I am a better man because of Spike Mulligan. He taught me what comedy and humor was. Now he makes the angels laugh and cry. The world is a better place because of this man, who will never be forgotten.
I met Spike many years ago when I helped raise money for a special needs school to build a swimming pool. Spike agreed to open the pool on the understanding that he could throw the headmistress in. He did! And that all happened because a little girl from the school knocked on his door and asked if he would do it. A great man one of my all time favourite personalities, as a child I listened to the goons on my crystal set and loved every minute. I still have many of the shows on my tablet in mp3 form and play them regularly.
Spike was obviously suffering PTSD, both from moving back to London from India in the 1930’s and no doubt from his experiences in the war. A very intelligent man and extremely funny. And in no way was he ever mad.
He had always said he was bipolar, on a rather advanced level. Sometimes a down period could last up to two and a half years. In his manic phases, he was at his most creative. The bipolar behaviour was confirmed by his family and friends as well.
I am the New Zealand nurse mentioned here after Jane's birth .... however Spike's memories are not exactly accurate...I was already living in the house as the nanny...Paddy, his wife had her leg in plaster and Spike never had to look after the baby. He certainly was having a major depressive event while I was there, but I never said he was an alcoholic. I enjoyed my time there...and have some great memories....Diana Griffiths, Masterton, New Zealand.
I've been a Goon fan since the 1950s and have read and enjoyed most, if not all, of his books, and admired him for his views on conservation, but that's the first time I've heard his thoughts on population control. Dear Spike, you brought tears to my eyes. What a lovely man!
You know guys, i've always known of Spike, but only recently really discovered him, thanks to things like Audible he'll forever be discovered by generations. Thankyou Spike Milligan.
@@robkeogh4593 If "RU-vid" would get their Poop, in a group, future generations might discover him, here, as well. (By "him", i mean Spike Milligan.) JUST IN TIME FOR SPIXMAS!!!!!!!
Get this. My wife and I got lunch at Marks and Spencer in Hastings. We shared a table with a couple around our age and found they had organised the burial of the Spike. Town’s nearby, has a grave of an Irish Catholic in the local Anglican graveyard. It’s engraved with his phase in Gaelic “I told you I was sick.” Beautiful. RIP Terrance.
Spike Milligan was a genius. I read a couple of his war books. Even they are funny. You could tell he had all the time in the world for his comrades. 👍🇬🇧
WOW! That has to have been the best ever interview with Spike Milligan. Usually any interview just descends into mayhem as the interviewer brings out the clown, but it it great to see a serious and very thoughtful interview with this much mis-understood genius.
20 years ago, I was taking my youngest daughter to her primary school, we were half an hour early and like most mornings the reading books came out of the school bag, one of them was a book of poems by Spike, I’d always loved Spikes humour in films and TV and after reading the first couple of poems I was in absolute stitches....summers day, car windows open, my daughter puzzled and odd looks from passing parents, I just couldn’t help it. You gotta love Spike....
I love watching him in casual interviews and talking from the heart, really makes you appreciate the man he was and how much joy and humour he brought to people.
Grew up with the Goons (1950s) all my family including several Uncles would do the voices for me as a child and in the 1980s did the sane with my two sons by playing the recordings of the shows. Watched many documentaries which did not show always the very caring person he was. This RU-vid is an absolute gem and have never seen before, and is more relevant to me as I am his age when it was recorded. As others have stated on here, it is with out doubt the best interview ever done as he does is not as many comedians do hide their true selves by resorting to being funny. Personally I find I have much in common with him, even though a veryy caring, loving and kind person I too am often inpatient with people and have very strong 'simple' opinions of aspects like over population and could not agree more with his view on vasectomy and after having two sons had the snip. His point even though loving his kids was spot on, that having another two was wrong which Peter Fances could not get. I too served in the forces and after leaving found never the same friends as I did when in and wished I had stayed in. No way do I have the genius and special way of thinking but I do believe (and do not mean to be arrogant), a few of us (a minority) are born with the ability to think differently to others and Spike Milligan was one of them. He is like the boy in the story of the Emperors New Clothes has the ability to step up and go against the flow, which I have often done to my downfall. I also believe such people who think differently to others are able make others laugh, which I am able to. Not good enough to be a comedian even though being a professional Presenter I can in my every day dealings with people make them laugh, which I get a great kick out of. But at the same time I do can be very inpatient with jobworths, arrogant and stupid people. Spike like John Cleese are masters of getting others to see what they see and we need far more comedians like him more than ever. Sadly with Woke the madness virus is destroying that and with out such people as Spike Milligan to not just make us laugh but make us see things differently the world is going to become a very unpleasant place to live in.
I am 35 with Bipolar aka Manic Depression. Was a joy to watch this. I am working a LOT of hours to retire in 18 years. The Sooner I can remove myself from having to work with people and be restrained from telling folk to fuck off the better. I struggle in private life with basic things-shopping. No patience for folk. Work -lone worker. I was sent on a first aid course part was the Defib. I simply have no desire to save a life- went down like a lead balloon. Then I have points I rage with a passion to help others from foodbanks and such things. Rather bizarre.
Years ago I read his war memoirs during breaks at work.I had to keep stopping to wipe away the tears of laughter. My mates thought I was nuts. Brilliant.
Spike Milligan reminds me a lot about my mum, both he and my mum are Aries people and my mum exhibits quite a few of the same personality traits that he has, my mum is a very warm-hearted person who is very easy to get-along with she always wants to make people feel happy and she really cares a lot about her friends, she told me that she can tolerate a lot of physical pain, but she has a hard time dealing with emotional pain, once you get to know her you soon realize just how much of a wonderful person she really is, I'm so glad that she is my mum.
I have seen loads of videos of spike but never seen this one .I've loved them all .This one shows a side of him that I've seen little of .and I admire his truthfulness and insight of his hopes and fears .I hope he and his best friend made up their differences . Very funny man who I can relate to in many ways
Thanks for uploading this! I was lucky enough to come across him through the original BBC radio broadcasts of The Goon Show, then his books Hitler, my part in his downfall and Rommel, gunner who? and wasn"t a fan of the TV show at the time but now realise that was my fault, his level of humour was above me. And he cared for the future of the planet..This short programme shows a bit of just how genuine a soul he had.
It has occurred to me as to why that man was singing the National Anthem on the tube. He was trying to get everyone to stand up so that he could get a seat for himself.
He’s such an era sensation that many might never understand Spike or his barking mad humor so would give a dislike. However, to listen to the Telly Goons on a Sunday was a laughable treat; Mum could have her Archers and the Dale’s Diary or something, but I had the wireless on early for the tubes to warm up ready for the offbeat humor of those guys and Spike was a legend in those flower power days. A legend.
Yes, but unfortunately, the population numbers are not spread out evenly all over the globe: very dense in some parts, and very sparse in others. In Western societies people are having less children and have been for years, causing a dip in the demographics, dips which have to be filled with the incoming of immigrants in order to maintain a healthy economical society, or so we're told.
@@EVALLOYD I have since done some more research on this. Actually its only the African countries that have a positive birth rate. All 'western' nations especially Japan and Italy, have dire birth rate numbers that would in theory mean they will have no population at all in a few generations. China did a lot of damage to themselves with their one child policy. So yes immigration may well be the only way we can survive and pay taxes..
When I die, if I am fortunate enough to be invited into Heaven, I will ask St Peter "Is Spike Milligan here in heaven?" If the answer is no then I will refuse my invitation...
Spike was born in 1918 into a world of 1.8 bn humans. Population reached 4.84 bn by 1985 (when this was filmed). Soon, we'll be at 8 bn. The UN estimates 9.8 bn by 2050, 11.2 bn by 2100. Spike had a point, but his idea that dirt-poor people should be sterilised is untenable. The rich West lives off the labour of the poor and our wealth depends on others' poverty. Some better scheme is urgently needed.
He did not say that poor people should be sterilised. He said that people should stop producing children until they are able to feed them. What could be more logical?
Spike has tons of valid points he expresses in this interview, and I can totally see things from his point of view, he is absolutely spot-on with a lot he has to say, personally i don't think he was the crazy one, I think it is actually all the so-called "normal" people in the world who are the real crazy ones, and Spike is merely mis-understood by them.
In London where I worked, a workmate was once boyfriend of the daughter for a while and he went to the house a few times, one time Spike had trashed the house in depression, a lovely but troubled man once get to know him according to my pal at work (welder fabricator)
@@kiwitrainguy Tongue in cheek, but so ponient. His reply could have been. What other people think of me , is none of my business 😎 Have a great down under.
It might be argued that human beings have the ability to become more and more efficient, therefore using far less to produce far more. I'm all for people.
I love the way the commentator typifies the "je ne sais quois" of being quintessentially english. Spoken in a commanding know it all accent .. "His days in the army were the happiest" ?????? whereas in later years Spike told of the profound impact that shell shock had on his mental health. If being involved in a war is the happiest time of someones life then they must have an extremely terrible home life :-)
@@kiwitrainguy Then an accurate description would have been "it was the worst time of my life but I did get to know some great people, not all of whom made it out alive". You don't need a war for camaraderie and there is nothing humanly positive about war.
@@SlowfingerJC asides the vast majority of technological advances we have made have been off the back of war, but morally I am in complete agreement with you.
I loved his work throughout my life from the 1950's onward, but much of that interview is an example of his self-delusion or deliberate dishonesty, whichever you prefer. He had very close friendships with all of his old army mates until he ultimately drove them away. His estrangement from his lifelong friend Edgington (ying tong iddle I po) was due to a disagreement about Milligan's over-indulgence of his children. There are many other examples. Read his long-term manager's biography, 'Spike'.
Yup, I remember reading about that. He and Harry had a row over that very thing and Spike said some very harsh words, thereby destroying a friendship that had lasted for many years.
A lovely experience seeing Spike.. made somewhat sour by the unsympathetic and small-minded interviewing. Perhaps that's in the kind of hindsight that Spike partly made possible but those small-minded people seem still to be here.
Paul - this was made in 1985. Spike was invited by the BBC to deliver his own obituary because he was an old bloke and they were slightly frightened by what other smarter, more cutting people would say if they did their regular bland obituary when he soon died. "Let's get in front of this shall we chaps?" Of course, Spike surprised the Beeb by living a lot longer. Put that down to India, WWII and vegetarianism. But the show still went to air in 1986 because it was so damned good and the brave (maybe crazy brave) Alan Yentob was head of BBC Arts and thought it would be a hoot.
Great to hear Spike talking about his own life and being forthright but you could see the bias of Peter France on a number of issues, especially on population control - in two parts of the interview. Peter France spoiled the interview by trying to espouse his own beliefs and belittle Spike's when this interview was supposed to be about Spike.
"Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite" was what Spike actually got on his tombstone because the church had no sense of humour and wouldn't allow the English version. Spike would not be happy with the direction of population today. Still nobody is thinking about it seriously but eventually, our population will crash and it won't be a good time to be alive.
Few here will not already know, but here is how the phrase translates from the Gaelic: I told you I was ill. Concerning overpopulation, with few exceptions high birthrates are now confined to Africa and the Middle East. Most areas of the world have quite stable populations and many are set to decline. But Africa over the remaining eighty years of this century will add to its current 1.1 billion people a further 2.5 billion for a total of 3.6 billion. It is on course to surpass Asia, depending on what happens in India and the Middle East. Imagine Egypt with 500 million people, Nigeria with nearly a billion, South Africa with 600 million, Somalia at 350 million. (These country figures may be poorly remembered, but they give the right idea.) Madness. Flat out Bridge on the River Kwai madness. Never mind what the other fellow said; you're right, no one is talking about it. Cheers from your antipodes, mate.
