Ward's Book of Days.
Pages of interesting anniversaries.
What happened on this day in history.
FEBRUARY 27th
On this day in history in 2002, died Spike Milligan.
Milligan was a scriptwriter, musician, artist and comedian who became famous for his performances in The Goon Show.
Terrance
Alan Milligan was born on 16th April 1918, at Ahmednager, India,
the son of Leo Milligan, a gentleman of Irish descent, serving in the British
army. Although Milligan spent most of his life in Britain, strangely he was
not classed as a British citizen, due to his birth in India and his father’s
antecedents.
In
the 1930’s Milligan performed as a jazz vocalist and trumpeter, and wrote
and performed comedy sketches. In 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World
War, Milligan served in the Royal Artillery, with the First army, firstly in
North Africa and then in Italy. He was wounded in action and hospitalised with
shell shock. Milligan later published his ‘war memoirs’ in two volumes,
entitled Adolph Hitler: My Part in his
Downfall, and Rommel:
Gunner Who? A Confrontation in the Desert.
These works described the state of the British army at the time, its lack of
preparation for war, the incompetence of senior officers and the naïve zeal
of the enlisted men, composed in a witty humorous style that belied the
serious nature of its content. Milligan spent the remainder of the war in a
concert party, entertaining the troops. At that time, he wrote scripts which
exhibited many of the essential elements of The
Goon Show.
After
demob, Milligan returned to Britain, working in musical and comedy acts, while
writing scripts, which he hoped would be performed on radio. He became
involved with a group, including Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Michael
Bentine, known as ‘Crazy People’, a group which rapidly transformed into The
Goon Show. This radio series intermingled preposterous plots, surreal
humour and outrageous gags, with a background of bizarre sound effects. The
show satirized contemporary life in Britain, especially such establishment
organisations as the civil service, police and educational institutions.
Milligan
was noted for his intense humour, which was not reserved solely for his comic
performances. Appearing on Desert Island Discs, he requested a credit card as his luxury item.
After making a derisory remark on television, regard the Prince of Wales, one
of his greatest fans, Milligan faxed His Royal Highness, saying ‘I suppose a
knighthood is out of the question?’ After the death of his old friend, Harry
Secombe, he remarked, "I'm glad he died before me, because I didn't want
him to sing at my funeral!" Despite his faux pas, regarding the Prince of
Wales, Milligan received his knighthood in 2000.
Milligan died on 27th February 2002 at his home in Rye, East Sussex, and was buried at Winchelsea. [St Thomas Church, High Street, Winchelsea, East Sussex, TN36 4EB] Milligan had often said that he had wanted to be buried in a washing machine, “to confuse the archeologists”, but this could not be organised. He also wanted his tombstone to bear the inscription ‘I told you I was ill!” but the church authorities would not allow this. Instead the words were translated and written in the Irish language.
©2006 Ward’s Book of Days