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'I told you I was ill.' on his headstone

Advantages: A biased account of the life of this Irish comic genius and lunatic!
Disadvantages: Perhaps too revealing and not to everyone's taste.

...In writing this review I am keenly aware that Spike Milligan may not appeal to everyone as an icon of British comedy. I only became interested in him through his improbable wartime memoirs, his various books of comic verse and his insane novels, Puckoon a ...

britum2000 14.09.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Spike Milligan - Humphrey Carpenter

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Goon But Not Forgotten

Advantages: Good for those interested in Milligan
Disadvantages: Not for the casual reader

...The biographer as protagonist? I had read reviews claiming Humphrey Carpenter’s style was too intrusive in this biography of the late Goon Spike Milligan and I can see where that came from. I do not feel a biography of a comedian should be funny, at least ...

JoePoirot 15.03.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Spike Milligan - Humphrey Carpenter

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Simple Cookery

Advantages: A solid, straightforward account from a likeable enough cricketer
Disadvantages: Little to grip the average reader, the odd factual mistake

Ready, Steady, Cook (I thought "Cooking the books" might be an unfortunate subtitle in the light of the current allegations surrounding the Pakistan team!) I don't have a particularly good track record when it comes to identifying future England cr ...

davidbuttery 06.09.2010 · Read full review
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Review of Starting Out - Alastair Cook

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The lost genius of Pink Floyd

Advantages: Compelling, penetrating biography of Barrett and the cultural age he lived in
Disadvantages: None

..."I don't think I'm easy to talk about, I've got a very irregular head," Barrett said at the end of what turned out to be his final interview with the music press in 1971. Roger Barrett, who later acquired the moniker 'Syd' (let's call him Syd from now ...

JOHNV 15.05.2010 · Read full review
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Review of Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head - Rob Chapman

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