring" (co-written with Chris Langham, Dick Vosburgh and Spike Milligan, 1973)

BBC2

Too Close for Comfort           

"No Deposit, No Return" (1985)

D.L. Taffner / Metromedia for American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Last Laugh Before TV-am     

Television film (1985)

Ravel Productions / Channel Four

The Ratties     

26 episodes (narration, 1987)

Central / ITV

Alfred Hitchcock Presents     

"The Impatient Patient (1987)

Michael Sloan Productions / Universal Television

Room at the Bottom   

13 episodes (co-written with Ray Galton, 1986–1988)

Yorkshire Television / ITV

The Dreamstone         

"The Nightmare Stone" (co-written with Martin Gates, 1992)

"Albert's Ailment" (co-written with Martin Gates, 1992)

"Return of the Nightmare Stone" (co-written with Martin Gates, 1992)

Central / ITV

Carry On Columbus   

Feature film (co-written with Dave Freeman, 1992)

Island World / Comedy House / Peter Rogers

Get Well Soon

6 episodes (1997)

BBC1

Awards and nominations

Year     Award  Work   Category          Result  Reference

1970    Hugo Award    The Bed-Sitting Room            Best Dramatic Presentation (with Richard Lester, Charles Wood and Spike Milligan)      Nominated