Eccles (character)

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For other meanings of the name, see Eccles

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.

Eccles was one of the show's secondary characters, but like his counterpart Bluebottle (portrayed by Peter Sellers), Eccles became extremely popular and he is regarded (rather like Kramer from Seinfeld) as epitomising the show's humour.

Milligan visualised Eccles as a tall, lanky, amiable, well-meaning, but incredibly stupid teenager who usually found himself involved — usually alongside Bluebottle — in one of the nefarious schemes created by arch-villain Hercules Grytpype-Thynne.

The Eccles character and his distinctive voicing were strongly influenced by Milligan's childhood love for the classic Walt Disney cartoons and specifically Disney's anthropomorphic buffoon dog character Goofy. However Eccles transcended the denseness of Goofy, being instead more like a small child with adult impulses, which may explain his friendship with Bluebottle. His special talent is for taking things he hears literally, with humorous and occasionally insightful results. Thus:

Seagoon (finding Eccles in a coal cellar): What are you doing here?
Eccles: Everybody's gotta be somewhere.

and in the same conversation (from The Last Goon Show of All):

Seagoon: After you deliver the coal, you're supposed to go back to the cart!
Eccles: You mean I should let go of the sack?
Seagoon: Yes!
Eccles: But they said they was givin' me the sack!

During an arctic expedition in Scradge:

Seagoon: Now then Dr. Eccles, any cases of frozen feet?
Eccles: Nope, you didn't order any cases of frozen feet.

Eccles really belongs to a tradition of comic characters that includes Stan Laurel and stretches to Woody Boyd.

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