Bipolar since 2013 as in diagnosis... I reckon I was Bipolar type 1 since a lad. Mr Milligan is a personal hero of mine.. absolute genius. Very wouded man. Unsurprisingly. 😢 My late Nan was in spelthorne psych unit with spike recovering from alcohol and obsessive compulsive disorder. And as much as a loving parent is of a certain age like mine and indeed Spike mental illness doesn't exist. So you quietly suffer.. A lot of spikes issues transcend from his war years and from a practical and stoic family that sent him off on his mental health journey. We loved you spike... ❤️ May you be at peace ✌️ 🙏
What a brilliant interview! Listening to his description of his depression was like ticking off the same list that I suffer with. What famous people have been brave enough to do an interview like this. He was a truly funny man, but he was also a very nice one at that.
Damn....what Spike said about when youur mind looks back at good times and then that nostalgia becomes pain...oh Jesus......thats been most of my life.
Spike is a legend and an inspiration. As a fellow sufferer of over 50years I followed Spikes career with great admiration and on many an occasion his genius in the face of adversity gave me a lift. May he rest in peace.
As a fellow sufferer - and beneficiary (though it didn’t seem that at the time) - almost all of what Spike’s saying resonates so much with / for me. But furthermore, he’s a bloody genius philosopher - which could well spring from his condition (which word I prefer to illness and not euphemistically).
Consciousness has moved on since those dark days. I love his humour, even about his "condition " I believe he would thrive today. Sad that his time as a soldier, seems to have caused his issues.
I had a really nasty incident with someone years ago and I spiraled into 3 months of mindblowing depression, I can really empathise with what Spike is saying
Manic Depression (Bi-Polar) has a very distinguished club (Beethoven, Kipling, Churchill, Wagner, Liszt, Berlioz, Ruskin, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Dickens, Samuel Johnson , Mark Twain, Edison, Chopin, Randolph Churchill etc.......)
His comment 'They meant well.... but so did Hitler.' suggests he didn't really appreciate his treatment by the health professionals, I'd reckon. Not to say that Spike's contribution hasn't helped others...of course it has.
Such bravery I have seen amongst fellow sufferers,I knew a good friend who was working for a multinational company,who was diagnosed as having a bipolar disorder and he was at that time in a chronic state and became certified as a result of this diagnosis as this USA company would have him sacked,this young man had the most brilliant personality and yet had a mental illness
Thé war was a terrible terrible experience and influence on all of us: but at that time hardly anyone thought of it in terms of psychological damage. Everyone just “got on with it” “pulled themselves together” and generally pretended everything was ok. Spike Milligan was a great inspiration to me, as a teenager listening to “The Goon Show” since he represented someone who wasn’t pretending everything was OK, and who was raising the idea of psychiatric treatment as a means to sort things out. He’s really why I got myself into in-patient treatment and therapy later on, and I’m hugely grateful, and surprised that he doesn’t seem, himself to have achieved the level of benefit that I have I think it’s sad he was just too early to get involved with LSD and real psycho-analysis, I am certain they would have been very beneficial to each other. I, on the other hand did, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the key - provided you are prepared tu accept the path it takes you to. Anyone who hasn’t read his war memoirs should get them immediately they are the best invocations of individual experience in WW2 anyone has written It’s interesting he hasn’t associated his mental state with the failure of the relationship he writes about in Volume 7: it’s obvious he was profoundly affected by this, though at the time he just went on with getting rich and famous.
Great comment .. I was looked after by my grand parents most of my child hood because of my mothers serious depression. My Grandfather was a big Goon and spike fan and introduced me to his humor and told me about his experiences during the war and his struggles living with depression, it helped me as a child to understand how a traumatic event can effect someone.. I still love spike ..
I have a friend who was a neighbour and dated one of his daughters. I was impressed by the stories he told me of how Spike had been committed to his kids even in the face of his depression. As well as being a comedy genius, he seems to have been a pretty decent and genuine bloke.
He was an exceptional caring human and that’s one reason he suffered, because he could see what a shitty world we live in full of psychopaths running the show and these bad people are not the ones the media claims but those who own the media ! The west has the ability or did have to make the world an amazing place for all and what has in done ? It’s even enslaving it’s own now with debt , overtaxation and the most deplorable health advice ever
I watched Spike many years ago on stage . He was obviously in a depressed state. I never even smiled once, and just felt so sorry for him. He did some of his usual sketches, and most of the audience laughed, but I could not.
I met more sane people in a psychiatric Hospital over the years sensitive people that showed kindness and understanding but like myself were not born for these times,but like John Martyn said about Nick Drake he was living on solid air
I know that the revered Mr. Milligan knew far more comedians than I did, but if I were to statt counting, I’d be here for a long while. Many, many died of overdoses, by suicide, or the physical effects of long term addiction, _all of which stem from’ mental illness._
I love watching him in these more in-depth interviews, he comes across as so down to earth and speaks with such humanity, which makes you appreciate him as a comedian much more.
The more people you know the lonelier you feel - I know if an episode appears, I disappear with my Dog. My Dog is my best Friend. psychiatrist & Psychologist. Avoiding humans is the best Medicine for me, at the time. I loathe being fussed over …being in a place away from my own Species, my Saviour is my Dog - he takes away the stress & gives me Peace & Comfort. Humans can be a huge burden, being alone, I know my self, the solitude is my medicine….
Reading his war diaries you’re not so much struck by his getting blown up but by the hellish trip in the medical van, to the field hospital, bumping up and down at speed over dreadful terrain. All while Spike listened to other wounded soldiers, on stretchers slotted in the back, dying from the ordeal of the transit and their injuries, before they even reached help.
Norma Farnes was Spike's manager and friend for many years, wrote several books about him, and was as close to him as anyone. Her descriptions of Spike's 'black dog' days are both frightening and enlightening. Yes, he could be wonderfully funny, but also incredibly thoughtless and selfish. In that, he was closely matched by Peter Sellers, but, as the film director Peter Medak put it, 'they were both completely mad... the difference was, though, Milligan had a heart'.
In my 30a with manic depression Aka Bipolar-2. What he said makes so much sense. I too am on Lithium and been in hospital many times- some forced in. Thankfully lithium and other drugs seems to help. Last sectioned 3 years ago
It's bipolar these days. It has nothing to do with being happy or sad. PTSD & bipolar is another existence entirely. It doesn't matter what is happening around one. The surrealist comic.
Anyone who has not suffered manic/clinical depression sannot follow a credible line of questioning! I.had it and now now the warning signs of it getting back into my brain.....but it doesent leave...it goes into a fragile state being held in control......its frightening!
@@hmq9052 I don't know why I wrote about credible line of questioning it was meant to mean could not describe it...there's no special category inferred. Anymore than someone who has been shot or has shot someone could maybe describe all the feelings ,dreams mood swings etc but someone who has,not had the experience could not tell you what it was like.
If a similar show could be revived the Australian author Markus Zusak would make the best script writer, a lovely man lost , from Grey English knees in Spain .
I suffer from severe episodes of depression, my diagnosis is not bipolar but very long standing over 50 years. As a child, I 'felt' different, knew I was. I know Spike felt lithium worked for him but my experience with medication has not been good. Side effects have created more issues and long term use dependency too. I distrust pharmacology and the industries behind it, our governments, their propaganda, the business of keeping folk fearful and compliant. Future? More of the same..........Sigh. At least Spike's not suffering anymore, RIP.
I know what you are saying Geoff,my wife will often say you are not taking your medication because you are more manic,on the medication for bipolar disorder iam more sedate and impotent and lacking emotion,but at least you are not embarrising yourself,Iam a shell.
@Bernard Lamictal suits some people,all I can say that due to my severe anxiety coupled with bi polar disorder and not forgetting my personality disorder medication becomes mostly trial and error. I was put on Haliperidol which made me a complete car crash hearing voices and hallucinating big time,Sometimes I miss my admissions to a pschiatric hospital when they sedated you and initially life was ok
Geoff we all suffer from what we call the black dog,we suffer in silence and as David Bowie would say we are kooks,Ithink the period between 12 and 20 years of age truly defines the rest of your life,that is why bullying should be considered alongside racism as both perversions leave a horrible mark on your development as a young person,we should take the knee against racism, but we should acknowledge the harm that bullying can have on people ,many that killed themselves ,and I know of some poor souls that have seen no other option.bullying does not stop when you are 12 but remains for the rest of your life.children that indulge in such behavior should be put on anti bullying course and then if they change should be expelled and humiliated,we don't quite know the number of bullied kids that have killed themselves,but I would think worldwide it's an enormous number. and the frightening issue is that the bullies that have not been dealt with continue the behaviors in work and in golfing societies and even Politics. Ps do.you.think Boris was a bully ,lighting up 50 pound notes in front of beggers and calling working class people plebs
@@davidkeith9015 Hi David. You mention impotent. I despise the manhood issue. That alone hardens me to refuse their drugs, lat alone weight gain and sedafion. No thanks 'system' drugs. I'll do without thanks. Stay well brethren. Love n light.
I could imagine spike taking lithium and put on electric treatment would remind him being in the army. He was put on a charge!. And then he got better and feeling rather flat for he would be discharged.
Back in the 1970s I lived in Holden road North Finchley, the same road as Spike. His house was in a terraced row of houses with very large gardens that went down to the brook. Spike shot a child with an air rifle for being in his garden . He also sent a letter to the school I attended falsely accusing me of going into his garden, setting fire to his daughter's Wendy house,and of urinating in bottles and then throwing them in his swimming pool. I had never seen him on television and did not realise he was famous. All the children know him to be a sad fruitcake.
@Cliff Hanley he was taken to court regarding the shooting. My case was not mistaken identity. The culprit gave a false name . The children in the neighbourhood at the time considered him a sad fruit cake. His wife at about the same time , ran over a pedestrian on the pavement and killed them. Only recently , looking at a TH-cam video, did I realise the pool was actually a childrens play pool. I had visions of a large proper pool built into the garden. Happy.
@@gavinreid8351 Not saying he was right to wield an air rifle (I'd heard about this before), but the notion of kids calling a severely depressed man a "sad fruit cake" doesn't speak volumes about them either.
I think the interviewer, James, just read questions without considering the answer to the previous one. Useless. Spike was worth better, perhaps Clive James. .....but Spike is always a worthwhile voice,,,WAS.
i entirely disagree. I am sure Mr.Milligan only did interviews for the good money or the virtue. Put the interview into time context (early 90s?) and that was the "unconformist" style of the time. I think its pretty revealing and as always, honest.
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Bipolar since 2013 as in diagnosis... I reckon I was Bipolar type 1 since a lad.
Mr Milligan is a personal hero of mine.. absolute genius.
Very wouded man. Unsurprisingly. 😢
My late Nan was in spelthorne psych unit with spike recovering from alcohol and obsessive compulsive disorder.
And as much as a loving parent is of a certain age like mine and indeed Spike mental illness doesn't exist. So you quietly suffer..
A lot of spikes issues transcend from his war years and from a practical and stoic family that sent him off on his mental health journey.
We loved you spike... ❤️
May you be at peace ✌️ 🙏
What a brilliant interview! Listening to his description of his depression was like ticking off the same list that I suffer with. What famous people have been brave enough to do an interview like this. He was a truly funny man, but he was also a very nice one at that.
Spike had lightening intellect - if he was depressed it was only because the rest of us could'nt keep up.
Damn....what Spike said about when youur mind looks back at good times and then that nostalgia becomes pain...oh Jesus......thats been most of my life.
Spike is a legend and an inspiration. As a fellow sufferer of over 50years I followed Spikes career with great admiration and on many an occasion his genius in the face of adversity gave me a lift. May he rest in peace.
Every interview I'm struck by his honesty.
Always great to hear Spike!
Strange to see James Whale before he decided to be a full-time tosser!!
Thank you Spike for your honesty, open-ness and the entertainment.
Spike has hit the nail on the head. Manic depression is life long and never goes away. I know, I have had it for 50 years.
I liked how his father said pull yourself together to Spike how is that physically possible
As a fellow sufferer - and beneficiary (though it didn’t seem that at the time) - almost all of what Spike’s saying resonates so much with / for me. But furthermore, he’s a bloody genius philosopher - which could well spring from his condition (which word I prefer to illness and not euphemistically).
Consciousness has moved on since those dark days. I love his humour, even about his "condition " I believe he would thrive today. Sad that his time as a soldier, seems to have caused his issues.
I had a really nasty incident with someone years ago and I spiraled into 3 months of mindblowing depression, I can really empathise with what Spike is saying
I think Whale was lucky to get such a good interview out of him. On another day, he could've shut up shop and been totally uncooperative.
Bless his soul.. read his books as a kid and loved his humour.
Manic Depression (Bi-Polar) has a very distinguished club (Beethoven, Kipling, Churchill, Wagner, Liszt, Berlioz, Ruskin, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Dickens, Samuel Johnson , Mark Twain, Edison, Chopin, Randolph Churchill etc.......)
I didn’t know this!!!
Such bravery of this talented comedian to be the first to openly talk about depression.
This may have helped others.
His comment 'They meant well.... but so did Hitler.' suggests he didn't really appreciate his treatment by the health professionals, I'd reckon. Not to say that Spike's contribution hasn't helped others...of course it has.
Such bravery I have seen amongst fellow sufferers,I knew a good friend who was working for a multinational company,who was diagnosed as having a bipolar disorder and he was at that time in a chronic state and became certified as a result of this diagnosis as this USA company would have him sacked,this young man had the most brilliant personality and yet had a mental illness
He was a an honest person and I loved the person he was .
Thé war was a terrible terrible experience and influence on all of us: but at that time hardly anyone thought of it in terms of psychological damage. Everyone just “got on with it” “pulled themselves together” and generally pretended everything was ok.
Spike Milligan was a great inspiration to me, as a teenager listening to “The Goon Show” since he represented someone who wasn’t pretending everything was OK, and who was raising the idea of psychiatric treatment as a means to sort things out. He’s really why I got myself into in-patient treatment and therapy later on, and I’m hugely grateful, and surprised that he doesn’t seem, himself to have achieved the level of benefit that I have
I think it’s sad he was just too early to get involved with LSD and real psycho-analysis, I am certain they would have been very beneficial to each other. I, on the other hand did, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the key - provided you are prepared tu accept the path it takes you to.
Anyone who hasn’t read his war memoirs should get them immediately they are the best invocations of individual experience in WW2 anyone has written
It’s interesting he hasn’t associated his mental state with the failure of the relationship he writes about in Volume 7: it’s obvious he was profoundly affected by this, though at the time he just went on with getting rich and famous.
Great comment .. I was looked after by my grand parents most of my child hood because of my mothers serious depression. My Grandfather was a big Goon and spike fan and introduced me to his humor and told me about his experiences during the war and his struggles living with depression, it helped me as a child to understand how a traumatic event can effect someone.. I still love spike ..
I have a friend who was a neighbour and dated one of his daughters. I was impressed by the stories he told me of how Spike had been committed to his kids even in the face of his depression. As well as being a comedy genius, he seems to have been a pretty decent and genuine bloke.
He was an exceptional caring human and that’s one reason he suffered, because he could see what a shitty world we live in full of psychopaths running the show and these bad people are not the ones the media claims but those who own the media ! The west has the ability or did have to make the world an amazing place for all and what has in done ? It’s even enslaving it’s own now with debt , overtaxation and the most deplorable health advice ever
I watched Spike many years ago on stage . He was obviously in a depressed state. I never even smiled once, and just felt so sorry for him. He did some of his usual sketches, and most of the audience laughed, but I could not.
can you imagine being his doctor bless you spike.
I met more sane people in a psychiatric Hospital over the years
sensitive people that showed kindness and understanding but like myself were not born for these times,but like John Martyn said about Nick Drake he was living on solid air
Iam on quitapine and lithium a strange combination but keeping me nearly.on the straight and narrow,but unfortunately my paranoia has got worse.
You've got to be immensely strong to survive life long depression and manic depression, even with medication.
❤❤❤❤👍
I know that the revered Mr. Milligan knew far more comedians than I did, but if I were to statt counting, I’d be here for a long while. Many, many died of overdoses, by suicide, or the physical effects of long term addiction, _all of which stem from’ mental illness._
I love watching him in these more in-depth interviews, he comes across as so down to earth and speaks with such humanity, which makes you appreciate him as a comedian much more.
An amazing character would love to have met him ❤️
Fantastic, thanks old mate. That explains so much of myself.
I’m suffering now. Just when I’m close to killing myself I turn to Spike and hope I have the strength to survive the latest wave.
The more people you know the lonelier you feel - I know if an episode appears, I disappear with my Dog. My Dog is my best Friend. psychiatrist & Psychologist. Avoiding humans is the best Medicine for me, at the time. I loathe being fussed over …being in a place away from my own Species, my Saviour is my Dog - he takes away the stress & gives me Peace & Comfort. Humans can be a huge burden, being alone, I know my self, the solitude is my medicine….
Reading his war diaries you’re not so much struck by his getting blown up but by the hellish trip in the medical van, to the field hospital, bumping up and down at speed over dreadful terrain. All while Spike listened to other wounded soldiers, on stretchers slotted in the back, dying from the ordeal of the transit and their injuries, before they even reached help.
Norma Farnes was Spike's manager and friend for many years, wrote several books about him, and was as close to him as anyone. Her descriptions of Spike's 'black dog' days are both frightening and enlightening. Yes, he could be wonderfully funny, but also incredibly thoughtless and selfish. In that, he was closely matched by Peter Sellers, but, as the film director Peter Medak put it, 'they were both completely mad... the difference was, though, Milligan had a heart'.
TY that will be interesting to read
In my 30a with manic depression Aka Bipolar-2. What he said makes so much sense. I too am on Lithium and been in hospital many times- some forced in. Thankfully lithium and other drugs seems to help. Last sectioned 3 years ago
Why were you forced in? What on earth were you doing?
@@hmq9052 Going to kill myself
I wish Lithium still worked for me.
Genius.
It's bipolar these days. It has nothing to do with being happy or sad. PTSD & bipolar is another existence entirely. It doesn't matter what is happening around one. The surrealist comic.
A true Legend 😊
God Bless him!
my hero ! XX still listen to the Goons every day
“…because I had shares in Eastern Electricity”. The man cracks me up
Anyone who has not suffered manic/clinical depression sannot follow a credible line of questioning!
I.had it and now now the warning signs of it getting back into my brain.....but it doesent leave...it goes into a fragile state being held in control......its frightening!
Dark glamour. Claiming you're in a special category no one can understand doesn't half sound arrogant.
@@hmq9052 I don't know why I wrote about credible line of questioning it was meant to mean could not describe it...there's no special category inferred. Anymore than someone who has been shot or has shot someone could maybe describe all the feelings ,dreams mood swings etc but someone who has,not had the experience could not tell you what it was like.
Great guy
It’s rather ironic considering what Spike went through writing it. But The Goon Show was one of the things which lifted me out of my depression.
I love Spike.
Lovely man
If a similar show could be revived the Australian author Markus Zusak would make the best script writer, a lovely man lost , from Grey English knees in Spain .
Lovely to recall Spike on form 💕 although JW's questions could have been better.
Hes spot on here
He once stayed in the hotel where I live and he never left the room,just writing writing writing and chain smoking.Typical bipolar manic phase.
"He meant well but so did Hitler" Incredible thought.
So funny.
I suffer from severe episodes of depression, my diagnosis is not bipolar but very long standing over 50 years. As a child, I 'felt' different, knew I was. I know Spike felt lithium worked for him but my experience with medication has not been good.
Side effects have created more issues and long term use dependency too. I distrust pharmacology and the industries behind it, our governments, their propaganda, the business of keeping folk fearful and compliant. Future? More of the same..........Sigh. At least Spike's not suffering anymore, RIP.
The internet seems to be bad for you.
I know what you are saying Geoff,my wife will often say you are not taking your medication because you are more manic,on the medication for bipolar disorder iam more sedate and impotent and lacking emotion,but at least you are not embarrising yourself,Iam a shell.
@Bernard Lamictal suits some people,all I can say that due to my severe anxiety coupled with bi polar disorder and not forgetting my personality disorder medication becomes mostly trial and error.
I was put on Haliperidol which made me a complete car crash hearing voices and hallucinating big time,Sometimes I miss my admissions to a pschiatric hospital when they sedated you and initially life was ok
Geoff we all suffer from what we call the black dog,we suffer in silence and as David Bowie would say we are kooks,Ithink the period between 12 and 20 years of age truly defines the rest of your life,that is why bullying should be considered alongside racism as both perversions leave a horrible mark on your development as a young person,we should take the knee against racism, but we should acknowledge the harm that bullying can have on people ,many that killed themselves ,and I know of some poor souls that have seen no other option.bullying does not stop when you are 12 but remains for the rest of your life.children that indulge in such behavior should be put on anti bullying course and then if they change should be expelled and humiliated,we don't quite know the number of bullied kids that have killed themselves,but I would think worldwide it's an enormous number.
and the frightening issue is that the bullies that have not been dealt with continue the behaviors in work and in golfing societies and even Politics.
Ps do.you.think Boris was a bully ,lighting up 50 pound notes in front of beggers and calling working class people plebs
@@davidkeith9015 Hi David. You mention impotent. I despise the manhood issue. That alone hardens me to refuse their drugs, lat alone weight gain and sedafion. No thanks 'system' drugs. I'll do without thanks. Stay well brethren. Love n light.
legend
Everyone from 14 or 15 years old should have a chance to see this video.
Psychiatric drugs can make people lose their happiness. Maybe not lithium but antipsychotics will kill your life.
I could imagine spike taking lithium and put on electric treatment would remind him being in the army.
He was put on a charge!.
And then he got better and feeling rather flat for he would be discharged.
lol
All that pain and misery due to the depletion of one mineral salt....................
Which one?
@@hmq9052 Lithium depletion has been shown to greatly increase the highs and lows of Bi Polar disorder.
The sun.
He was just called mad. Which was so stupid and thoughtless.
But that was part of his unique comic talent
What show was this from? Who is the guy interviewing Spike?
james whale
David Dimbleby
The James Whale Show featured as guests celebrities such as Jodie Marsh, David Icke, Nick Pope, Alex Jones.....
@@gazzaka It's James Whale you div.
@@thewomble1509 Wasn't 1975 either as he wrote in a comment above!! Oh dear!
Back in the 1970s I lived in Holden road North Finchley, the same road as Spike. His house was in a terraced row of houses with very large gardens that went down to the brook. Spike shot a child with an air rifle for being in his garden . He also sent a letter to the school I attended falsely accusing me of going into his garden, setting fire to his daughter's Wendy house,and of urinating in bottles and then throwing them in his swimming pool. I had never seen him on television and did not realise he was famous. All the children know him to be a sad fruitcake.
...and he has shooting the next door neighbour's kid in common with Nina Simone...must be a sign of genius. ;)
@Cliff Hanley he was taken to court regarding the shooting. My case was not mistaken identity. The culprit gave a false name . The children in the neighbourhood at the time considered him a sad fruit cake. His wife at about the same time , ran over a pedestrian on the pavement and killed them. Only recently , looking at a TH-cam video, did I realise the pool was actually a childrens play pool. I had visions of a large proper pool built into the garden. Happy.
@@gavinreid8351 Lovely story!
@@gavinreid8351 Not saying he was right to wield an air rifle (I'd heard about this before), but the notion of kids calling a severely depressed man a "sad fruit cake" doesn't speak volumes about them either.
You are clearly deranged, Spke never lived in North Finchley
what year is this from?
1975
1975
Mid-90's.
Until 1950, when the effects of lithium were discovered, we managed to produce dozens of geniuses. Now even Jesus would be medicated into mediocrity.
6:52 he's probably get locked up for saying that now.
I think the interviewer, James, just read questions without considering the answer to the previous one. Useless. Spike was worth better, perhaps Clive James. .....but Spike is always a worthwhile voice,,,WAS.
i entirely disagree. I am sure Mr.Milligan only did interviews for the good money or the virtue. Put the interview into time context (early 90s?) and that was the "unconformist" style of the time. I think its pretty revealing and as always, honest.
Xoxx
The interviewer knows nothing & laughs to cover it up. The situation is way beyond his experience, as it is for most humans.
@@DaleRC75 ha ha ha ha! I recognise the name James Whale but I don't remember anything about him. Having said that I do remember his face.