Spike Milligan War Memoirs
8 total works
VOLUME FOUR OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A HILARIOUS, SUBVERSIVE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WW2
'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail
'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times
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A voice is calling across the land, 'Bombardier Milligan.' 'Bombadier Milligan is dead,' I replied in a disguised voice. The voice replied, 'Then he's going to miss his breakfast.'
The fourth volume of Spike Milligan's legendary account of his time in the army during World War Two begins as he and his regiment land in sunny Italy in 1943 ('The ship touched the beach very gently, so gently I suspect it's not insured').
After a bout of Sandfly Fever, from which he soon recovers ('I'm ready to be killed again'), our plucky hero is piddled on by a farm dog ('Mussolini's revenge?') before forging his way inland towards the enemy and the sound of guns ('We're getting near civilisation'), where matters suddenly take a dark turn ('I was not really me any more') . . .
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'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express
'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese
'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard
'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin
'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian
Monty: His Part in My Victory is volume three of Spike Milligan's outrageous, hilarious, legendary War Memoirs.
'It's all over, Von Arnheim has surrendered and he's very angry.''This could mean war...'
The third volume of Spike Milligan's laugh-a-line account of life as a gunner in World War Two resumes on the eve of victory in North Africa. Now Britain's looniest war hero must combat some of the direst threats a soldier has ever faced - boredom ('Christ, I just thought of Catford'), a cold ('In this weather?' 'Yed.'), moving camp ('It's a sort of Brighton with camels'), relaxing on the beach ('Life was golden, and we were the assayers'), moving camp again ('We're already somewhere else'), a visit to Carthage ('It's terrible, it's like Catford') and a perilous encounter with the gloriously endowed Mademoiselle Villion ('"Help! massage," I said weakly'). Against the odds, they survive and are sent at last to Italy to be killed...
'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times
'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese
'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard
'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen Fry
Spike Milligan was one of the greatest and most influential comedians of the twentieth century. Born in India in 1918, he served in the Royal Artillery during WWII in North Africa and Italy. At the end of the war, he forged a career as a jazz musician, sketch-show writer and performer, before joining forces with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe to form the legendary Goon Show. Until his death in 2002, he had success as on stage and screen and as the author of over eighty books of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays, cartoons and children's stories.
VOLUME TWO OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A OUTRAGEOUS, HILARIOUS WW2 MEMOIRS
'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail
'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times
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'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.'
'That's how I got in, sir.'
'Didn't we all.'
The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering ('We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently'), psychological toughening ('If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it') and living dangerously ('no underwear!'). At last the battle for Tunis is upon them . . .
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'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express
'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese
'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard
'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin
'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian
The most hilarious military career ever embarked upon, from Britain's funniest old soldier
Spike Milligan's war memoirs are some of the most popular of all time. Re-mastered and issued in audio format for the first time ever since publication, this complete edition tells Spike's story all the way from enlistment in 1939 to his experiences in North Africa and Italy, his wounding and rehabilitation, his transition from soldiering to show-business and eventually to the formation of the Goons.
The War Memoirs are an utterly original and outrageously subversive first-hand account of the Second World War, as well as a hilarious and fascinating portrait of the early life and formative years of one of the greatest comedians the world has ever known. Filled throughout with bathos, pathos and gales of ribald laughter, this is a barely sane helping of military goonery and superlative Milliganese.
The War Memoirs consists of 36 wonderfully re-mastered CDs, preserving Milligan's genius for future generations. Audio quality varies.