I grew up in that era I am so glad I did...You have never laughed unless you have seen the best and they were the best....The Goons Benny Hill The Two Ronnie's Dad's Army and The Comedians and so on.....😂🇬🇧🙏
One of my fondest memories as a teenager, was to listen to the Goon Show on the wireless every Sunday evening. We would never miss an episode. You know how quick Spike is/was with his humour, well try spending time in the same house as Spike, The Captain (his father) and Patrick (his brother) and his ever suffering mother! The same quick, wacky sense of humour runs through their whole family. The only down side was the next day, my mouth, throat and sides ached from so much laughing.
i was lucky enough to se spike perfom in the glasgow metropole theatre (which no longer exists) the play was "the bed sitting room" and it was hilarious. he had a couple of wee glasgow boys throwing ice cream at him every time he got near them. brilliant!
You need to tweak your story. Maybe, I pulled up to the petrol bowser and Spike was inside it. His head popped up and he said 'Give me a beer and 5 minutes'
spike wrote to my local newspaper to ask what had happened to all the corners of tea bags after they became circular. I wrote to him and told him that I was part of an enviromental group that was producing shirts from the left-over corners of tea bags. He rang me up to discuss the matter further ! The conversation went something like this..... Me: Bloody Hell, Hello Spike, how are you doing? Spike: Are you a doctor? Me: No? Spike: WELL WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU ASKING ME THAT FOR !
As a follow up, Spike was drunk when he said that and didn't know about it until the next day. He then Charles a telegram saying "I suppose a knighthood's out of the question." The reply, "you'll have to grovel a bit first." Who says Prince Charles has no sense of humour. Of course, they were great mates.
He says "Shop!" It's what was said when you walk into a shop and ask for service, just like you would ring a bell to get the storekeeper's attention if they were in the back.
Spike Milligan was not the first to want “I told you I was ill” as an epitaph. It was Oscar Levant the us actor and pianist 1906 - 1972. So Terence must have nicked it.
I'm especially fond of an essay Spike wrote toward the end of his life, touching on the subject of overpopulation. Maybe it's the accent, or Britspeak - I can't make out what Sykes says at 1:40 "he knocks at the door and says _____." ? Please and thanks.
Thanks: at 1:40 "Shop!" - what was called out to get attention from shopowners. Milligan and Cleese, both with a fine sense of the absurd, wrote a spec script describing a Moriarty-type: "a fiendish cur, an evil villain, who would stop at nothing. So that's what they decided to do." Someone please post the Blackadder clip in which Flashheart - Elizabethan era? - complains about exile in France, all those years of having to say "pardon." Absurd: check clip of R. Coltrane as Dustcarten.
@porcupineprovocateur he certainly is a tool, but no sharp edged as might fashion a finial or angel or the like on a pew , more like a cudgel or a lumphammer, smug, bastard so he is, trading on his skin-deep similarity to the glorious Oscar Wilde.
I used to live near him. He used to cause chaos where ever he went, and not bad chaos, hilarious chaos. Best one was when he put his own obituary in the paper.
![Spike Milligan - I told you I was ill [1/6]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MGkbr4GtnDc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Spike Milligan - I told you I was ill [1/6]](/img/tr.png)
![Spike Milligan - I told you I was ill [2/6]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2BMy95dEo7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Comic genius!! we loved you Spike.. Thanks for everything.
I grew up in that era
I am so glad I did...You have never laughed unless you have seen the best and they were the best....The Goons Benny Hill The Two Ronnie's Dad's Army and The Comedians and so on.....😂🇬🇧🙏
SPIKE MILLIGAN THE GREATEST COMEDIAN EVERY .🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Wonderful, how did I miss this at the time, thanks for putting it on TH-cam.
In just 4 words, he took the ordinary man above royalty for a change. Fair play 👍
a great man, and an even better comedy writer/performer..
sorely missed
"Shop!" was often accompanied by the tapping of the edge of a coin on the shop counter. I remember that from my youth in the 1950's!
One of my fondest memories as a teenager, was to listen to the Goon Show on the wireless every Sunday evening. We would never miss an episode.
You know how quick Spike is/was with his humour, well try spending time in the same house as Spike, The Captain (his father) and Patrick (his brother) and his ever suffering mother! The same quick, wacky sense of humour runs through their whole family. The only down side was the next day, my mouth, throat and sides ached from so much laughing.
i was lucky enough to se spike perfom in the glasgow metropole theatre (which no longer exists) the play was "the bed sitting room" and it was hilarious. he had a couple of wee glasgow boys throwing ice cream at him every time he got near them. brilliant!
thank you
This is Awsome
I met him once at a petrol station on the A21.
Not a great anecdote, but it's all I've got.
You need to tweak your story. Maybe, I pulled up to the petrol bowser and Spike was inside it. His head popped up and he said 'Give me a beer and 5 minutes'
I always chuckle at the title of Spike's autobiography - "Hitler - my part in his downfall"!
Genius
@HMservant Only Spike could get away with saying that AND STILL earn a Knighthood.
A true comedy genius
Just ay brilliant as Spike probably never got as much recognition as spike but helped write the goon show
spike wrote to my local newspaper to ask what had happened to all the corners of tea bags after they became circular.
I wrote to him and told him that I was part of an enviromental group that was producing shirts from the left-over corners of tea bags. He rang me up to discuss the matter further ! The conversation went something like this.....
Me: Bloody Hell, Hello Spike, how are you doing?
Spike: Are you a doctor?
Me: No?
Spike: WELL WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU ASKING ME THAT FOR !
As a follow up, Spike was drunk when he said that and didn't know about it until the next day. He then Charles a telegram saying "I suppose a knighthood's out of the question." The reply, "you'll have to grovel a bit first." Who says Prince Charles has no sense of humour. Of course, they were great mates.
He says "Shop!"
It's what was said when you walk into a shop and ask for service, just like you would ring a bell to get the storekeeper's attention if they were in the back.
Wonderful man!
Tool, that's a good word, couldn't agree more
Good old Spike. Very funny man !!
@PhilK1231 Spike sent The Prince a telegram saying "I suppose a knighthood is out of the question?" Needless to say, Spike did receive his knighthood.
4.20 class love it
hahahahahahahaha ... ohd ear, thank you for sharing! this is brilliant and genius indeed, missed most horrid :-(
I can't think of another person who could get away with something like that AND get knighted afterwards!
That's what friends are for
Honesty is so funny loved the prince charles bit and Iam sure so would he
I guess a knighthood is out of the question
Spike milligan
I still miss him terribly. So hard to try true artful nonsense these days. There is plenty of mindless nonsense on the other hand.
4:20; Quite possibly the only person who could say that about a member of the royal family and not suffer any backlash.
Well. how jolly good was that!!!
Spike Milligan was not the first to want “I told you I was ill” as an epitaph. It was Oscar Levant the us actor and pianist 1906 - 1972. So Terence must have nicked it.
Bye bye Spike.
I think us paddies would get it too :-) There is a great deal the Brits and Irish have in common, including Comedy.
Calling Jonathon Ross a tool implies he has use. He does not.
@RayNDeere So very true!
'Shop!'
How'd the poor presenter ever get through this?!?
I'm especially fond of an essay Spike wrote toward the end of his life, touching on the subject of overpopulation. Maybe it's the accent, or Britspeak - I can't make out what Sykes says at 1:40 "he knocks at the door and says _____." ? Please and thanks.
Shop
Go straight to 3:54
My sister Laura's bigger than me and lifts me up quite easily. I can't lift her. I've tried and tried; She must have something heavy inside.
Thanks: at 1:40 "Shop!" - what was called out to get attention from shopowners. Milligan and Cleese, both with a fine sense of the absurd, wrote a spec script describing a Moriarty-type: "a fiendish cur, an evil villain, who would stop at nothing. So that's what they decided to do." Someone please post the Blackadder clip in which Flashheart - Elizabethan era? - complains about exile in France, all those years of having to say "pardon."
Absurd: check clip of R. Coltrane as Dustcarten.
good enough
@porcupineprovocateur he certainly is a tool, but no sharp edged as might fashion a finial or angel or the like on a pew , more like a cudgel or a lumphammer, smug, bastard so he is, trading on his skin-deep similarity to the glorious Oscar Wilde.
@Grey3Vox knocks on the door and says 'shop'
Mel Smith at 4:47!
not that ross is a tool...just he knew that Spike,...even old and freil would have stole the spotlight from him....and did
For Goodness sake can someone tell what was his name?
We're not Brits mate. Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom, apart from Northern Ireland which is.
eric s b his c it was the f thing e
I used to live near him. He used to cause chaos where ever he went, and not bad chaos, hilarious chaos.
Best one was when he put his own obituary in the paper.
Oh loads of Irish do, tonnes of it.
Don't agree with you at all on the last bit, I'd say its more a mutual hatred of Terrorism, both Loyalist and Republicanism.