THERE was much mirth at St James's Palace yesterday when the comedian Spike Milligan, 82, received an honorary knighthood from one of his most enthusiastic fans, the Prince of Wales.
As part of our Mental Health Awareness Week blog series, we'd like to share this poem with you, written by Spike Milligan. Smiling is infectious, So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected.
What is Spike Milligan's real name?
Terence Alan Patrick Sean Milligan
A tall, thin man with rather wistful blue eyes, Milligan was a vegetarian, a nonsmoker and an avid environmentalist. Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine launched the Goons on May 28, 1951, in a radio show titled “Crazy People Featuring the Goons.â€
Where did Spike Milligan come from?
How old was Spike Milligan when died?
Spike told the story that they first met when a large gun rolled down the hillside and Harry was searching for it. He stuck his head through the entrance to Spike's tent and said "Anybody seen a gun?", which could easily have come from a Goon show.
The first recorded mention of the church of St. Thomas in Old Winchelsea came in 1215. After floods later in the century the original town of Winchelsea was rebuilt inland. A new church was built near the centre.
Was Spike Milligan married?
Shelagh Sinclairm. 1983–2002
Patricia Ridgewaym. 1962–1978
June Marlowm. 1952–1960
Despite his endless jokes about Woy Woy (Aboriginal for 'Big Lagoon') Spike regarded this sleepy coastal township as refuge from his growing celebrity. Almost two decades after his death, the rather unsophisticated, classless and parochial Australia that Spike Milligan loved so much is fast disappearing.
Despite his years in entertainment and his reputation as one of the leading lights of British comedy, his fortune had dwindled to £626,636. A large part of his estate is said to have been spent on providing health care for him in his later years.
The stars - Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine - were billed in the Radio Times as "Radio's own Crazy Gang 'The Goons'".
He was a lunatic." He was educated at a convent in Poona and, after the family had moved to Britain (when he was in his teens) in south London. His mother was a staunch Catholic and Milligan once admitted: "I still don't know what it's all about," but "all the world has to do is enact the teachings of Christ."
A converted former church in Rawdon where comedian Spike Milligan was married is up for sale. Now divided into three homes the grand building once welcomed the cream of British comedic talent as Mr Milligan wed Patricia Ridgeway, of Calverley, on an April morning 46 years ago.
