It has been suggested that Ruxton Hayward be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

For other meanings, see bluebottle

Bluebottle is the name of a comedy character, created and performed by Peter Sellers, from the 1950's British radio comedy series The Goon Show. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Bluebottle (character). ... Bluebottle can mean: Bluebottle, a character in The Goon Show a general name for several species of fly, particularly the blow-fly of the genus Calliphora several species of physalia, particularly physalia utriculus, a marine siphonophore resembling a jellyfish an outdated British slang term for a police officer. ... Richard Henry Peter Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English comedian, actor, and performer, who came to prominence on the BBC radio series The Goon Show and later became a film star. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The word comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humor with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... The Goon Show was a popular and influential British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1951 to 1960 on the BBC Home Service. ...

Bluebottle, an adenoidally-squeaky voiced boy scout from East Finchley, was noted for reading stage directions out loud, and was always greeted with a deliberate round of applause from the audience ("Enter Bluebottle wearing string and cardboard pyjamas. Waits for audience applause. Not a sausage."). As was common with Goon Show characters, Sellers' Bluebottle was paired with a Spike Milligan character — usually Eccles (the third Goon, Harry Secombe, usually stayed in his alter-ego of Neddie Seagoon throughout the show). Finchley is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, London, England. ... Terence Alan Milligan, KBE, (16 April 1918–27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish writer, artist, musician, humanitarian, comedian, and poet. ... Eccles is the name of a comedy character, created and performed by Spike Milligan, from the 1950s United Kingdom radio comedy series The Goon Show. ... Sir Harry Donald Secombe, CBE (8 September 1921–11 April 2001) was a Welsh entertainer with a noted fine tenor singing voice and a talent for comedy. ... Neddie Pugh Seagoon was a character in the British radio comedy, The Goon Show. ...

Bluebottle is also prone to humourous misnaming of characters, not limited to himself. For example, he has called himself "Bluebontle" and "Blatbottle" on occasion. Other characters are often misnamed, including "Count Morinanty" for Count Moriarty, and "Miss Balustrade" for Minnie Bannister. Neddie is always "My Captain".

According to The Goon Show Companion, Bluebottle was originally known as Ernie Splutmuscle. ^[1] In the 3rd series episode "The Man Who Never Was", he was cast in a small role. Secombe strides across the ceiling of his club, hurling members to the floor. He bumps into Splutmuscle:

Four shows later, in the episode "The Greatest Mountain in the World", the script refers to "Peter (Bluebottle)".

Early in season 5, Bluebottle would enter with a direct appeal to the audience: "Bluebottle enters, waits for audience applause. Not a sausage." As the character became more popular, he would actually earn the applause that he sought, which he would acknowledge with a grateful, "Oh! Sausinges!"

Bluebottle was often killed during the course of an episode. This would be punctuated by a lamentation such as, "You rotten swine! You've deaded me!" After a while, the character began to anticipate this fate, noting at the appearance of a dangerous prop that "the dreaded deading" is approaching.

Bluebottle was based on Ruxton Hayward, a scoutmaster Sellers once met. In an interview with Michael Parkinson, Sellers described trying to keep a straight face while talking with a large red-bearded scout leader who nevertheless spoke in a falsetto voice and had an ingratiating manner. The identity of the individual was later revealed in The Goons,^[2] one of several books featuring memoirs and scripts from The Goon Show. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Bluebottle (character). ... Michael Parkinson CBE (born 28 March 1935) is an English journalist and television presenter. ...

References

1. ^ The Goon Show Companion, Roger Wilmut and Jimmy Grafton. 1976, Robson Books Ltd, Bolsover. pp 91.
2. ^ The Goons, edited by Norma Evans, Virgin Publishing 1997 ISBN 1-85227-679-7