Pip pip! The Harpoon was a rip-roaring dig at the world of Edwardian boys' comics, featuring thrilling accounts of jungle exploration, practical tips for growing lads, jolly japes voiced by cheery cockneys, advice on warding off the attentions of foreigners and assorted "tales of derring-do and derring-don't". "Illustrated with six colour plates and numerous line drawings", the magazine was topped and tailed by "your old chum The Editor", who answered readers' letters and gave a run-down of the delights on offer (including the adventures of "Captain Bonnet", always unaccountably absent), and was written by Julian Dutton and Peter Baynham, who performed it with Susie Brann, Alistair McGowan and Mary Elliott-Nelson. Some episodes in the later series diversified a little from the central premise, including a fifties edition (with a free hula hoop) and an ill-advised merger with a trade magazine about lathes.
A deliberate decision was made to include more library (ie, non-copyright) music in the Series Three programmes, with a view to releasing a collection. Unfortunately this never materialised.
Many thanks to Golux for contributions to this page.
01. Waiting For The Magazine
02. Looking Ahead To Autumn Issue
03. Laughing Through The Depression Issue
04. Under The Blankets
Christmas Special
01. Bumper Summer Edition
02. Behind The Bike-Sheds
03. Lucky-Bag Disguise
04. 1950s Edition
01. Wartime Edition
02. Crime Corner
03. Lathe Monthly
04. American Edition
