In a 2005 poll to find the "Comedians' Comedian", he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts, by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. In a BBC poll in August 1999, Milligan was voted the "funniest person of the last 1,000 years". [87] The Spike Milligan memorial bench in the garden of Stephen's House in Finchley

I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning—I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going—so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet. [66] Nationality [ edit ]

Publication Order of War (and Peace) Memoirs Books

London's Famous Bench Dedications". Londonist.com. 21 October 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018 . Retrieved 12 October 2018. Their band has been warned by an officer, that if they smuggle their instruments on board, the instruments will be thrown overboard. Later in voyage, after a miserable passage, the officer asks if the instruments are actually on board (which they are) and will the band please play to entertain the men. Algeria comes into view. The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering ('We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently'), psychological toughening ('If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it') and living dangerously ('no underwear!'). At last the battle for Tunis is upon them . . . Milligan's next major TV venture was the sketch comedy series The World of Beachcomber (1968), made in colour for BBC 2; [27] it is believed all 19 episodes are lost. In the same year, the three Goons reunited for a televised re-staging of a vintage Goon Show for Thames Television, with John Cleese substituting for the late Wallace Greenslade but the pilot was not successful and no further programmes were made. [ citation needed] Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall, is the first of Spike Milligan's seven memoirs that recount his recollections of life in the army during World War 2. I read this book as a teenager in the mid-1970s (or, put another way, a very long time ago) and I loved it and have always meant to read it again. It was even better than I had remembered.

Some Goon Show scripts feature the names of places where the regiment was encamped. Bexhill, Pevensey Bay, and "Robin's Post" (a private house used by the regiment) each have a script named for them. I got off at Bexhill-on-Sea. It wasn't easy – the train didn't stop there" [4] Part 2 [ edit ] Members of 56th Heavy Regiment with a BL 9.2-inch Howitzer, Hastings, May 1940 In 1974 Milligan was arrested for shooting a trespasser with an air rifle. He defended himself in court and was given a conditional discharge. [70] Humour with the Prince of Wales [ edit ] He was a strident campaigner on environmental matters, particularly arguing against unnecessary noise, such as the use of " muzak". [73]

Treasure Island played twice daily through the winter of 1961–62 and was an annual production at the Mermaid Theatre for some years. In the 1968 production, Barry Humphries played the role of Long John Silver, alongside William Rushton as Squire Trelawney and Milligan as Ben Gunn. To Humphries, Milligan's "best performance must surely have been as Ben Gunn..., Milligan stole the show every night, in a makeup which took at least an hour to apply. His appearance on stage always brought a roar of delight from the kids in the audience and Spike had soon left the text far behind as he went off into a riff of sublime absurdity." [40] The Bedsitting Room [ edit ] At Victoria station the R.T.O. gave me a travel warrant, a white feather and a picture of Hitler marked "This is your enemy". I searched every compartment, but he wasn't on the train . . .'

Spike Milligan interviewed by Bernard Braden". YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 . Retrieved 23 May 2014. In 1975 he fathered a son, James (b. June 1976), in an affair with Margaret Maughan. Another child, a daughter Romany, is suspected to have been born at the same time, to a Canadian journalist named Roberta Watt. Milligan, Spike (1971). Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. Michael Joseph. pp. 36, 81. ISBN 9780718108663.Prince Harry and 11 other famous faces who have changed the conversation about mental health". The Telegraph. 18 April 2017. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 . Retrieved 17 August 2020.

The film Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1972) was produced by Gregory Smith and Norman Cohen, and directed by Norman Cohen. It stars Jim Dale as the young Spike, Arthur Lowe and Bill Maynard, with a cameo appearance by Milligan as his own father. [6] a b Eden, Richard (19 June 2011). "Comedian Spike Milligan's children await details of legacy after death of his widow Shelagh". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 . Retrieved 10 July 2020. Members of Monty Python greatly admired him. In one interview, which was widely quoted at the time, John Cleese stated "Milligan is the Great God to all of us". [91] The Pythons gave Milligan a cameo role in their 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian, when Milligan happened to be holidaying in Tunisia, near where the film was being shot; he was re-visiting where he had been stationed during wartime. Graham Chapman gave him a minor part in Yellowbeard. Vinyl Album – Spike Milligan – Milligan Preserved – Parlophone – UK". 45worlds.com . Retrieved 10 October 2015.Eddie Izzard described Milligan as "The Godfather of Alternative Comedy". "From his unchained mind came forth ideas that just had no boundaries. And he influenced a new generation of comedians who came to be known as 'alternative'." [90] a b "Camera spread: Taking a rise out of the serious supermen in TV commercials, Spike Milligan in Bat-Goons outfit leads BP's sales campaign...". Autocar. 126 (3714): 22. 22 April 1967.