book on Spike by his long term manager

[GabbyLoggon]

When Mr Milligan was not being brilliant he was certainy being unreasonable.

This book was written by his female manager;who was in the job for 38 years

Its a bit odd to realise that many brilliant comics are depressives.

Spike was an ardent womaniser to boot.

\He was a great one for causes ; whales and animals in general. But his personal morality in respect of marriage was dodgy

Few doubt he was a genious atthe zany comic level. He suffered for his art.
"I told them I was ill" is said to be the message on his gravestone, "gabby"

I used to dispense his prescriptions, was on a whole cocktail of stuff for what we now refer to as bipolar. Poor dude

District nurses cycling through the village on an autumn evening. Shipping forecast sending coded messages to Moscow? As I said to Peter Sellers once "why the long face?" The genius of a dodgy marriage is to make sure you get the weekly commic first. "Who cares? Not I."

"poor dude" indeed; but he made the best of a bad job.

he doesnt seem to be specific about it; but I assume he was very close to action in the war. "Gabby"

"Monty, His Part In My Victory" - hmm, the clue's in the title. Two penn'orth o' liquorice allsorts and a copy of the Beano. Showing your political colours again Gabby? Are you a conscientious approver?

Chil1234

I dont see politics in Milligan. He was well above that.

The only place you seem to drop your "Nasty Party" Tory stance Chil is on my
"prostate cancer" thread.

You seem like an "activist" poster but I thought they only had them in America.

Being as you have admitted your Tory voting on another thread; we can take it as read and move onto less camerooney content. Variety is the spice of mumsnet

cheers "Gabby"

But Gabby, surely everyone who likes Spike already knows all this stuff?

I started reading his stuff when I was a teenager 20 years ago - the war bios etc.

He first made that joke about "I told you I was ill" in about 1970.

I got the last bio shortly after he died. I watched the program where it went a bit unedifying with his last wife and his kids.

Does she really have any info that people haven't seen? Did you only just discover Spike Milligan?

Sticky

Spike seems to have been about most of my life; in one show or another I loved his unpredictability.

The lass who wrote this book was his manager for 38 years. Shes spilled the lot.

I believe Spike gave her permission; but it was not published before his death.
I am a little uncomfortable about some of it. But it rings true.

She was one of the few women he had not slept with ...(and loved him in spite of his
rough temper language)

If you like Spike. Best not to read this book cheers "Gabby"

So she does have stuff that hasn't been done to death already? I might give it a go.

Spike wasn't consistent and had some principles he expounded to other people but didn't live by himself (making noise, having lots of children etc) but he was a genius IMO, he doesn't have to be a perfect human being as well.

Have you read the war biogs, Adolf Hitler My Part In His Downfall etc.? Well worth reading IMO, especially if you love Spike, his descriptions of war through his "zany" persona are unique. He was involved in fighting in Italy and was invalided out with shellshock at one point (I think).

Thanks

Active activists actively activating.... ? hmm.... Thruppenny bits. Rhubarb and custard. Spice is the Royal Variety Show. Cameroon is a country in Africa, you know. And Milligan really was in the war.... surprised you didn't know that.

Lets put it this way about the biog. There was stuff there I would have left out.

I take the "shellshock" point, I did not know about it; but would have guessed

Spike rose above it, to make most of us laugh at one time or another. Bril legacy

cheers "Gabby"

I have read 'Spike..An Intimate Memoir' several times, and love it.

I love it because it is sensitively written, truthful (yes, to the extreme) and most of all because Spike adored Norma and totally trusted her with his entire life. He once told her he was giving up making decisions and that she could make them for him.

He also constantly berated her for ''Keeping me unemployed''. Norma loved him in spite of his faults because she KNEW the man. He hadx written his own material regarding mental health issues so there was nothing new in the book..and everyone knew about his affairs & illegitimate children.

As Norma put it so well ''Spike wasn't a funny man, he was a funny writer''.

I have read all the war memoirs too. Sticky, give the Norma Farnes book a go, definitely. I truly believe that she is the only woman who truly knew Spike, and can write about his life in all it's gore without one ounce of disrespect.

Sorry for all the 'trulys'..I'm not a writer

Thanks DB, I will definitely read it!

Yay

If you love Spike you really must. I have to say it made me love him even more, regardless of his philandering!

Chil?

Are you OK?

You seem to have morphed into a chatbot.

Please lie down immediately

chil you make me giggle
(and you make more sense than Gabby)

I used to have business dealings with Spike when I was a teenaged office junior.

He could be incredibly spiteful and unkind. I'm imagining that Norma was the lady who usually rang up after he'd been on the phone, to apologise for him and smooth things over.

The woman must have been a real saint to work for/with him. Ill or not, he gave the impression of being deliberately hateful and nasty, I'm afraid. A very, very hard man to like.

And he nicked the 'I told you I was ill' epitaph from a gravestone in the US!

There you have it.

Spike was an ill man. Now recognised as Bi-Polar, and many a person fell foul of his moods brought on by his illness.

The unfortunate thing with Spike is that essentially, he didn't like adults. He preferred animals & children for company as he felt that they were totally innocent & honest..grown-ups weren't.

Norma understood this, but could see why others couldn't. He lost many a 'friend' through his troubles. Of course he gave the impression of being deliberately hateful and nasty. Having known Bi-Polar sufferers myself I have experienced the same. My grandfather was a Bi-Polar sufferer too..and he also experienced war the same way Spike did.

My mum was a big fan and read some of his stuff to us all the time. she spoke alot about his bi polar and how it affected him and played out in his writting and appearances. I did understand quite alot at a young age as a result. Howevere strangly enough I never got into him as I grew up, was never a litarature person growing up. My dd loves books peoms and quirky writting at her tender of age of 4 and maybe I should begin to re capture some of the things my mother appreteated when we were young that sadly I never did.

so gabby do you feel that she is selling his soul to an extent or is done in a compasionate way? I always worry about significant others or close alies spilling intimate details when someone has passed.

Kitty

Spike did treat her badly but she probably
liked being among stars Peter Sellers and other big names. "Gabby"

She did not say what spike paid her. "Gabby"

I read "Hitler, my part in his downfall" about a trillion times as a teenager. Hilarious

and Chil for out gabbying gabby

tomhardy

Tom: the book is done in a very frank way.
( whether that is compassionate or not is a matter of opinion)

I gather it was published after Milligans
death; so it could not hurt him personally.

The writer clearly adored Spike in spite of everything

He said funny things to her, like with a doleful look "How could you be so unchristian at a time like this?" cheers "Gabby"

I don't believe Norma would do anything to hurt Spike..certainly not intentionally, and she was/is very professional. I would imagine she also spoke to his children about it too.

She wasn't keen on Peter Sellers at all. He often treated Spike badly. From what I recall in previous interviews with Norma, the 'stars' she happened to be in awe of had nothing to do with the circles Spike moved in anyway.

Anthony Hopkins & Laurence Olivier are her heroes.