1 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,240 Hello, could you take me to Marylebone Station, please? 2 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:26,760 A lot of people nowadays are called comic geniuses, 3 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,240 but Spike Milligan really was a comic genius. 4 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,160 Where are you? Inside. 5 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,240 Inside? Yes. 6 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:40,520 Inside what? The elephant. 7 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,560 I'm inside the elephant. 8 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,040 I've never met a comedian in Britain 9 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,040 who doesn't acknowledge their debt to Spike Milligan. 10 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,080 He inspired a generation. 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:53,800 Walk about a bit. 12 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,240 Without Spike doing surreal, I wouldn't exist. 13 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,440 I don't think Python would have existed. 14 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,520 Oh, dear! 15 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,040 There was an edge to Milligan which I didn't realise at the time. 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,040 I just thought he was a genius. 17 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,840 Spike Milligan means a lot to me because my first job was as a comedian. 18 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,680 Not anything like as good as him but as a comic actor with Alan Bennett. 19 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:22,440 It was 1966 and On The Margin was a TV sketch show. 20 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,960 Sat at the feet of the master was a youthful...me. 21 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,960 Comedy? Well, that was good training for political journalism. 22 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,360 Now I'm going to retrace Spike Milligan's footsteps, 23 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,520 to find out where his comic genius came from... 24 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:43,680 talk to those who knew him intimately... 25 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,280 He must have been a nightmare to live with. 26 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,960 ..and explore what writing endless comedy did to the mind of Milligan. 27 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,160 He went a bit mad. That's what happens. 28 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,040 Because you start looking for everything to be a joke and every situation. 29 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,000 That's how you force your brain when you're writing, 30 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,520 just looking for these humorous situations. 31 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,480 Sometimes you can't turn that off. 32 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,840 He made us laugh and he made us think. 33 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,040 And that's pretty good going. 34 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,560 60 years ago, I was one of millions of people 35 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,880 first introduced to Spike Milligan through the radio 36 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:33,960 and the legendary Goon Show. 37 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:35,880 Here it is. The Goon Show! 38 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,720 I want to start my journey around Spike 39 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,520 by returning to where, for me, it all began. 40 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,160 # I'm walking backwards for Christmas 41 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,160 # Across the Irish Sea 42 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,880 # I'm walking backwards for Christmas 43 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,880 # It's the only thing for me 44 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,120 # I've tried walking sideways 45 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,320 # And walking to the front 46 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,080 # But people look at me and say 47 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,560 # That's just a publicity stunt 48 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,120 # I'm walking backwards for Christmas 49 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:19,320 # To prove that I love you 50 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,200 I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas was typical of the surreal world 51 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,960 Spike conjured up in The Goon Show back in the 1950s. 52 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,080 It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, 53 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,880 but for people like me it became a way of life. 54 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:42,960 When you think about the Goons, 55 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,280 it's not just, 'Oh, that's a comedy show.' 56 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,360 No, it matters more than that. 57 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,560 It matters in terms of people's attitudes, where we were, 58 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,520 how we recovered from the War. 59 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,600 Why was it funny? 60 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,240 Why did we think it was particularly funny? Is it still funny now? 61 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,680 These are all the things that... I don't know, I want to look at. 62 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:14,640 This is where I was brought up. 63 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,760 My father was the vicar of Great Tew here in Oxfordshire. 64 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:23,200 We were here from 1948 to 1957. 65 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,400 Those were not only critical days in my childhood, 66 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,880 they were most important days for The Goon Show. 67 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,680 This is the house I grew up in with my elder brother and sister. 68 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,680 It still serves as the Vicarage to this day. 69 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:44,720 I'll just see if anyone's in. 70 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,440 Hello. John, come in. 71 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,240 Thanks very much for letting me come home. 72 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,480 Because it was here that I used to listen to The Goon Show. 73 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,960 I'm going to step into this room and step back 60 years. 74 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,160 I used to come in here with my brother. 75 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:16,080 Our parents didn't want to listen to The Goon Show. 76 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,160 Here we are. That's the old radio. 1950s radio. 77 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,800 And this is rather special. 78 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:31,080 I've got copies of the Radio Times from the 1950s. 79 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,040 So what's on? 80 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:37,480 And what have we got? 81 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,240 Well, The Archers. Bound to be The Archers. 82 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,640 The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes. 83 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:44,720 Nothing changes, does it? 84 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,640 But at 8:30, The Goon Show presents The Man In Black, 85 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:54,280 with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, 86 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:56,320 in The Canal. 87 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,080 (RADIO TUNING) 88 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,120 'This is the BBC Home Service.' 89 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:06,480 It's 8:30, it's October 1954. 90 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:12,480 I'm 10 years old and I'm listening in absolute bliss to The Goon Show. 91 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,520 (SCREECH) Thank you, Teddy. 92 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,560 (LAUGHTER) 93 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:20,480 Eccles! 94 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,240 Yah! Did my daddy call me? 95 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,000 Eccles, get your things out of Neddie's room. OK, Daddy. 96 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,080 Come on, now! Shoo! Shoo! 97 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:36,120 Memorable characters like Bluebottle and Eccles returned week after week 98 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,520 in evermore ludicrous storylines. 99 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,920 They were played with gleeful enthusiasm by Spike and his co-stars, 100 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,120 Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. 101 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,880 I hear music and there's only Max Geldray there. 102 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:55,680 Like all great comedy, like all great farces, it's beautifully made. 103 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:01,760 Half an hour of a carefully organised story which has a logic of its own 104 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,720 but is just tipped away from normal, by about 30 degrees. 105 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:07,800 But it's kept at that level. 106 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,240 And so at all points, there's discipline within the madness. 107 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:15,160 When you think it's just a lot of old nonsense like my parents used to... 108 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,240 No, it's not. 109 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,960 It's very, very carefully constructed to make you laugh. 110 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:23,840 No, not tonight, dear! 111 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:25,800 (LAUGHTER) 112 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,560 It meant everything to me, 113 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,080 living in the middle of nowhere as I was then. 114 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:38,200 But the man who wrote the show which brought an audience of up to five million 115 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,520 came from a very different world. 116 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,040 (JAZZ DOUBLE BASS) 117 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:50,160 Spike Milligan was born in colonial India in 1918. 118 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,480 His father Leo served in the British Indian army, 119 00:07:55,480 --> 00:08:00,080 but spent most of his time dressing up and entertaining the troops, 120 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,960 with his wife and sidekick Florence. 121 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:08,800 Could this be where Spike got his unique sense of humour from? 122 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:12,960 The only person who knows about those early years 123 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,240 lives 10,000 miles away in Sydney, Australia, 124 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,160 and that's Spike's younger brother, Desmond. 125 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,440 It's a chilly winter evening here in London 126 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,600 but in Sydney, it's a balmy summer's morning. 127 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,520 I'm going to ask Desmond about their theatrical roots. 128 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:36,320 Your father seems to have been very like Spike. 129 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,640 In a more subdued way, yes. 130 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,120 Yes, he was a wonderful performer. 131 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,520 He tap-danced like Fred Astaire on stage. 132 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:48,640 But what about his sense of humour? 133 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,400 Tell me about your father's sense of humour. 134 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,240 Was it like Spike's? He was a quieter humorist. 135 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,520 So he wasn't as zany as Spike was? 136 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,360 Oh, no, he wasn't as zany as brother Spike. 137 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,440 Spike was unique. 138 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,200 None of us was quite as mad as he was. (LAUGHS) 139 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,240 But when you hear people talking about Spike... 140 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,880 do you sometimes think you didn't know him very well? 141 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,320 He lived in his own world. 142 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,440 And so you didn't... 143 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,000 As a teenager, he was out of the house a lot of the time. 144 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,800 So, you know, he tended to come in almost like a stranger. 145 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:33,760 So do you think in some way he was, even to you, a bit of a mystery? 146 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:36,560 Yes, he did appear a bit of a mystery to me. 147 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,040 Talking to Desmond has been revealing. 148 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,800 Clearly even in childhood, Spike lived in a world of his own. 149 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:52,080 The Milligan family's colonial posting eventually came to an end. 150 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,880 The family were forced to move to London in 1933. 151 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,800 Spike adapted to his new surroundings, 152 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,760 performing in clubs and pubs his beloved jazz. 153 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,720 But world events were about to change his life forever. 154 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:09,680 (AIR RAID SIREN) 155 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,120 Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, 156 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,360 Spike joined the army and his first posting was here on the south coast. 157 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,440 In his memoirs, he described those difficult times 158 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,600 with characteristic spirit. 159 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,760 It was a proud day for the Milligan family as I was taken from the house. 160 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,960 (MILLIGAN'S VOICE MERGES) 'I am too young to go!' I screamed, 161 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,480 as military policemen dragged me from my pram, clutching a dummy. 162 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,840 at 4:30, June 2nd 1940, 163 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,040 on a summer's day, all mares' tails and blue sky, 164 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,320 we arrived at Bexhill-on-Sea where I got off. 165 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,520 It wasn't easy - the train didn't stop there. 166 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:05,000 When Spike arrived here, times could hardly have been worse. 167 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:07,080 This was the moment when there was 168 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,640 a real threat of invasion across the Channel. 169 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,880 Dunkirk had happened, the army had retreated. 170 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:15,920 France had fallen. 171 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,000 And we all know from Dad's Army 172 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,520 what could be done to save the south coast. 173 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,960 Well, in Spike's case it was, 'Don't worry, I know I'm coming.' 174 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:33,200 I want to find out what it felt like to be stationed here in 1940. 175 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,400 One person who remembers those grim days 176 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,920 and knows something of Milligan's experiences here in Bexhill 177 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,000 is John Izzard. 178 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,080 This was a key invasion coast for the Germans. 179 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,360 I mean, from here, you can see, it looks good, 180 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,400 right round to Eastbourne. 181 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,800 Its shallow beaches and so on. 182 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:01,280 And on the beach, we had a vast array of scaffolding poles. 183 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:04,440 So that was what to stop...? 184 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,520 Stop people coming ashore. 185 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,000 You can't do much with a scaffolding pole. 186 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,320 That's all they had - scaffolding poles. 187 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,320 That didn't fill you with confidence I wouldn't have thought. Not at all. 188 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,480 John was just seven years old when Spike first arrived in Bexhill. 189 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,320 Defending the inhabitants of the town was the first chapter 190 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,760 in a war that would ultimately come close to killing him. 191 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:34,520 He was wounded in action 192 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,400 at the battle of Monte Cassino in Italy in 1944. 193 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:48,520 John Izzard became a big fan of The Goon Show in the Fifties, 194 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:53,840 and was thrilled when he heard of Spike's connection with Bexhill. 195 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:55,920 It was very unusual... 196 00:12:55,920 --> 00:13:01,480 because nobody that we knew of any repute had got a Bexhill connection. 197 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:03,040 (LAUGHS) 198 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,400 We are literally walking in Spike Milligan's footsteps. 199 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,360 John is taking me up Galley Hill 200 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,080 to show me where Spike was on duty during the War. 201 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,600 It was Spike's job to look out for invading Germans. 202 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,600 And he later produced a drawing, 203 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,280 proudly showing his observation point. 204 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,400 Yes, I've looked for it several times. 205 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,440 Galley Hill is where we are... 206 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,000 John and I are on a pilgrimage. 207 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,560 Quite right, yes. 208 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:38,440 We're looking for the concrete slab on which Spike's gun was mounted. 209 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,440 I think John's found it. 210 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,400 Well, it's the only bit of heavy concrete around here 211 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:46,880 and I can't see what else it would be used for. 212 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,240 Well, I think we've discovered it. 213 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,680 Let me just show you the picture. 214 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,080 Right, have a look at that. 215 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:59,120 As far as we know, this is it. There's Gunner Milligan. 216 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:04,400 He's got his gun and he's ready to take on the entire German army. 217 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:07,800 'My first confrontation with the enemy 218 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,840 was an early autumn evening at Galley Hill observation post. 219 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:16,640 The light was going and a mist was conjuring itself up from the Channel. 220 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,760 I heard the unmistakable sound of a Dornier bomber. 221 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:26,400 Suddenly below me, coming out of the mist, was the Dornier, 222 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:29,760 flying low to avoid radar and customs duty. 223 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,480 What should I do? A pile of bricks. 224 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:37,400 I grab one, and as the plane roared over me, I threw it. 225 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,480 Blast! Missed! 226 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:43,640 But in that moment envisaged glorious headlines. 227 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:47,840 Lone gunner brings down Nazi plane with lone brick. 228 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:50,880 And the Germans? Mein Gott! 229 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,040 If dis vot ze can do vid bricks, 230 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,960 vot could they do vid guns?!' 231 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,000 (LAUGHS) 232 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,000 Spike made fun of his experiences in Bexhill 233 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,200 in a volume of wartime memoirs. 234 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,440 It wasn't published until 1971. 235 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,160 It shows how the War went on providing him 236 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,120 with rich and funny material. 237 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,920 But it was The Goon Show where Spike first revealed his determination 238 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,320 not to take the War too seriously. 239 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,520 'The Terror Of Bexhill-on-Sea, or... 240 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,240 The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler.' 241 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:33,840 The story takes place during the War, 242 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:37,640 but it's not the Germans that are threatening the town's inhabitants. 243 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:41,000 It was a batter pudding. 244 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,200 '..Elderly gentlefolk of Bexhill-on-Sea 245 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,480 still took their evening constitutions. 246 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:50,560 Argh! 247 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:56,120 Oh, Henry! I've been struck down from behind by the...' 248 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:59,760 John might look a little familiar. 249 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,120 He became immersed in Goon Show humour over the years 250 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,720 and transmitted this obsession to his sons. 251 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,160 One was so inspired by what he heard, 252 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,600 he became a comic himself. 253 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,120 Why is it called a deer stalker? You know, you don't... 254 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,520 Anyone stalking a deer in that, the deer would go... (GUFFAWS) 255 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,760 In my search for the source of the genius of Spike Milligan, 256 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:35,000 I'm meeting the comedian Eddie Izzard. 257 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,360 He famously described Spike as the godfather of alternative comedy. 258 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:43,960 What was so special about him? 259 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,680 Without Spike doing surreal, I wouldn't exist. 260 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:48,960 I don't think Python would have existed. 261 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:50,920 We just wouldn't have got anywhere. 262 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:54,440 But where did this talent come from? 263 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:57,680 What does Eddie think? 264 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,360 'Minnie's been hit with another batter pudding.' 265 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,040 'Well, that's nothing new.' 266 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,400 Spike grew up in a colonial outpost, 267 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,080 far away from the influence of the old British music halls. 268 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:11,120 Is that why his material was so fresh and original? 269 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:13,040 'Taxi!' (BAGPIPES DRONE AND FADE) 270 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,520 'Yes, sir? Hooray for rule Britannia, poor ol' Marilyn Monroe, poor ol' Joe!' 271 00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:23,200 'The Bexhill Gas Works, and step on it!' 272 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,320 'Very good, sir, hooray, here we go!' 273 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,280 (BAGPIPES DRONE BACK TO LIFE) 274 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:32,960 'Listeners may be puzzled by a taxi sounding like bagpipes. 275 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:37,320 The truth is, it is all part of the BBC new economy campaign.' 276 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,520 When I read some of this, I just think he got on a roll 277 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,880 and he just went for it and then stopped and went, now what do I do? 278 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,400 Taking you in directions you didn't expect. 279 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,000 That's where the fun comes, doesn't it? Yes. 280 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:51,960 And also adding... 281 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:56,080 Juxtaposing ideas. A batter pudding hurler...and Bexhill-on-Sea. 282 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:00,800 You've got Bexhill-on-Sea where they might have batter puddings but no-one would hurl them. 283 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,200 You wouldn't hurl batter puddings anyway. 284 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,480 There is a... That part of what came from Spike, 285 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:12,560 just juxtaposing ideas that are just stupid until you hit funny is something that really did affect me. 286 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:17,960 For many people, Spike's humour has its roots in the madcap creations 287 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,600 of artists such as Magritte and Man Ray in the 1920s, 288 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:23,560 when surrealism was born. 289 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,720 It makes you stop and think. 290 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,080 And now I'm going back to where Spike first developed 291 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,040 his own brand of comedy. 292 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,440 People like me, brought up in the 1950s, 293 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,760 were often referred to as the Post-War Generation. 294 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,120 But in fact, we were very affected by the War. 295 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:47,920 Places like this, there were bomb sites nearby... 296 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,200 The war seemed just to have passed 297 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,560 and The Goon Show was a release from all that. 298 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,480 And this old pub in the heart of London, 299 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,400 once known as Grafton's after the family that ran it, 300 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,600 was where The Goon Show was born. 301 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,760 The publican, a former army officer, Jimmy Grafton, 302 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:11,600 first introduced the war-weary Goons to each other in the late 1940s. 303 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,120 The members of The Goon Show would meet here in this pub to rehearse 304 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:20,320 and Spike Milligan lived here, right at the top in an attic 305 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,960 for six months, with a monkey. 306 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,840 These days, the pub is a forgotten shrine to Spike and the Goons. 307 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:31,840 But back in the 1950s, 308 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:37,040 Jimmy Grafton had some of the most illustrious clientele in the capital. 309 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,200 And they were all here for one thing. 310 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,560 To see the very first performances of a new group of comics 311 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:46,520 that would become the Goons. 312 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,640 This was the Cavern Club of the comedy world. 313 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,360 And Dave, the current publican is going to show me where it all began 314 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,400 for 30-year-old Spike. 315 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,320 So what went on, on this floor? 316 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,680 This was where they did their rehearsing. 317 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:05,080 They got people from the pub to come and watch them rehearse. 318 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,440 And so it was that these young men, 319 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,000 desperate to move on from the War, 320 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,760 wrote and performed uproarious sketches 321 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,480 to a small, select group of people, hungry for laughter. 322 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,480 Yeah, so that's where the audience are. 323 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,120 And then we've got to come round here... 324 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:26,680 That's right. And this is where they would perform at the back there. 325 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:29,240 Right. So there we are. 326 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,560 It's amazing, isn't it? Yeah. 327 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,640 Just in this little space here, 328 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,960 you've got a bit of history being made. Definitely. 329 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,360 This is the start of The Goon Show... Yeah. 330 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:41,920 And we've got it here. 331 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,840 Along with the beer crates. Yeah. 332 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,840 And now the bit we've really been looking forward to: 333 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,360 Spike's hideaway, up in the attic. 334 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,080 This really is going up to the attic, isn't it? Yes. 335 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,720 This is where the great picture of Spike and the monkey was taken. 336 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,040 By all accounts, the publican's wife was mad. 337 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,120 Animal mad, that is. 338 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:10,360 Well, it's sort of eerie, isn't it? Yes. 339 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:12,960 Gosh. 340 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,520 So Spike would have this bit. Yeah. 341 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,200 This was his section. 342 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,440 This was partitioned off. Yeah. The monkey had this bit. 343 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,200 Spike had the smaller bit. Really? Yes. 344 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,760 But you've got to look after the monkey. 345 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:30,600 And Spike can look after himself. I'm sure that's what they thought. Yeah. 346 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:37,560 I want to get a sense of what it was like in this pub 60 years ago. 347 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,120 James and Sally Grafton, the son and daughter of the landlord, 348 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:44,200 were here from the very beginning. 349 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:49,240 I was sort of seven going on eight. James was six. 350 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,320 So we weren't very old. 351 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:53,440 And where did Spike fit in to all this? 352 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,760 The bar staff I think called him the mad Paddy in the attic. 353 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,080 The mad Paddy in the attic. But he was Uncle Spike to us. 354 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,560 If you remember, it was rationing still, of certain things. 355 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:07,600 Especially sweets. And so... 356 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,280 an extra supply of sweets was always welcome. 357 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,400 And this is one thing Spike did. 358 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:16,200 He would hide them, so that we could find them. 359 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,800 He got through to you partly with sweets, then. 360 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,640 And telling us stories. 361 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,720 And he was very kind. 362 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,920 I think he sort of loses interest in people once they grow up. 363 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,480 The last time I spoke to Spike was in 1988, I think it was. 364 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:33,720 He said, 'I'm not talking to you anymore.' 365 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,040 So I said, 'Why is that?' He said, 'You've grown too tall.' 366 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,680 Yes. And that was it. I never spoke to him again. 367 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,520 He wanted you to be children, didn't he? Yes. 368 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:50,880 I think what's interesting there is we're capturing Spike when he was in his thirties relating to children. 369 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:55,400 And of course, that's what he did at his best throughout his life as a comic. 370 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:57,440 He's trying to create that world 371 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,640 where all sorts of absurd and silly things happen. 372 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:07,520 And that childlike, not childish, world would soon become famous with the Goons, 373 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,560 who exchanged their smoky room above a pub for national radio. 374 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:18,520 The Goon Shows were recorded live on stage in front of an audience in London's Camden Theatre. 375 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,600 It's a nightclub now, but I've always wanted to know 376 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,760 what it was like to actually be in the audience. 377 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,360 TV legend Esther Rantzen used to go regularly. 378 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,080 We used to get there early, obviously, schoolgirls as we were. 379 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,200 Queue up and... 380 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,960 Harry Secombe used to arrive in his Rolls-Royce. 381 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,880 And Peter Sellers used to arrive in his Rolls-Royce. 382 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:49,040 And Spike Milligan, who wrote it, who created it, 383 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,800 and who created some of the best characters of all 384 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,280 arrived on his bicycle because he did not have the income. 385 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:59,080 But you knew as you were going through here that it was going to be fun. 386 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,240 Oh, so exciting! So exciting... 387 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:06,400 It's extraordinary to think that Esther, as a teenager, 388 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,920 long before she became famous, 389 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,480 was queuing up week after week 390 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,280 to see the shows being recorded that I was listening to at home. 391 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:19,320 How much do you think, by being here, 392 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,160 you got the Goon Show that I got, listening to it, 393 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,920 but how much extra did you get by actually seeing it on stage? 394 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,600 It was probably 100 times better. Oh, no! 395 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,800 Sorry! Ruining everything! 396 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,800 Sorry, sorry, sorry. Was it really? 397 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,480 Yeah, yeah. 398 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,440 Gentlemen... 399 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:46,600 This is the Goons recording one of their very first programmes back in 1951. 400 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,640 What's the time now? Two o'clock. 401 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:51,760 Don't worry, boss. I'll ring Jake. 402 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:56,240 As a radio listener, of course, you heard everything but saw nothing. 403 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,920 You didn't know how the sound effects were made. 404 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:00,960 (NEIGHS) 405 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:05,880 But seeing this on stage brought another layer of comedy to the shows. 406 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,600 The sound effects which... 407 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,320 I didn't realise but I was going to have to create sound effects... 408 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,000 myself professionally later when I worked in the radio... 409 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,680 were ground-breaking. 410 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,480 Your favourite sound effect that you had to do? 411 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,960 Oh, a pterodactyl. 412 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,520 I did a pterodactyl. I was a jolly good pterodactyl. 413 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,880 How did you do that? You got an umbrella? 414 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,200 (LAUGHS) Has anyone got an umbrella? 415 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,200 Anyone got an umbrella? 416 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,440 Ever so ta. OK, right... 417 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,080 So, you need an umbrella. Yeah. 418 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:46,640 Can I have a mic, please, a little bit closer? 419 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:48,920 (UMBRELLA REPLICATES FLAPPING WINGS) 420 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,000 I'm going to go away from you. 421 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,920 Then I'm going to go right across. 422 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,240 Swooping low over the prehistoric marshland. 423 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,840 Real prowess. This is just magnificent. 424 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,040 There's a double layer with radio. 425 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,800 One is what you're hearing, which is what the Great British public hears, 426 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,920 but there's also the lunacy of seeing someone flapping about with an umbrella. 427 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,160 If you magnify that a thousand-fold, 428 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,480 that's what was happening on that stage. 429 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,240 You were hearing what the audience was going to hear 430 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,480 but you were seeing the way it was created. 431 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,880 And the best jokes are in-jokes and you were in on it. Absolutely. 432 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,160 And the relationship between the four of them. 433 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,240 Hadn't you better make sure? All right, just a minute. 434 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,160 (BANG) He's dead. 435 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:53,280 With the demands of a brand-new Goon Show to write every week, 436 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,480 Spike needed a base to work from. 437 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:59,760 He formed a cooperative with fellow writers Eric Sykes, 438 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,960 Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. 439 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,920 It was soon described as the Fun Factory. 440 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:11,440 But for Spike, who had to deliver a 30-minute script every Friday, 441 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,400 it was anything but fun. 442 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:20,760 Amongst the team of talented writers was the playwright John Antrobus, 443 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,840 who, when the workload got too much for Spike, 444 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:26,200 co-wrote some of The Goon Shows. 445 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,480 Antrobus got to know him well. 446 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:32,480 What was he like? 447 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:36,400 He was...a genius. 448 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,720 But you see, as a genius, he doesn't have to match up 449 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:47,040 as the perfect, lovable celebrity character, which he wasn't, you know. 450 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,920 Somebody once said about him that he never learned how to be charming. 451 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,560 He should have done more. No, he had no need to be charming. 452 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,600 He was raw. 453 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,880 He was like an undisciplined child, really. 454 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:06,040 He had a love/hate relationship with the audience. 455 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,560 He sort of needed them but he hated that he needed them. 456 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,600 He had a need to make them laugh. 457 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:16,520 And he could make them laugh with sublimely funny, beautiful things. 458 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:21,320 But at the same time, he would make them laugh with crass jokes 459 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,240 and he would say, 'Eff them. It doesn't matter. 460 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,880 You've just got to make them laugh, that's all.' 461 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,440 'A big crowd of people here today.' 462 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,640 'I know. We let them in for the animals to look at, you see.' 463 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,600 (LAUGHTER) 464 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,800 'Trouble is, we have to lock the boa constrictors up 465 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:40,920 so the kids don't get at them, you know.' 466 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,400 'What do you call those little creatures in the penguin pool?' 467 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,280 'Well, I call that one Jim. That one's Terence. 468 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,840 And that's Penny-Lou over there.' 469 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,720 Spike loved animals and children. 470 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:58,960 It was just the adults he had problems with. 471 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,040 He once dreamed up a sketch where a group of out of work actors 472 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,960 were given jobs standing in for the animals in the zoo. 473 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,200 I think that tells you a lot about Spike's feelings towards his fellow man. 474 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,040 Do you think I look realistic? 475 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,320 Yeah, you do actually look completely absurd. 476 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,120 It's a lovely picture. 477 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,240 I think this roll you've got to get right. Penguin roll. 478 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,080 You're very good at that, yeah. Can we move in here? 479 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,720 I think so. I could live here. I could live here better than my home. 480 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:37,640 'It's fallen in the water.' 481 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:39,600 (LAUGHTER) 482 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,440 After the success of The Goon Show on the radio, 483 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:51,120 one of the key questions was whether this wonderful, surreal, crazy humour 484 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,560 could be transferred to the screen, 485 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,520 to film and television. 486 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,160 The director Richard Lester was the first to approach Spike. 487 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,960 He said it won't work. There's no argument. 488 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:10,040 'Television will kill...surrealist comedy,' he said, 489 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,000 'because I can write somebody going down the tube 490 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,000 and they'll come up out of an igloo. 491 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,320 And you can't do that, can you?' 492 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,000 I said, 'Probably not.' Probably not. 493 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,760 And he said, 'No, so go away.' 494 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,000 Nevertheless, Lester didn't give up. 495 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,960 He had an ally in the shape of Peter Sellers, 496 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,400 and together they eventually succeeded in persuading Spike 497 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,920 to join them on a small film project. 498 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,240 Really, all the ideas were Spike's. 499 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,080 He's the driving force. A few of them were mine, but not many. 500 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:52,200 All of us just did it for fun. 501 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,720 And through one way or another, 502 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:58,520 it ended up at the Edinburgh Festival and the San Francisco Festival 503 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,040 and then it had an Academy Award nomination. 504 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,640 And I thought, 'My God, I'm a film director now!' 505 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:09,720 Made for just £70 and featuring Peter Sellers and Spike amongst others, 506 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:14,680 this 11-minute short did what Spike himself thought wasn't possible, 507 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,080 bringing his brand of surrealism to the screen. 508 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:21,680 There's Spike putting up a tent. Yeah. 509 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,560 He's happy in front of the camera, though, isn't he? 510 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,720 Oh, always. Yes, absolutely. 511 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,360 This is one of my favourites... 512 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,520 ..because there's a certain logic in this. 513 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:40,680 (MUSIC PLAYS JERKILY) 514 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,120 Not only was the running, jumping, standing still film 515 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,240 nominated for an Oscar, 516 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,800 but it also caught the eye of an up and coming pop star. 517 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,600 John Lennon was very influenced by Spike. 518 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,680 I think one of the reasons that we got on well 519 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:05,640 and why I was able to do as much with The Beatles as I did 520 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:10,120 was because we shared that love of Spike's work. 521 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:16,360 Lester was chosen to direct The Beatles' first feature film. 522 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:21,640 Released in 1964, A Hard Day's Night was an immediate hit 523 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,240 with the Fab Four's millions of fans. 524 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:31,520 There's no doubt that I put bits into the script of Hard Day's Night 525 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:38,400 to have a surrealist bent to what was a fictionalised documentary. 526 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:44,160 So it's fair to say that what became famous as The Beatles' sense of humour, 527 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:47,840 particularly in America, a lot of that is due to Spike Milligan. 528 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:49,800 I think without a doubt. 529 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:51,920 You can sing. No, we need money first. 530 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:53,960 (LAUGHTER) 531 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,920 Spike's humour injected vigour and freshness 532 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,480 into British culture in the 1960s. 533 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,160 His influence can still be felt now 534 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,640 among comedians young enough to be his grandchildren. 535 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,120 Great. New cereal. 536 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,280 Noel Fielding is a funny man who claims 537 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,680 Spike Milligan is a major influence. 538 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,080 But their characters are completely different. 539 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,280 The only thing that does surprise me about you being keen on him 540 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,440 is that you're much sort of nicer, aren't you? 541 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:27,440 (LAUGHS) I mean, you're... 542 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,680 You're much more charming. Seemingly! 543 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,080 You may dress in black and you may sort of at first glance look sinister 544 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,880 but you're not. You're more... I'm much more... 545 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,080 But you're meant to be nice, aren't you? 546 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,800 I think I try and make friends with the audience. 547 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,680 Noel writes a lot of his own material. 548 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,280 I want to understand what it must have been like for Spike, 549 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,680 working under so much pressure. 550 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,160 Obviously Milligan was writing it which is, for me... 551 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,320 that's the most impressive thing, to be able to write. 552 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,240 And he wrote a lot, didn't he, on his own? Absolutely. 553 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:05,480 He went a bit mad. That's what happens. 554 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,440 Because you start looking for everything to be a joke and every situation. 555 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,400 That's how you force your brain when you're writing, 556 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,880 just looking for these humorous situations or ideas or abstract thoughts. 557 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:18,800 Sometimes you can't turn that off. 558 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,520 Spike struck gold with The Goon Show. 559 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,720 But with endless deadlines, bouts of debilitating depression, 560 00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:32,960 and catastrophic rows with his first wife 561 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,240 and many of the people he was working with, 562 00:34:35,240 --> 00:34:38,120 his private life was often a shambles. 563 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,040 I'm about to meet the one person who held it all together. 564 00:34:47,240 --> 00:34:51,440 Norma Farnes started as Spike's secretary in 1967. 565 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,600 And even now, ten years after his death, 566 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,800 she still runs Spike Milligan Productions. 567 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:03,200 When it comes to everything Spike, Norma is the boss. 568 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:06,920 Thanks a lot. 569 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:12,000 By the time Spike moved here, to Orme Court, Bayswater, in 1962, 570 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,640 The Goon Show had finished and he'd started writing his memoirs and children's books. 571 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,520 Hello, Norma. Hello, John. How nice to see you! 572 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:21,480 How very nice to see you. How are you? 573 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:26,240 Norma's office is a treasure trove of all things Milligan. 574 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:31,000 The old Goon Shows, the hundreds of books, both by him and about him. 575 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:35,040 The personal memorabilia and the photographs. 576 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,920 Friends, colleagues, family. 577 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:43,320 Sitting next to youthful Norma is a key figure in Spike's life. 578 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,440 We've got Spike's mum. 579 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,480 She must have been very proud of Spike. 580 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,560 Yes. You say that slowly. 581 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,760 (LAUGHS) Yes, she was. She must have been. 582 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:56,840 Yes, she was. 583 00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:58,880 They were very, very alike. 584 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,440 Very strong. Very, very strong woman. 585 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,960 The first time I met her I said to Spike... 586 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:08,200 'If you had a vision of a woman that built the British Empire, 587 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,200 that would be your mother.' 588 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:15,000 And I really do believe they had this love/hate relationship with each other. 589 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,720 Well, he seemed to have a love/hate relationship with everybody. 590 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:21,840 (LAUGHS) Yes. You and he had a love/hate relationship. 591 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:23,840 That's right, that's right, but... 592 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:25,840 How much love, how much hate? 593 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:30,280 50/50. Really? Yeah, 50/50. 594 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,920 After the Goons, Spike became less productive, 595 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,120 suffered longer bouts of depression, 596 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,520 and became more difficult to manage. 597 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,640 That was Spike's office. And this is Eric's. 598 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,400 He shared the first floor with Eric Sykes, 599 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,640 and I want to see the famous door 600 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,720 behind which Spike slaved away at his typewriter. 601 00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:53,880 So that's Spike's... That's Spike's office. 602 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,880 And often the door would be closed, wouldn't it? Yes. 603 00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:01,440 But sometimes, when he, A, was having a mini-tantrum, 604 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,760 or B, when the black dog had him, it would be locked. 605 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:13,760 Sometimes he would be locked in there for two days or three days or four days. 606 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,120 This is on the door. N - that's me - Norma. 607 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,120 'I'm not in. I'm very, very ill. 608 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:24,680 Don't let ANYBODY go in my room. 609 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:29,040 D: I've had enough - Jesus had it easy. 610 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:31,480 E: I'm at home.' Yeah. 611 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,720 Some people are going to say, 'You know what? She loved him.' 612 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:38,440 Oh, I did love him. There's no question about it. 613 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,200 If I didn't love him, I wouldn't be here, you know. 614 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,600 I was never IN love with him, because had I been in love with him, 615 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:48,440 he'd have tore me to pieces in the first two or three months and I'd have gone. 616 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,120 I loved him like my father. 617 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,480 Before I go, I'm treated to some home movies. 618 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:02,960 Spike had three wives and four children. 619 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,680 But Norma was the one constant in his life, 620 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:10,200 and she still holds much of his personal archive. 621 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:15,920 That's June. That's Spike's first wife. 622 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,600 She's very, very, very pretty. Yes. 623 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,600 I thought she was very pretty. 624 00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:25,280 Spike's marriage to June, with whom he had three children, 625 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,120 lasted the entirety of The Goon Show years. 626 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,000 But by 1960, they were divorced. 627 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,040 This is his second wedding to Paddy. His second wedding. 628 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,120 Yes, to Paddy. Isn't she lovely? 629 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,080 She was absolutely gorgeous. 630 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:45,000 Spike's actually attractive, isn't he? Very attractive. 631 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,800 I never... You know, a lot of women think he is. I never saw it. 632 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:52,680 So you never fancied him, then? Oh, God, no, no, no. 633 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:58,080 Why did he have to have all these marriages? Cos he's difficult to be married to. 634 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:02,120 I would think impossible. I mean, can you imagine living with Spike Milligan? 635 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,120 It must have been a nightmare. 636 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,960 The cameras are on, he's doing his bit. 637 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,040 He's doing his bit and going underwater. 638 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:14,280 You're not getting paid for it, Spike! Finish it! (LAUGHS) 639 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,920 Almost a decade after he finished writing The Goon Show, 640 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,960 Spike shifted his attention from radio to television. 641 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,520 But he no longer had the field to himself. 642 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:28,880 The Goons fans of the Fifties 643 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:33,040 had become the TV comedians of the Sixties and Seventies. 644 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,480 JOHN CLEESE: Monty Python's Flying Circus! 645 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,360 And the magic word this week is: 646 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,640 a tree fell on her. 647 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:50,600 A tree fell on her. 648 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:56,520 Like me, Michael Palin grew up listening to the Goons. 649 00:39:56,520 --> 00:40:01,040 We've met up to talk about some of Spike Milligan's television work. 650 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:03,480 You ready, dear? I'm ready. 651 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,760 What worried Spike about television 652 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:11,160 was that seeing something, not just imagining it, 653 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:13,400 wouldn't be anything like as funny. 654 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:20,280 But in March 1969, he changed his mind with his comedy sketch show, Q5. 655 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,320 And...they're off. 656 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:24,360 He's coming up the inside lane. 657 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:26,320 (LAUGHTER DROWNS COMMENTARY) 658 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:33,360 I remember Terry Jones and myself watching that and saying there are some wonderful things in this. 659 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:37,360 How much were you consciously writing in the same vein as Spike Milligan? 660 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,160 Well... 661 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,000 It was very similar to what the Goons were writing 662 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,080 and Spike was the writer, of course. 663 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,600 Yeah, there was an edge to Milligan which... 664 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:53,800 I didn't realise at the time. I just thought he was a genius. 665 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,000 But I certainly found when I was writing stuff for Python, 666 00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,080 it didn't take long to write. 667 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:00,920 I just had to click into a kind of... 668 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:04,680 The Goon Show, Spike way of saying 669 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,360 anything that comes out can be funny. 670 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,640 Don't censor yourself, don't stop anything. Let it all... 671 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:14,080 everything come out and rearrange it on the page. 672 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:18,520 I always felt that that was the way Spike approached things. It was very instinctive. 673 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,160 And now for something completely different. It's... 674 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:30,520 Monty Python's Flying Circus! 675 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:36,160 Just six months after Milligan's Q5 was broadcast, 676 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,640 an entirely new programme hit the television screens. 677 00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,480 Well, that was fun, wasn't it? 678 00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:45,600 And they're off! They're off! 679 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:50,560 Monty Python, in a way, is sort of what Spike could have done or should have done? 680 00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:54,320 I think Spike felt that. 681 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:57,560 He did feel there was a bit of plagiarism going on. Really? 682 00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:00,200 Yeah. It was a slightly difficult atmosphere. 683 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:03,160 Spike could be one thing one day - say you're wonderful. 684 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:08,000 'I love this,' and all that. And then, 'All my best jokes. It's me. I did all this ages ago.' 685 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,240 Which was, of course, true, but I think... 686 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,160 ..we were flattering him, in a way. 687 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:20,360 And he said something to me once which I thought was a rather nice comment. 688 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:24,800 I asked him about the Goons and I said, 'What was it like doing those programmes?' 689 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:26,760 He said, 'It was like... 690 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,640 ..it was like one good summer.' 691 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:34,600 It was just a beautiful image. It rather moved me, actually. 692 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:36,680 Just like one good summer. 693 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:40,200 And that was what it was in his life, you know. 694 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:50,040 This is the Elfin Oak in Hyde Park. 695 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:54,560 It's an ancient tree stump, populated with magical characters 696 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:56,520 which delight children. 697 00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:59,840 It caught Spike's eye in the early Sixties, 698 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:02,160 when he championed its restoration. 699 00:43:04,240 --> 00:43:07,080 Norma Farnes still makes frequent visits. 700 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:10,720 I visit here... 701 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,360 26th February every year. 702 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:16,600 Why is that? This is the day he died. 703 00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:21,760 I came a few months ago and it was pouring down 704 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:23,720 and there was nobody around. 705 00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:27,600 And so I started to talk to him. 706 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,880 Said, 'Say hello to Pete and Harry. I hope you're all right. 707 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:32,840 Hope you're behaving yourself.' 708 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,520 And he used to adore seeing the children playing round here. Yes. 709 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:43,240 And children looking and laughing and throwing in pennies and things. 710 00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:45,200 He got joy from that. 711 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:50,240 I think he achieved that childlike quality all his life. 712 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,200 I've decided to end this film where I started: 713 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,640 in my childhood home, here in the village of Great Tew. 714 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:03,360 I've come back to my old primary school 715 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:06,480 to see if today's children find The Goon Show 716 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,080 as funny as I did 60 years ago. 717 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,640 Probably never heard of The Goon Show have you? 718 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,520 ALL: No. Never heard of The Goon Show, right. 719 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:17,680 Have you ever listened to plays on the radio? 720 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:19,760 (MORE NO THAN YES REPLIES) 721 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,720 Right, OK. Have you ever heard of someone called Spike Milligan? 722 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:27,360 Yes. You have heard of Spike Milligan. 723 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,360 The poems are quite funny. Yes, OK. 724 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,440 Right, OK, off we go. 725 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:34,960 HARRY: Act I is the highly esteemed Goon Show! 726 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,200 (FANFARE) 727 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,440 Now, Mr Greenslade, put down that Radio Times, 728 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:44,320 cast off that bamboo kilt and give the listeners the old posh chat there. 729 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:49,360 PETER: Oooooh, 'twas the month of February in 1955, 730 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:54,760 when the valuable floating pier at Westminster suddenly took a dive. 731 00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:58,280 (BUBBLING AND DISASTER MUSIC) 732 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:03,600 Good morning. Good morning, sir. 733 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,720 Good morning, buddy. 734 00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:08,760 So you think you can raise the pier, eh? 735 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:15,720 Oh yes, yes! We can do it! We've done it many times! 736 00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:19,560 Splendid. Now, what is your profession? 737 00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:21,480 Ooooh! 738 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:23,960 We're oyster sexers. 739 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:28,280 Oyster sexers? Yes. 740 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:31,200 I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in oyster sexing. 741 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:33,400 Ah, but you're not an oyster, are you? 742 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,120 Mr Crun... 743 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,760 Well, that DOES seem to have worked! 744 00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:45,760 After some doubts, every child in the class was laughing. 745 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:49,800 Not bad! Good old Spike! 746 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:56,360 So after my voyage around the moon with Spike Milligan's fan club, 747 00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:58,520 of all shapes and sizes, 748 00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:00,400 what's my conclusion? 749 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:05,080 It's simply that, directly or indirectly, he's affected us all. 750 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:08,080 Or as he might put it - infected us all. 751 00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:11,600 Spike lives! 752 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:13,560 SPIKE: Thank you, good night! 753 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:17,840 Hallelujah! 754 00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:23,600 That was The Goon Show. A recorded programme 755 00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:26,880 featuring Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, 756 00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:29,480 with the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray. 757 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:47,360 itfc subtitles