Spike Milligan @ FashionState.com

FashionState.Com salutes...

Goonfather of Absurdity

SPIKE MILLIGAN

1918-2002

"It's all in the mind, you know." - Spike Milligan

King Lear's fool was an excellent example of
how a funnyman in the royal favor could get away
with lunatic gibberish and brutal forthrightness that could
get the head cut off of those who considered themselves his superiors.

And even today, who else could've called the Prince of Wales
"a little grovelling bastard" and actually get a knighthood out of
the deal except British comedy's most influential mentor?

Terence Alan Milligan was of Irish descent, born in India to a
British Army officer and his wife. The family moved to England
in 1933, where Milligan was educated at a polytechnic school and
worked at a factory to help stave off the family poverty, all the
while dreaming of becoming a musician. When he was drafted into
the Army at the onset of World War II, he joined his father's old
regiment and played the trumpet as part of a military jazz band
whilst avoiding getting his behind getting sent to the brink
for pranks and insubordination. (His first chance meeting with
fellow Goon Harry Secombe occurred in 1943 as the heavy artillery
gun he neglected to dig in properly whizzed past Secombe's
lorry. Secombe, in a terror and ready to surrender, recalls Milligan
sticking his face through the lorry flaps. "Anyone seen a gun?" he asked.)

An explosion in Monte Cassino sent Milligan, now known
as "Spike", to a rehabilitation hospital. (The horrors of shell-shock,
as well as war, are tied in to his comic antics and military
experiences with startling brilliance in his series of
autobiographical war memoirs beginning with
"Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall".) Always someone
to view life with a blighted eye, his war terrors skewed
the off-kilter imagination even further, and he became one
of the harder-edge eccentrics of comedy to come out
of the experience of participation in a World War.

When his musical trio failed to catch on in post-war England,
Spike landed as a boarder above Jimmy Grafton's pub in
Westminister, where he basically shut himself in and wrote comedy
when he wasn't serving drinks. (Jimmy was a sympathetic sort,
being a BBC scriptwriter as well as a pub owner, who encouraged
Spike to co-write some of his scripts.) At night, Spike would wander
downstairs and have meetings with three of his mates - Harry
Secombe, Harry's friend Michael Bentine, and an eager
up-and-coming comic impressionist named Peter Sellers.

This was the Goons in infancy, and when Peter Sellers wheedled
his contacts at the BBC to give Spike's new, anarchic material a
try, "Crazy People" came to the radio, and nine years, a name
change, one less Goon, and a series of mental breakdowns
later, Spike and his "Goon Show" became a household name,
and a whole new slew of young comics and writers were
encouraged to break outside the traditional boundaries of the
vaudevillean "I say, I say" style of music-hall comedy.
(John Lennon's books are very heavily influenced by Milligan's
absurdity and his Lewis Carroll turns of phrase made so popular
in "The Goon Show", of which Lennon was a huge fan.)

After ending "The Goon Show", which beset Spike with
a barrage of personal, family, and emotional problems even
as it made England roar with laughter, Milligan became a
playwright and stage actor with a string of surreal and at
times improvisational comedies before returning to television
with his "Q Series" with its high degree of outlandish lunacy that
inspired the creators of "Monty Python" and remains a cult classic
to this day.

Over the years, his experiences with marriage, divorce,
fatherhood, show business, mental illness as a bipolar,
the war, and the world inspired from him an entire library of
works over a vast range of subjects, all of them imbued with
lashings of Goonish wit and his very strong opinions on subjects
ranging from war to animal rights to abortion to love to just
plain Milliganesque musings on life in general - all of them still
popular with the Britons and gaining in cult status worldwide.
He believed what he believed not out of fashion as his old
comrade at the microphone Peter Sellers was wont to do,
but because his conscience dictated his beliefs to him. Spike was
not in any way someone who marched to anyone's drum but his own.

The unpredictable and moody Milligan, because of his impact
on modern British comedy and his status as loved icon throughout
the world because of his direct or honorary mentorship of
many of today's best-known comedians, was issued an honorary
knighthood in 2000, since when given the option of becoming
a British subject he opted to retain his father's Irish citizenship.
Nevertheless, his most powerful and influential fan, the
Prince of Wales, invested him as a Commander of the British
Empire, which even in an honorary status is considered a
very great privilege. Yet Sir Spike took it all in his stride.
"I can't see the sense in it really," he said. "It makes me a
Commander of the British Empire. They might as well make
me a Commander of Milton Keynes - at least that exists."

When Spike died two years later, the tributes poured in
from all over the world about the last surviving Goon,
praising his wild genius all the while acknowledging the
madness, mayhem, and mercuriality that was this genius'
alchemy. Yet even in death, Spike caused a stir in the delicate
sensibilities of the Winchelsea Church, where Spike was buried,
over the epitaph he wanted on his tombstone. It was simply
too outrageous a request, and for two years, Spike's grave
was unmarked.

Finally, a concession was reached, and in May, 2004, a Celtic
cross was erected at the gravesite with Spike's longed-for
epitaph, but in Gaelic: "Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite."

Translated in English: "I told you I was ill."

SPECIAL FEATURE!

FASHIONSTATE.COM SALUTES "THE GOON SHOW"

FASHIONSTATE.COM'S SPIKE SCRAPBOOK

SNAPSHOTS OF SPIKE

SITE LINKS

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Acid Logic (contains graphic language)
Wildly humorous column on the one and only Spike.

The Age (Australia)
Spike had fun goofing on the town of Woy Woy in Australia. Their response? Throw a SpikeFest in honor of the late comedian who put them on the map!

Ananova
An article on the British Heritage Foundation's mounting a plaque at one of Spike's homes to designate it as an historic site.

Ananova: Comic Spike becomes a knight
A short article on the honorary knighthood of the Goon-daddy.

BBC Millennium
Spike Milligan is voted by BBC News Online readers as the funniest person of the millennium.

BBC News: The Nicer Side of Spike
A brief article on the bio by Humphrey Carpenter of the moody Spike.

The Cardboard and String Spike Milligan Page
Links!

Catharton Authors
Detailed info on Spike, plus a healthy list of his books!

The Finchley Society
Finchley, England's attempts to erect a statue of former famous resident, Spike Milligan.

I Told You I Was Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan
Currently in progress - a green-lighted documentary about the man himself! Features a blog and an e-mail list you can join.

Jazz Professional
A 1970 interview with Spike by Tony Brown.

Jazzy's Spike Page
A charming little fansite with some nice photos and information. Drop Jazzy a line if you have more info on Spike's career to contribute!

Nederlands Cabaret Homepage
A list of obituaries for the late, great, Goonish Spike Milligan.

Peninsula News: Name it Milligan's Island (Australia)
No fooling - suggestion by a environmentalist fan of Spike's to name an island close to his family's Australian homestead on the Woy Woy Peninsula "Milligan's Island".

Puckoon
Official website of the movie based on Spike's novel.

Q Magazine: Blind Date! The day Van Morrison met...Spike Milligan!?
A 1989 interview of Van Morrison by Spike Milligan. Two great Irish tastes that go great together.

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club London
Jim Godbolt's interview with Spike.

The Sand Grounder
This tribute to Spike Milligan written by Andrew Wooding, entitled "The Clown and Jesus", was originally posted on Premier Online Christian Website.

Spike Milligan
Tribute site at Geocities by a self-styled "three-legged hippo"! Includes samples of Spike's work.

The Spike Milligan Tribute Site (requires Flash)
A MUST for the bookmarks of Spike's fans - a monster tribute site to the legendary Goonish godfather of modern British comedy. Tributes, poems, pictures, bio, information, magazine appearances, book info, and much, much more! A non-Flash version can be viewed here.

Sunday Herald: Prickly side of Spike
A review of Humphrey Carter's bio of Spike Milligan.

Telegraph: Prince sees funny side of Spike's knighthood
An honorary knighthood for Great Britain's king of clowns.

This Is London: Me and My Dad, Spike
A tribute to Spike by his daughter, Jane.

The Union Recorder (Australia)
A 1995 interview with Spike by Demetrius Romeo and Rahni Sadler.

The Unofficial Jane Milligan Fan Site
This site focuses on the news about Spike's actress daughter.

William McGonagall - Poet and Tragedian
A site about one of Spike's favorite (and one of Spike's most parodied) doggerel poets.

WriteWords.Org
Poetic tributes to Spike by his fans.

Yahoo! Groups: Spike Milligan
Here it is - fans of Spike have a message board!

OBITUARIES

ABC News (Australia) Online: Comedy's "great-grandfather" dead at 83
Australian Broadcast News pays tribute to Spike - the man they banned from their airwaves for disruption of newscasts!

AOR UK Radio Receivers
Bob Ellis of this radio communication products page throws in his perspective of Spike.

BBC - Charles leads Milligan tributes
The Prince of Wales heads the crowd in paying homage to Spike Milligan. Check out the variety of other links referencing the life and talent of this zany king of British comedy.

Barnet and Potters Bar Times
Short obit on Spike.

British Film Institute
Biographical entry on Spike. Detailed!

Cambridge News
The recollection of an historic tiddlywinks competition!

CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Online's obit of Spike, complete with interview with broadcaster and friend-of-Spike Nicholas Parsons.

Chortle
This British on-line comedy guide has a chronology of Spike's career.

CNN.com: Prince pays tribute to Milligan
An obit in the on-line archives of one of the biggest news organizations in the world.

Coventry Web
A fond reflection by Steve Brookes, MBE.

Daily Llama: Pythons' tribute to Goon legend Spike Milligan
"Daz" Hall from PythOnline's tribute - and quotes from the Pythons and other comics - is reproduced here.

The Daily Reckless (requires plug-ins)
This satirical site pays its own unique tribute to Mr. Milligan.

Danny Morrison
This Irish author discusses the Irishness of Spike.

Gerry's Pages
Photos of Spike's headstone.

The Guardian (U.K.)
Official obit for Spike Milligan.

The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephen Dixon from one of Britain's top newspapers pays affectionate tribute.

The Guardian (U.K.)
A list of trivia about the late, great Spike.

HalfBakery
The wild minds at HalfBakery recommend renaming the Thames River!

Hello! Magazine
Retrospective on Spike's life and career.

Just In Time For A Cup Of Tea: A Tribute to Spike Milligan
Keith from Scotland put up this tiny-tribute to Spike, featuring links he archived from the BBC site. The readers' tribute are gone from the original BBC page, but you can now read them at JITFACT!

Lovely Jane's Survival Site
Lovely Jane's lovely reprint of Spike's personal obituary, written for the Sunday Correspondent in 1990.

Mark Juddery
The freelance writer shares his thoughts on the passing of Mr. Milligan.

Occult E-Books
An unusual essay by Dave Evans about the mystical Sufist comic sense of Spike Milligan's work.

Mr. Wirrall @ AOL.com
Mr. Wirrall's wee tribute to Spike includes a snippet from Spike's novel "Puckoon".

Nederlands Cabaret Homepage
This Dutch stand-up comedy site pays tribute to Spike Milligan.

NineMSN: Spike Milligan: The Last Goon Gone (Australia)
Fond tribute reflecting the essence of Milligan.

Northeast U.K.
Regional British paper opines on the madness that was Milligan.

N.Y. Nyuk
This New York comedy website features an obit of Spike.

Point2Point
Graham Lester's tribute to Spike, complete with classic Milliganese quotes.

Radio London News
Scroll down to see Mary's tribute to Spike.

Scotsman.com
Tribute reprint of a 1995 interview with Spike by Alastair McKay.

Scotsman.com (requires registration)
An obit and many links of info about the seminal Irish comic.

South African Rock Music Digest
This mention of the passing of Spike leads to a review of his concert with singer Jeremy Taylor in Cambridge, 1973. (Which we at FashionState.Com have heard and if you get a chance to listen to it, it's a real kick!)

Telegraph (U.K.)
The Telegraph's obit of Spike includes many links.

Telegraph (U.K.)
British comic actor and Monty Python alumnus John Cleese opines on the influence of Spike Milligan.

Telegraph: Milligan finally gets the last laugh (U.K.)
The controversial inscription Spike Milligan always wanted for his tombstone finally comes to fruition.

Thomas Crosbie Media (Ireland)
Ireland pays tribute to her famous son.

World Socialist Website
A thumbs-up for the man who called himself a "comic Bolshevik".

QUOTABLE SPIKE

"Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to use earplugs?"

"Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy."

"All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy."

"I have the body of an eighteen-year-old. I keep it in the fridge."

"A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree."

"It was a perfect marriage. She didn't want to and he couldn't."

"His vibrato sounded like he was driving a tractor over a
ploughed field with weights tied to his scrotum."

"Is there anything worn under the kilt? No, it's all in perfect working order."

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all the
people some of the time, which is just long enough to be
president of the United States."

"I thought I'd begin by reading a sonnet by Shakespeare,
but then I thought, why should I? He never reads anything of mine."

"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."

"Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light."

"The boy stood on the burning deck, whence all but he had fled. Twit."

"A neat desk is the sign of a cluttered desk drawer."

"A signature always reveals a man's character - and sometimes even his name."

"We haven't got a plan so nothing can go wrong!"

"He had a mobile face, that is, he always took it with him."

"The cliché is the handrail of the crippled mind."

"I cannot stand being awake, the pain is too much."

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