I know there are many people who are huge fans of The Goons. I would not count myself as one of them (being as that they were a little before my time). However, as a small child on long car journeys in our family’s yellow Datsun 200B we would listen to an eclectic version of cassettes that included Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night, The Best of John Denver, the soundtrack to the Muppet Movie, the soundtrack to Godspell, Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits, and it seems a tape of Goon Shows. There is one line that I have remembered after all these years and it has become something of a family catchphrase in the cold weather: “ Put this porridge on,come in.Come in and warm yourself by this roaring candle”.

Very appropriate for the chilly night ahead I think. I might just put the candle on now.