The Essential Spike Milligan

Description

A Spike Milligan opus, containing everything from classics to hidden gems, with a foreword by Eddie Izzard. When Spike Milligan died in 2002, he left behind one of the most diverse legacies in British entertainment history - as well as a legion of devoted fans and admirers. Milligan's themes ranged from environmental issues to the war, from nostalgia to depression, and his prolific output covers some of the most evocative events of the 20th century, in a style both twistedly comic and harrowingly honest. From the pioneering lunacy of "The Goon Show" through his first novel "Puckoon" to the war memoirs that began with "Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall", Milligan wrote with a passionate honesty that combined lyricism with all-out lunacy. This posthumous anthology, compiled with the co-operation of his closest circle, provides a comprehensive guide to Milligan's work, as well as shedding light on some less familiar areas, from pre-"Goon Show" days and "Telegoons" to his "Q" series for television.

Spike Milligan was born in 1918 to a British military family in the Raj. Young Spike fought the Nazis in Europe before being invalided out. After the war, he wrote and performed throughout the '50s in The Goon Show, with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. In the '60s he had success as a stage and film actor. Frail but still active into his Eighties, his one-man shows were always sell-out events. In 1992 he was made an honorary CBE, and in 2000 and 2001 he received two Lifetime Achievement Awards: for writing and for comedy. Spike Milligan died in 2002. Alexander Games was comedy critic of the Evening Standard for six years and is the author of Pete & Dud: An Illustrated Biography and Backing into the Limelight: The Biography of Alan Bennett.

'Wonderful anthology. A superbly sustained piece of comedy. Like so mush else in this collection, these excerpts inspire a return to the source.' Chris Power, The Times 'The most comprehensive compendium of the troubled genius' work. This volume spans his entire career...making this a testament to one of our most absurdly talented comedians. Poignant, nonsensical and hilarious. The Essential Spike Milligan is a more than appropriate epitaph.' Ben Arnold, Jockey Slut