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Spike Milligan Knight|Kt Order of the British
Empire|CBE (April 16, 1918 – February 27,
2002) was a comedian, novelist, script writer,
poet, jazz|jazz musician (trumpet and guitar -
also played the piano - and was a dab hand at
Bronx cheer|raspberry blowing) and is best
remembered as the creator, principal writer and
performing member of The Goon Show.

==Biography==

Spike was born Terence Alan Milligan in Ahmed
Nagar or Ahmadnagar, India to an Irish-born
officer in the British Army. Though he lived most
of his life in United Kingdom|Britain and served
in the British Army, he was declared stateless in
1960, and took Ireland|Irish citizenship.

Spike Milligan suffered from bipolar disorder for
most of his life, having at least ten mental
breakdowns. He was a strident campaigner on
environmental matters, particularly arguing
against unnecessary noise. He served in the Royal
Regiment of Artillery|Royal Artillery in World War
2 in North Africa and also Italy, where he was
hospitalized for shell shock. During most of the
1930s|30s and early 1940s|40s he performed as a
jazz trumpeter but even then he did comedy
sketches. After his hospitalisation he played
guitar with a jazz/comedy group called The Bill
Hall Trio, at first in concert parties for the
troops and, after the War, for a short time on
stage. While he was with the Central Pool of
Artists (a group, in his own words, "of bomb-happy
squaddies") he began to write parodies of their
mainstream plays, that displayed many of the key
elements of what would become The Goon Show.

He was the primary author of The Goon Show scripts
(though many were written jointly with Eric Sykes)
as well as a star performer, and is considered the
father of modern British comedy, having inspired
countless writers and performers with his work on
the Goon Show and his own Q (Spike Milligan
series)|Q series, including Monty Python's Flying
Circus. Writing a show a week affected his health
greatly and caused him to have a series of nervous
breakdowns. On one occasion, Peter Sellers had to
lock his door against a knife-wielding Milligan;
on another, Sellers and Harry Secombe broke into
Milligan's dressing room, fearing he was suicidal.
Eventually Lithium salt|lithium was found to be
the most effective treatment.

He also had a number of acting parts in theatre,
film and television series; one of his last screen
appearances was in the BBC dramatisation of Mervyn
Peake's Gormenghast, and he was (almost
inevitably) noted as an ad-libber. One of Spike's
most famous ad-lib incidents occurred during a
visit to Australia in the late 1960s. He was
interviewed live-to-air and remained in the studio
for the news broadcast that followed (read by Rod
McNeil) during which Milligan constantly
interjected, adding his own name to news items. As
a result, he was banned from making any further
live appearances on the ABC. The ABC also changed
its national policy so that talent had to leave
the studio after interviews were complete. A tape
of the bulletin survives and has been included in
an ABC Radio audio compilation. 

Milligan also wrote nonsense verse for children,
the best of which is comparable with that of Lewis
Carroll and Edward Lear, and (while depressed)
serious poetry. He also wrote a very successful
series  of war memoirs, including Adolf Hitler: My
Part in his Downfall (1971) and Rommel? Gunner
Who? A Confrontation in the Desert (1976).  He
also wrote comedy songs, including "Purple
Aeroplane", which was a parody of The Beatles song
"Yellow Submarine".

After their retirement, Milligan's parents and his
younger brother Desmond moved to Australia. His
mother lived the rest of her life in the coastal
village of Woy Woy on the New South Wales central
coast, just north of Sydney;  as a result, Spike
became a regular visitor to Australia and made a
number of radio and TV programs there.

From the 1960s onwards Milligan was a regular
correspondent with Robert Graves. Milligan's
letters to Graves usually addressed a question to
do with classical studies. The letters form part
of Graves bequest to St. John's College, Oxford.

In 1972, Milligan caused controversy by
'liberating' a live shark from an art exhibition
at the Hayward Gallery. In 1996, he successfully
campaigned for the restoration of London's Elfin
Oak.

Charles, Prince of Wales|The Prince of Wales was a
noted fan, and Milligan caused a stir by calling
him a "little grovelling bastard" on television in
1994. He later faxed the prince, saying "I suppose
a knighthood is out of the question now?" The
British honours system|knighthood (honorary
because of his Irish citizenship) was finally
awarded in 2000.

Milligan had three children with his first wife
June Marlow: Laura, Sean and Sile. He had one
daughter with his second wife Patricia (Paddy):
Jane. He had no children with his third wife
Shelagh Sinclair. The four children have recently
colloborated with documentary makers on a new
multi-platform program called I TOLD YOU I WAS
ILL: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF SPIKE MILLGAN (2005)
and web site, http://www.spikemilliganlegacy.com

Even late in life, Milligan's black humour had not
deserted him.  After the death of friend Harry
Secombe he said, "I'm glad he died before me,
because I didn't want him to sing at my funeral."
A recording of Secombe singing was played at
Milligan's memorial service. In a BBC poll in
August 1999, Spike Milligan was voted the
"funniest person of the last 1000 years".

The film of Puckoon was released after Spike's
death and starred one of his daughters, Jane
Milligan. 

Milligan lived for several years in Holden Road,
Woodside Park and The Crescent, Barnet, and was a
strong supporter of the Finchley Society.  His
house in Woodside Park is now demolished, but
there is a blue plaque in his memory on the new
house on the site.  The Finchley Society is trying
to get a statue of him erected in Finchley.

In accordance with his last wishes, his headstone
bears the words "I told you I was ill." As his
local church refused to allow these words on a
headstone in its cemetery, a compromise was
reached with the Irish language translation,
"DĂșirt mĂ© leat go raibh mĂ© breoite."

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he
was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by
fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

==Radio comedy shows==
* The Goon Show (1951-59)
* The Milligan Papers (1987)

==Other radio shows==
Milligan contributed his vivid recollections of
his childhood in India for the acclaimed 1970s BBC
audio history series Plain Tales From The Raj. The
series was published in book form in 1975 by Andre
Deutsch, edited by Charles Allen.

==TV Comedy shows==
* A Show Called Fred
* Son of Fred
* The World of Beachcomber
* Q (Spike Milligan series)|Q5, Q (Spike Milligan
series)|Q6, Q (Spike Milligan series)|Q7, Q (Spike
Milligan series)|Kuwait (Q8) Q (Spike Milligan
series)|Q9 and Q (Spike Milligan series)|There's A
Lot of It About

==Theatre==
* Treasure Island (1961, 1973–5)
* The Bed-Sitting Room (1963, 1967) written by
Milligan and John Antrobus
*
http://mikeagnew123.tripod.com/spikemilliganshop/i
d20.html Son of Oblomov Opened at the Lyric
Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1964. It was based on the
Russian classic by Ivan Goncharov, and gave
Milligan the opportunity to play most of the title
role in bed. Unsure of his material, on the
opening night he improvised a great deal, treating
the audience as part of the plot almost, and he
continued in this diverting manner for the rest of
the run, and on tour as Son Of Oblomov.

==Movies==
* The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), post-nuclear-war
comedy with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and also
Arthur Lowe; based on the Milligan/Antrobus play.
* The Great McGonagall, untalented Scottish poet
(based on the real William Topaz McGonagall)
angles to become laureate, with Peter Sellers as
Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria.
* The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn, a
Goon-like 2-reel comedy ("Mukkinese" = "mucky
knees").
* The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film, a
silent comedy, Richard Lester|Richard Lester's
debut film.
* The decrepit manager of a seedy London hotel in
Bruce Beresford's The Adventures of Barry
MacKenzie (1972).
* Monsieur Bonacieux, husband of Madame Bonacieux
(Raquel Welch) in Richard Lester's The Three
Musketeers and The Four Musketeers (1973).
*  The prophet abandoned by his flock in Life of
Brian.
*  The meter reader who eats the ticket in The
Magic Christian.
* The Last Remake of Beau Geste, with Marty
Feldman.
* A jailed French aristocrat with a thing for
songbirds in History of the World, Part I.

==Books==
* Silly Verse for Kids (1959); the 1968 paperback
edition omits one poem and adds some from the next
two books
* A Dustbin of Milligan (1961)
* The Little Pot Boiler (1963) 
* Puckoon (1963)
* A Book of Bits, or A Bit of a Book (1965)
* A Book of Milliganimals (1968)
* The Looney: An Irish Fantasy (1987)
* The Bedside Milligan
* "The War (and Peace) Memoirs"
** Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (1971;
Jim Dale played Milligan and Milligan played his
own father in the film version of this book.)  
** Erwin Rommel|Rommel? Gunner Who? A
Confrontation in the Desert
** Bernard Montgomery|Monty: His Part in My
Victory
** Benito Mussolini|Mussolini: His Part in My
Downfall
** Where Have All the Bullets Gone? (1985)
** Goodbye Soldier
** Peace Work
* Hidden Words: Collected Poems
* Startling Verse for All the Family
* A Mad Medley of Milligan
* Transports of Delight
* More Transports of Delight
* Depression and How to Survive It (with Professor
Anthony Clare), medical biography.
* It Ends with Magic
* The "According to" Books
** The Bible - the Old Testament According to
Spike Milligan
** Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan
** D.H.Lawrence's John Thomas and Lady Jane:
According to Spike Milligan - Part II of "Lady
Chatterley's Lover"
** Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan
** The Hound of the Baskervilles According to
Spike Milligan
** Lady Chatterley's Lover According to Spike
Milligan
** Robin Hood According to Spike Milligan
** Treasure Island According to Spike Milligan
** Wuthering Heights According to Spike Milligan

==Quotations==
Wikiquote
* "When I look back, the fondest memory I have is
not really of the Goons. It is of a girl called
Julia with enormous breasts."
*"I can't see the sense in it his honorary CBE
really. It makes me a Commander of the British
Empire. They might as well make me a Commander of
Milton Keynes – at least that exists."
*"I told you I was ill" – his epitaph.
Spike's grave remained unmarked for two years, as
the church authorities would not let the family
put Spike's chosen epitaph on his grave, claiming
that it might offend some people. Eventually, it
was decided that it should be written in Gaelic,
to prevent any offence.
*On his bouts of depression – "It's the
nature of who you are. You will see sunsets in a
special way, you will see life in a special way.
The Milligans are like Arab racehorses. We'll kick
the stable to pieces, but we'll always win the
race." 

==External links==
*
http://www.spikemilliganappreciationsociety.co.uk/
The Spike Milligan Appreciation Society 
* http://www.spikemilligan.co.uk/ The Spike
Milligan Tribute Site 
* http://www.spikemilliganlegacy.com/ The web site
to accompany the new documentary, I Told you I was
Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan
* imdb name|id=0589711|name=Spike Milligan
*
http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,
659215,00.html The Guardian newspaper obituary for
Spike Milligan
*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/events/mil
lennium/aug/winner.stm Link to BBC poll article
*
http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~mhjarron/spike/w
elcome.htm Comprehensive list of Spike's works
(illustrated)
*
http://www.bodnotbod.org.uk/kettering/Kettering1.p
df PDF Document: kettering magazine - the fanzine
of elderly comedy - Note: 700k file
**Contains detailed article on Milligan and his
role in the film The Great McGonagall
* http://www.puckoon.co.uk/ Puckoon website