Keith Wickham

This week Tyler talks to voice actor and restorer Keith Wickham about his history with the Goons, about a show he has produced for Radio 4 called Raiders of the Lost Archive (which is being broadcast the day after this podcast goes out, on the 13th October) and a recently discovered Hancock's Half Hour featuring Peter Sellers.  One of this country's most in-demand voice artists, Keith discovered Sellers at a tender age thanks to an indulgent schoolteacher and was immediately hooked. He soon abandoned his ambition to become a surgeon to focus on comedy and he recounts visits to watch classic radio comedy series being recorded, including I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and Just A Minute.  He also developed an interest and talent for restoring radio shows, and as well as The Goon Show one of his proudest achievements in this field has been the complete I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again. He talks about collaborating with people like Ted Kendall, Richard Harrison and Steve Arnold and how he went about sourcing material - old tapes, discs etc - and the challenges he faced.  Raiders of the Lost Archive tells the story of the audio engineers, enthusiasts and hobbyists who have spent years tracking down lost radio shows, dusting them off, cleaning them up and releasing them back into the world. Of particular note is the recently unearthed Hancock's Half Hour episode 'The Marriage Bureau', long thought lost forever, which featured Peter Sellers in a one-off appearance standing in for Kenneth Williams.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cxx2