Mr Goon's Good Points!

[TheAngryPixie]

I always thought Goon was an interesting character because he wasn't a TERRIBLE policeman.

In quite a few of the books, he is on the right track--just a step or so behind Fatty, and really only comes unstuck either because of his temper, or because he falls for Fatty's idiotic pranks. In Missing Necklace, he's pretty much level with Fatty--even having the same idea to disguise himself as a waxwork, and if I remember right in Spiteful Letters, he only comes unstuck because he thinks the clues he discovers are some of Fatty's jokes.

I think there is a book where Fatty, or someone else, observes Goon questioning a witness and Fatty is impressed that he asked all of the right questions.

[dsr]

In "Les Miserables", Javert gets some stick because he is without mercy and utterly devoted to the law. Which seems a bit harsh, because at least he is an honest policeman devoted to doing his job, even if he could do with a dose of human kindness to help him out. Enemy of Jean Valjean he may be, but he's a better man than most of the cast.

Goon's a bit the same. Upholding the law to the best of his ability but with (possibly severe) character flaws.

[Bertie]

Goon does have some of the necessary traits of a decent policeman - he's sometimes on the right track (just a step or two behind); He's prepared to go out late at night in books like Secret Room and Hidden House to do his 'bounden duty'. And he shows a brave side in The Missing Necklace when he goes to the gangs meeting in the Waxwork Hall...

On the other hand, always being a step or two behind a group of children isn't a great effort considering his advantages in experience, access to extra information on the cases and suspects, etc. He's also shown as lazy a good few times by sleeping all afternoon - and falling asleep on duty in Tally Ho. And he's cowardly in some situations as well - such as when they're in Mr Fellows house and Fatty is doing his ventriloquism, and when he flees at the sound of the owl in the old mill. And his attempts at disguising are pitiful!

Overall, while having some good points, he's definitely a below average policeman. He has some of the necessary basics, but also many more flaws in both his policing and his temperament and morals.

Maybe he'd have eventually solved one or two of the cases where it not for the Find-Outers, but most would definitely have gone unsolved - some with Goon completely oblivious to such as Secret Room, Hidden House, Strange Bundle, Banshee Towers... And some would have led to miscarriages of justice with the wrong person arrested by Goon (Luke, Boysie, Marian...)

[Susie9598]

I thought I’d thought of another one, where he is brave going across the marshes to rescue the prince in Vanished Prince, all the while having lovely daydreams of carrying him on his back, and fantasising about the headlines he was going to make …. But then I saw we’d already mentioned courage. Although I would make the point he’s more than “occasionally” plucky, he’s normally pretty brave, just not very bright and a nasty bit of work. But I don’t think Enid ever paints him as cowardly, does she?

[TheAngryPixie]

Goon does have some And his attempts at disguising are pitiful!

Isn't there a bit in the book where Goon's disguise actually does fool the children (aside from Fatty)? I wanna say they were spying on him thinking he was a suspect, and it was just Goon in disguise.

[Bertie]

Yes, that's in The Invisible Thief. Where, at the start, Goon had been away on a refresher course being taught about disguises, etc. His first attempt did fool the others (apart from Fatty!), but I think that's just because, without Fatty, the others are really just average kids. Even so, once alert to the possibility that Goon may be in disguise, they all spotted him straight away later in the book when he and Fatty were sat on benches both in disguise (but they didn't recognise Fatty!) And they all recognise him in The Missing Man at the fair (Daisy a little slower than the rest).

[Moonraker]

It should be remembered that a village policeman in the 40s/50s wasn't a detective. He wouldn't be there to solve mysteries, but to keep law and order on the streets, issue summonses and direct traffic. CID were there to solve crime. We had a very similar PC to Goon where I lived as a child - he'd box your ears if he caught you cycling on a footpath or riding without lights. He called out, "Where's your lights? to a lady cyclist". She replied, "Next to my liver!". He booked her.

[Bertie]

Valid general point, Moonraker. Although Enid (through Inspector Jenks) seems to think Goon should be solving the cases as Jenks is always putting him in charge of them and telling him to 'buck his ideas up' when he invariably fails. So it's not as if Goon's job is meant to just be traffic duty, etc. He's the one tasked with the job of solving Peterswood cases of stolen items, spiteful letter writers, etc, in the books - not the CID. So it seems fair to comment on his inability to do so.

[Splodj]

He called out, "Where's your lights? to a lady cyclist". She replied, "Next to my liver!". He booked her.

Perhaps she thought he said 'gallbladder'.

[Splodj]

In 1926 a spoof BBC radio talk called 'Broadcasting the Barricades' included a character called Theophilus Gooch. Is it possible he was an inspiration for the name of Theophilus Goon?

In this transcript Theophilus Gooch features in main paragraphs 10 & 11.
https://www.thepostil.com/a-forgotten-interlude/

[Ian]

(First ever post to the forum - be kind!)

Having just read 'Invisible Thief' another good point I'll nominate is that Goon goes out late at night to check on the Trottville's house when he receives the message that it's next to be burgled. It's his 'bounden duty!' I was actually quite sorry for Goon in this mystery. After going to the house to check on it Fatty doesn't show any appreciation and casually lets Buster go for his ankles. As usual, he's often the victim of Fatty's put-downs, and at the end of the mystery, Fatty rubs his nose in it by making sure that Goon has to attend the meeting with Inspector Jenks where Fatty reveals the solution to the case. Goon is relatively likable compared to how he behaves in the previous 'Pantomime Cat' mystery.

[Bertie]

Good point about Goon going out in the night to check up on the Trotteville residence, Ian. It's up there with examples in Secret Room, Hidden House, Vanished Prince - that all show him being prepared to go out late at night to do his 'bounden duty'.

Although most of those come across as eagerness to solve the case ahead of Fatty, and get his 'overdue' promotion, rather than a real sense of civic duty - and in almost all those cases he's been told about the place to go, either accurately or misled, rather than having worked them out himself. But, still, you make a valid point about his negative reception by the Trottevilles when he's trying to protect their property in the night, whatever his motivations.

Re: Goon being more 'likeable' than in Pantomime Cat - or at least evoking a bit of sympathy. I wonder if Enid felt she'd gone too far with Goon in that one - hitting Buster, bullying Pippin, trying to frame Boysie and Zoe...? Maybe she felt she needed to strip him back a bit from the vicious and nasty individual he was in Pantomime Cat?

[Perce]

After years in the job, Goon couldn't quite motivate himself to handle insurance jobs, missing cats, a few nasty letters, someone trying to con their old uncle out of his life savings...... these problems were probably best left to middle-class children looking for something to do in their long school holidays. Goon knew his face didn't fit at HQ, and he was NEVER going to be promoted, even if he solved all of these crimes.

And then, one day, something caught his attention. An Organised Crime Group (OCG), known as Numbers 1 through to 5, sought after by every police force in England, were thought to be operating in and around Peterswood, and very little intelligence about them was known. This issue of national importance reminded Goon of why he had joined the police force.

The OCG make one mistake, and that was they entered the patch of Theophilus Goon. Scores of police forces, with huge resources and teams numbering dozens, had tried and failed to catch them, but one man smashed them, he crushed them so that they would never rise again. And that man was Theophilus Goon.

This he achieved with constant interference from the FFO. Ultimately he had to lock Fatty away due to his meddling and interference, for his own good, because Goon was dealing with the big boys now. But Fatty's class status and powerful connections make it a problem, and all of Goon's hard work, of national significance, is nicely swept under the carpet, with the finding of the necklace given greater prominence.

Goon comforts himself with the fact that he is trusted to continue representing the law in Peterswood, a hotbed of crime. Someone is now stealing valuables from the big houses of the middle classes. "It's probably Twit the Baker", thinks Goon, who had spotted the criss-cross pattern straightaway. "But these kids will be home soon, and That Fat Toad of a Boy has an ego the size of his belly, so I'll let them get on with it while I take down the Kray twins", mused Goon, as he slowly drifts off to sleep, during his afternoon shift, in his comfortable armchair next to a roaring fire".