- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; 1st Edition edition (4 Aug 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340826118
- ISBN-13: 978-0340826119
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.4 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
383,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #91 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Radio > Biographies
Spike Milligan
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Humphrey Carpenter's Spike Milligan: The Biography is a brilliantly incisive journey into the life and mind of this mentally tormented comedy genius, and no subsequent book is likely to offer such a striking picture of a unique entertainment life. But one would expect no less from Carpenter, whose biographies of such figures as the composer Britten and the playwright Dennis Potter quickly established themselves as definitive.
Spike Milligan changed the face of British comedy--and many later comedians (notably the Monty Python team) would constantly reiterate their debt to him--and yet he died a bitter man, feeling neglected by the BBC (for which he had done such creative work) and seemingly unable to hear the voices of the younger comedians who sang his praises. For over 50 years, in every conceivable medium, Spike's quirky surrealistic humour made him among the best-loved of comedy talents in this country--and yet (it was remarked) he was best loved by those who didn't actually know him. His prickliness was legendary, and his career dissatisfaction, combined with the mental problems he suffered for most of his adult life, made it impossible for him to accept his considerable status in his field.
Drawing on Spike's own writing, Carpenter presents a picture of a fascinating and conflicted man. From his unsettling move as a child from India to a grey and cheerless England, Spike struggled with manic depression while still creating the much-loved Goon Show (with the equally troubled Peter Sellers). That period is faultlessly recreated here, along with Spike's acrimonious battles with his BBC bosses. Revealing new material tells us of the love affairs he conducted during his three marriages, and the children who were the results of those liaisons--these sections are among the most telling in painting a picture of a complex man. Whether you're interested in the history of British comedy or simply want to learn more about a fascinating writer and performer, you'll find Carpenter's biography riveting stuff. --Barry Forshaw
The Sunday Times
'Eminently readable portrait of a selfish, complex man'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
May I first declare that I did enjoy this book and my enthusiasm for Spike Milligan remained undimmed at the end of it. However at times I felt this was despite the best efforts of serial biographer Humphrey Carpenter. It's apparent something bugged him while he was working on this. In the early few chapters he is grasping at Spike-like humour and invention in the text, but soon this gives way to carping at Milligan's very existence. It is well understand that Spike was a difficult man and we would need to rely on a biography rather than Spike's volumous autobiographical writing to get close to this, but there is a sense that Carpenter has gone too far the other way and given far too much space and credence to Spike's detractors and serially attempts to discredit Spike's own version of events without actually getting to the bottom of his motivation. While I am grateful to him for evoking Spike's life in this more multi-dimensional way, I do hope that he revisits it for the paperback issue and edits some of the more sloppy passages. The footnote on page 217 is a good example of these unjustified slights.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This bio started well enough, but then I though that it faded. After the first few chapters, after the war lets say, the book turns into a presentation of facts, dates & times, reviews and quotes. Another thing that bothered me, is that the biographer kept quoting from Beehan's biography of Mr. Milligan. From this, I got the impression that I should have read Beehan's biography! The author apparently only met with two people involved in Spike's life for this book. The rest of his research seems to come for the archives (newspapers, memos in the BBC, etc).
Also, the author does not seem to like or have any sympathy for Spike Milligan at all. Everything that Spike has said is treated as rubbish unless there is some other evidence to back it up.
All in all, this book made me interested in Spike Milligan but I would have rather read one of Spike's own books.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Humphrey Carpenter wants to be Albert Goldman but instead comes across as a lazy iconoclast who seems to have little time for his subject matter. The trouble is that he is a big fan of The Goons and as a result the ten years that Milligan spent with The Goons takes up a sizeable chunk of the book while the rest of his life is rushed as if it if were some kind of inconvenience.
There's very little on Milligan's life growing up in India as the author freely admits that such parts of a biography bore him and even less on his war years - which is kind of understandable considering the number of war books published by Milligan himself - except that later in the book the author goes into greater detail about the early lives of Harry Seacombe and Peter Sellers, freely contradicting himself.
The post-Goon years are dealt with at haste and the closing chapters are poorly written and mostly made up with quotes from other sources. Confusingly, there's a six page interview with Spike's illegitimate son and his mother which reveals very little, having already been covered in the previous pages. By contrast, the deaths and their affects on Milligan of his second wife Pat from cancer and his fellow goons barely get a mention. His wife's death is dealt with in a single paragraph while Peter Seller's passing gets a brief mention. Seacombe meanwhile is worthy only of a single line while Michael Bentine's death is considered a mere after thought.
And then there's the "sensationalist" parts, probably designed to sell the book. But unfortunately the author only ever hints at these, relying on Chinese Whispers to spread gossip. If Milligan really was a blackshirt or helped kill his second wife as suggested you would expect more than a mere couple of lines while trying to imply that the comic's first mental breakdown did not actually happen is mere folly.
There are two underlying themes throughout the book - Milligan's depressions and his racist tendencies (such as they were). The former is described in rudimentary fashion so that you seemingly get a simple list of the highs and the lows while the latter gets an airing every twenty pages or so - including a quote about his time in India in the opening chapter which the author seems to think is enough to have the comic banged to rights. But the quote is from a BBC Radio Four documentary on The Raj in which Milligan speaks fondly about the people and the place and the quote is taken so far out of context that it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
A flawed biography in many respects, but the chapters on The Goons are excellent, leaving one to conclude that the author would have been better off sticking to them alone.
There's very little on Milligan's life growing up in India as the author freely admits that such parts of a biography bore him and even less on his war years - which is kind of understandable considering the number of war books published by Milligan himself - except that later in the book the author goes into greater detail about the early lives of Harry Seacombe and Peter Sellers, freely contradicting himself.
The post-Goon years are dealt with at haste and the closing chapters are poorly written and mostly made up with quotes from other sources. Confusingly, there's a six page interview with Spike's illegitimate son and his mother which reveals very little, having already been covered in the previous pages. By contrast, the deaths and their affects on Milligan of his second wife Pat from cancer and his fellow goons barely get a mention. His wife's death is dealt with in a single paragraph while Peter Seller's passing gets a brief mention. Seacombe meanwhile is worthy only of a single line while Michael Bentine's death is considered a mere after thought.
And then there's the "sensationalist" parts, probably designed to sell the book. But unfortunately the author only ever hints at these, relying on Chinese Whispers to spread gossip. If Milligan really was a blackshirt or helped kill his second wife as suggested you would expect more than a mere couple of lines while trying to imply that the comic's first mental breakdown did not actually happen is mere folly.
There are two underlying themes throughout the book - Milligan's depressions and his racist tendencies (such as they were). The former is described in rudimentary fashion so that you seemingly get a simple list of the highs and the lows while the latter gets an airing every twenty pages or so - including a quote about his time in India in the opening chapter which the author seems to think is enough to have the comic banged to rights. But the quote is from a BBC Radio Four documentary on The Raj in which Milligan speaks fondly about the people and the place and the quote is taken so far out of context that it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
A flawed biography in many respects, but the chapters on The Goons are excellent, leaving one to conclude that the author would have been better off sticking to them alone.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Insight amid the sloppiness
An odd mixture, this. Humphrey Carpenter is quite enlightening about several parts of Spike Milligan that we either did not know about or would rather not. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2009 by A. Warmington
UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH
We probably all know that Spike was in the "tortured comic genius" mold, which is bound to make for a good read. This book is certainly that. Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2007 by Lutobar
Spike is spiked !
Humphrey Carpenter is a very good biographer indeed and I have enjoyed his biographies of Benjamin Britten, Denis Potter and others. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2003 by P. S. Briggs
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