Count Jim Moriarty
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Count Jim Moriarty is a character from the 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show. He was voiced by Spike Milligan.
Moriarty is an impoverished member of the French aristocracy who has turned to crime to support his lifestyle. Despite having carried out many high-paying cons and robberies during the series, he and his criminal counterpart Hercules Grytpype-Thynne always appear to be permanently destitute. With his thick faux-French accent, he is often found scavenging in dustbins looking for food and uttering meaningless foreign-sounding curses like "Sapristi nabolas!", "Sapristi nyuckoes!" or "Sapristi bombpetts!"
Moriarty travels closely with Grytpype-Thynne, often in the same suit or (in The Jet Propelled Guided NAAFI) by hiding in the lining of Grytpype's underpants. In The Call of the West, Grytpype announces that Moriarty is travelling west by fish crate because of the devaluation of the Franc.
Over the years, Moriarty changed from a rather debonair and efficient French criminal mastermind to a cringing sidekick of Grytpype-Thynne, who is often disparaging of his manic behaviour, referring to him as "you steaming French nit", "my fast disintegrating friend". or "you crutty French schlapper". Grytpype often introduces him with a middle name such as "Thighs", "Knees", "Kidney Wiper", etc, along with an appropriate sound effect (e.g rattling bones, swannee whistle) or Moriarty's catch-phrase "Oooowwwwww", and descriptions of his prowess in various fields ("who has played the male lead in over 50 postcards", or "the world barbed-wire hurdling champion until his unfortunate accident".) On one occasion, he is introduced as Count Serge Moriarty; when Seagoon enquires "Serge?", Grytpype replies: "Only because he can't afford flannel."
There is some suggestion that the character is a parody of the Sherlock Holmes villain, Professor Moriarty. In The Hound of the Baskervilles according to Spike Milligan, a preface by Milligan explains that Sherlock did in fact kill Professor Moriarty, but he 'later became a character in The Goon Show.'
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| The Goons | Michael Bentine • Spike Milligan • Harry Secombe • Peter Sellers |
| Other Contributors | Ray Ellington • Max Geldray • Wallace Greenslade • Dennis Main Wilson • Larry Stephens • Wally Stott • Eric Sykes • Andrew Timothy |
| Radio and TV Series | The Goon Show • The Telegoons |
| Films | Let's Go Crazy • Penny Points to Paradise • Down Among the Z Men • The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn • The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film |
| Characters | Cast members and their Characters • Major Bloodnok • Bluebottle • Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister • Eccles • Hercules Grytpype-Thynne • Count Jim Moriarty • Neddie Seagoon |
| General information | Episodes and archiving • Running Jokes |
