It’s hard to believe he’s been gone that long, but the great Spike Milligan died 23 years ago this very week – on February 27th 2002.
I still smile whenever I recall he referred to himself as ‘Spike Milligna . . . the well-known spelling error!’
It’s no secret he had mental health problems over many decades, possibly rooted in his wartime experiences and exacerbated by the intense pressure he was under between 1951 and 1960 to deliver (and then perform in) up to 30 Goon Show radio scripts in as many weeks.
He wasn’t content to just ‘churn out’ these scripts, or indeed the ones he created for his ‘Q’ TV series he made from 1969 to the 1980s.  Spike devoted as much effort into creating laugh-inducing lines and situations as Bill Shakespeare put into his sonnets.
To create Goon Show scripts week after week, six months each year, he worked diligently so they were always ready for what are now regarded by comedy historians as legendary Sunday night recordings at the BBC’s Paris studios in Lower Regent Street.
Having established himself as one of our leading humourists on radio, TV, film and in print, the pressure to ‘be constantly funny’ was even greater. With the various physical ailments he had in his later years, it’s remarkable that he reached the age of 83.
Although it’s impossible to choose from the phenomenal amount of material Spike created during his lifetime – here’s a couple . . .
In the 1960s, he and Peter Sellers both obsessively took hours of home movies of their families. Peter owned a ‘posh’ 16mm camera, while Spike owned an 8mm camera. “Peter”, said Spike, “Is 8mm richer than me!”
On a talk show, he related the occasion he was walking past a funeral director’s ‘emporium’ in Shepherd’s Bush and suddenly decided to lie down on the pavement outside and shout “Shop!”
No other comedian, past or present, could have instantly thought of such a brilliantly daft idea and have the nerve to carry it out purely to amuse himself and a few passers-by.
We can still watch your DVDs and read your books, but we miss you, Spike.