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 there will be bits where you appreciate the subject’s comic genius but there is no need for the biographer to quip and jest and join in the fun. However shortly after I finished reading this Humphrey Carpenter gave up the ghost so I will not criticise him any further. To be fair he had written a number of very good biographies, the ones about Auden, Britten and Tolkien probably being the best I have read. So, to Spike’s biography. Spike Milligan achieved fame for his work with “The Goons” a pioneering team (Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and briefly Michael Bentine) on radio who... Read review

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Advantages: Written by a comedic genius with some very funny lines
Disadvantages: Some not so funny lines

...Spike Milligan has written a series of books giving his "version" of classic tales. In "Robin Hood According To Spike Milligan" he transports us back to the England of bad Prince John. Although at first he sticks quite closely to the original story of Robin and his Merry Men there are some vital differences. Maid Marion turns out to be a pole vaulter, Little John is now known as Big Dick, and somehow Groucho Marx ends up in Sherwood Forest as well. There are some extremely funny lines demonstrating that surreal humour that Spike developed in the Goons back in the fifties. For instance there is an emphasis on jam sandwiches and porridge as well as bows and arrows. However, sometimes you feel the story lagging and Spike working hard to try and make it funny. Some of the jokes are just off-colour and not worthy of the man who created Eccles... Read review

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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 and the Looney. My curiosity was heightened by his TV appearances on talk shows in his later years, here it appeared was a true eccentric with a genuine twinkle in his eye. Then when Humphrey Carpenter produced a biography of Milligan I just had to read it. After all, he had done such a fine job with JRR Tolkien and other English stalwarts. Spike (Terence Alan) Milligan KBE was born in Ahmednegar, India on the 16th April 1918, the son of Irish born Leo Milligan, an officer in the British Army. Apparently Leo was quite a colourful character who often dressed up as a cowboy and did... Read review

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Advantages: Hilarious and parents won't fall asleep reading it
Disadvantages: Can't think of anything....

...I grew up as an avid fan of Spike Milligan thanks to my English father who lived for the Goon Show etc. I bought this book on a whim and have since decided to shop impulsively more often! What a beautiful book it is. It is hard to decided which is better - the illustrations or the stories and poems. I should point out that the book does infact contain Spike's own illustrations. He has such a vivid imagination that the most ridiculous stories seem real and believable to the reader. I have a sneaking suspicion that although this is a childrens book it was really being aimed at parents although my 9 year old has laughed himself to sleep when I have read bits to him. I particularly recommend Sir Nobonk and the Terrible, Awful, Dreadful, Naughty, Nasty Dragon, although if you can get your mouth around the names and language on the first... Read review

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Advantages: Good fun for all ages
Disadvantages: A bit crazy if you don't like Milligans' humour

...I am 47 and a friend of mine has just bought me a copy of the book called A Children’s Treasury of Milligan by Spike Milligan and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Let me explain further …. When I was a lot younger I had a paperback book called Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan and I really enjoyed reading it. However, I had lent it to someone and it had never been returned. As I couldn’t remember to whom I had lent it, it was lost forever. I happened to be relating this story one day when I was visiting my goddaughter; Rosie aged 8, who loves books. The next time that I visited lo and behold her mom had managed to find this book in the local cheap bookshop, so she had got two copies, one for me and one for Rosie. It is a hardback book and contains all the poems and silly stories that were in my original paperback, plus lots more... Read review

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Advantages: A bonus for Milligan fans
Disadvantages: There won't be any more

...Norma Farnes was Spike Milligan's manager and agent for 36 years until his death in 2002. During that time she became his biographer as well as his close friend and confidante, and when the mood took him, as it frequently did, she would assume the additional roles of lackey and whipping-boy. Professionally, Farnes probably knew him better than most, learning over the years how to recognise the onset of his well-documented bouts of depression, and subsequently understanding how best to deal with them. In "Box 18: The Unpublished Spike Milligan", Norma Farnes has brought together a collection of Milligan's 'ideas', which, as she explains in her affectionate but unsentimental foreword, were those pieces of work which he would begin and then file away, either to be returned to as and when inspiration came to him, or to be discarded... Read review

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Advantages: Funny and real.
Disadvantages: Ends before the shooting starts.

...Spike Milligan was born at Ahmednagar in India on 16th April, 1919. His education began in a tent in the desert there, progressed through various Roman Catholic schools and ended at Lewisham Polytechnic (which I imagine is now called The University of Sarf Landon.) This is the first part of Spike Milligan's war memoirs, described as a "Tommy's eye view" of World War II. Compiled from diaries and letters, and illustrated with photographs and Spike's own sketches, it was intended to be a trilogy but it ended up spanning five volumes. And it's probably the nearest thing we have to a British "Catch-22". Called up in June 1940 despite a slipped disc, he became Gunner Milligan 954024 in the Royal Artillery, and sent to barracks at Bexhill-on-Sea. They don't call them Barracks for nothing. Not only do the men take the proverbial... Read review

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Advantages: unique style of show
Disadvantages: none

..., and the audience, to pu them in there. To represent the items, there are sometimes some quite funny abjects and to proove the point the guest talks from their experience, then Paul Merton plays some sort of video to show this. The whole combination of the show and the guests they have on make it pretty unique and compelling to watch. The most memorble moment I can remember is when he had Spike Milligan as a guest. One of his things he wanted to put into Room 101 was Portsmouth, I found this quite amsing at the time, as I lived there. Anyway, they get out a billboard advertising a show Spike had performed there and it said Spike "I hate Portsmouth Milligan". A brave man, as he actually performed! This is one of those shows that you will either like or hate, some episodes are better than other as it depends on the guest that they have on... Read review

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Advantages: Funny words, funny pictures, it's Spike Milligan for heavens sakes!
Disadvantages: He died. :(

..."Mummy, why this daddy lion got glasses on?" "'Why is this lion wearing glasses.' What lion?" "Yes, that's what I said! [Eyes roll heavenward] This one." "Ooh, Spike Milligan! Shall we read it then?" "Yay! Yes! But why that daddy lion got glasses on?" Do you know what the Gofongo is? Or why his visits to the vet are so frequent? ("He has toes that whistle tunes, And explode! Like toy balloons"). Do you know what the Wiggle Woggle is? Or what he said? ("When I'm standing on my head, I can see the coast of China, And it's very, very, red.") Do you know the difference between the African and the Arctic Elephant? ("- they're colder. Feel one.") Have you ever seen the rare back view of the Three-Legged Hippo? And, most importantly of all, do you know the story of the Bald Twit Lion? No? Well, you should. I do, and now, so do Conor... Read review

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Advantages: Hilarious comedians whose surreal humour, wit and word play has influenced many famous comedians since
Disadvantages: Goon but not forgotten

...The Goon's are gone forever. Spike Milligan, the last surviving Goon died on 27th February 2002 of liver failure at the age of eighty-three. He left British comedy all the richer for his presence, with many modern comedians giving tribute to him. With his death came the end of an era. I'd just like to take a moment to remember the Goons (although I am far too young - I'll explain that all to you a little later...,) because even heroes of comedy run the risk of being forgotten. The Goon show was broadcast on BBC radio from 1951 to 1960 (although the last actual show was broadcast in 1972) with more than 240 programmes. Their humour was irreverent and surreal, and appealed to a whole generation of young people. The comedy they produced inspired generations of comedians including Monty Python's Flying Circus, and more modern comedians... Read review

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