... was originally conceived as a vehicle for Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe – the Goons – but this idea was shelved because of Sellers's Hollywood commitments.
The writing credit was to "Spike Milligan and a Gentleman". The "gentleman" was Gerald Wiley, which (as every quizzer surely knows by now) was a pseudonym used by Ronnie Barker.
Some sources have claimed that the 'raspberry' sound effects were provided by Milligan, but David Jason wrote in his 2013 autobiography that it was him. Jason co–starred with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television sitcom Open All Hours, which was first broadcast in 1976; it's not clear which came first, although if he was in the original Six Dates with Barker version of the Raspberry Blower, this was definitely first. In fact one wonders (without having read David Jason's autobiography) whether the truth may be that Milligan did the raspberries in 1971 and Jason in 1976.
In a parody of the 1975 ITV series Edward the Seventh, starring Timothy West in the title role, one episode of the Two Ronnies version featured Ronnie Corbett as Queen Victoria (diminutive yet domineering) and Barker as her browbeaten son "Edward, Prince of Wales". (In reality, the future King Edward VII – who was christened Albert Edward – was known to his family as Bertie.)
A stage version of the Raspberry Blower ran at the St. James Theatre in London for three nights in 2015, proceeds from the premiere going to The Princes Trust. The format was as a "live radio show", complete with sound effects and comedy songs. Each evening a different mystery guest was cast as the Phantom, but could only be heard offstage until the reveal in the closing scenes. The guests were impressionist John Culshaw, actor John Challis (Boycie in Only Fools and Horses) and broadcaster Danny Baker.
For all of this information we are indebted once again to Wikipedia.
© Haydn Thompson 2020