After last week’s article about Spike Milligan appeared, a friend (call him Vince) phoned to tell me how a 1997 meeting with Spike got off to a bad start.
Vince was on the team making a talk show at Teddington TV Studios and, one week, Spike was a guest.
He was brought to the studios by car from his home in Rye, Sussex, a two-hour journey if there were no delays on the M25. But there were. So, when Spike arrived, he wasn’t in the best of moods.
Vince had been asked to ‘look after’ Spike until the director was ready for his rehearsal and (as Vince had been a huge fan of Spike since he’d first heard the Goon Show as a youngster) he was thrilled at the prospect of spending time with his comedy hero, while also nervous, aware of Spike’s reputation for not suffering fools gladly.
When the producer brought Vince into the room where Spike was sat, looking none-too-happy, Spike looked up at Vince and asked the producer, “Who’s this idiot?”
Oh dear!
Vince’s heart sank. He’d worked with many entertainers but had never met anyone so blunt! The producer introduced Spike to Vince, then immediately left to do whatever it is producers do.
Vince sat next to Spike and there was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Vince felt he had to say something, so asked Spike about a film he’d made in the 1970s that seemed to have vanished.
Spike immediately perked up, surprised Vince had heard about this obscure film and seemed eager to talk about it.
When he discovered Vince was a writer, he asked him how his career was going.
Vince said things were okay, but he’d had some tough years. Putting a hand on his shoulder, Spike said, “When you’re a writer, every year is tough . . . because you have to write!”
They talked for the best part of two hours and Vince said it was, after that shaky start, one of the most memorable days of his life.
Proving it’s not necessarily true that you should never meet your heroes!