I've read the books countless times and now listen to the audiobooks every year. He was almost exactly the same age as my grandad and even though my grandad didn't talk much about the serious side of the war, his funny stories where hilarious and the humor so similar of the barracks humour Spike describes in his books. It was only after his death we found out about some of the horrors he'd witnessed. I don't know how you go about rating these things but I've never read a better and more honest account than Spikes and I'm so glad to see it being discussed with the appreciation it deserves.
I read the 1st 3 books about 50 years ago and still have chuckles remembering bits of them (e.g the tent). Thanks to you, I have now spent a fortune buying the whole set!
Brilliant show as always, thank you so much to everyone involved. Spike's books were my introduction to first person personal accounts of conflict and helped me recognise that the "soldier's eye level" experience was what really interested me, without even realising that's what Spike was writing about. I'd read them at first for the humour, it was only as a grew older and became better acquainted with other personal accounts, was able to speak to veterans about their own experiences, that I came to really appreciate the honesty and validity of what he'd written, it helped me understand much more of what those experiences actually were, and I can see from the discussion that I'm far from being the only one who's been influenced and informed by his writing. That he could do that with an eloquence and humour that makes his books so engaging really is testament to him as an author and human being.
I love spike in lots of ways but his war books entertained me in its good times and the bad times, you have to read the books several times to understand the passion and horrors they all went through, best war books I have ever read.
Marvellous. All contributors were knowledgeable and fascinating in equal measure. It all brought fresh light and insight into what was an important influence on me in my formative years. I must return to the books and read them with greater wisdom (I hope).
Thank you for posting this on FaceBook. I'm currently preparing December issue of the Goon Show News, magazine of The Goon Show Preservation Society. I shall write about this and share the link if I may - excellent. Well done and thank you.
@@WW2TV Wow, phew and blimey! Just finished watching it. What an excellent hour spent. Well done for that. Four excellent contributors plus yourself of course. I was wondering about Stewart Lee's involvement - is he into military history? Or are there other reasons that he was there - I certainly enjoyed what he had to say. And chuckled at full volume at the very end when he and Jane instantly knew what to do with 'What are we going to do now'! Excellent. I would love any 'behind the scenes' comments please - what any of them had to say, how they were invited, why they were chosen etc. That would be most welcome. Thank you Paul. I'm going to skim through it again now to try a grab a screen shot to use as a picture. Thanks again.
@@peterepetere1234 Well I wanted a comedian's opinion about his writing and I knew Stewart Lee was a fan because he had tried to interview Spike in the 90s. The idea on my shows it to bring people in from different fields to provoke a good healthy discussion. Email me at paul@ddayhistorian.com
I also haven’t read AHMPIHD since I was a teenager - just reordered it. Spike reads the audible version himself and my jaw is sore laughing from the sample. Squaddie humor like only a squaddie can do it. As to Spike, it sounds like he was both very imaginative and very empathetic, both attributes that are said to play a large role in PTSD -
Best account ever! I would also add, Tolstoy’s Sebastopol Sketches are the cousin of Milligan’s tomes. Have read and reread these books for over 40 years. For Stewart Lee “Here lies the body of Havelock the dog, Shot in the head and he dropped like a log, He was a very nice dog.”
Brilliant discussion! Read some of them as a Canadian teen and Goon Show fan 30 years ago and with a renewed WW2 interest of mine it's clearly time to re-read Spike's books.
Fantastic show thank you! I too first read Spikes books as a young teenager. I well remember looking forward to the next volume and re-reading the others before I got stuck into the latest. I always thought that some of the things he wrote were so off the wall that they just must have been true! Their officer 'shooing' away some German paras who want to surrender to them for instance! A great broadcast.
well here goes. been building myself up to mention ptsd. spike's novels and his other books are everyones favourite. mine too. most of all i was inspired by spikes poetry and prose. has helped me in my life and continues to this day. thank you spike milligan. 'i told you i was ill !' is written on his gravestone in gaelic.
I really enjoyed this on so many different levels. I have loved Spike for many years, l still listen to The Goons and laugh like it was the first time l heard them. Combine that with my interest in WII and it was brilliant
Can’t remember how many times I’ve read his war memoirs, just going through them all again on audio book. My stepson has just discovered Spike as well.
I try to make useful comments. This time I can only give you my deepest accolades for the experience of celebrating a truly great artist with some of the most informed and likable people possible including his daughter. Honestly I feel privileged and kind of embarrassed to need to say this. Thank you so much as ever
Stewart Lee on sound. SM recalled the sound of a train going over a girder bridge in India during the night when he was a kid. A slow rhythmic "Guudoooooongk Guudooooooognk, Guudoooooongk" . If you've done train journeys in India it's exactly how he describes it.
It was Spike’s books that ignited my interest in history. I think the biggest attraction was that they depicted “life” rather than “History”. Too much of history military history is written by the officers and not by other ranks. Blackadder, not Baldrick will write the war diaries that much researchers depend upon. I had 2 great uncles serve in the Great War and have tried to follow their service. One, who served in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and survived, I can find quite a bit because though he started as an private soldier, he ended the war as a captain. In our conversations when I was young he credits being an officer with his survival because of the better medical care. During convalescence, he learned to play bridge and billiards. The other, was a private with the 46th Battalion CEF and died of wounds a few weeks after Vimy Ridge. I have his service records, including medical, but as a private, they are very limited. Just name of clearing station and hospital but dates are not included. The battalion diaries don’t list him or anyone other than officers by name. Spike was one of the men and knew their lives better than most which is reflected in his writings and his humour. Wonderful show, thanks to all. I’ll have to keep an eye out for Spike’s books, I’ve not read them in too many years.
Can't believe his wife got rid of his diarys 😢 If you read the bit about barracks humour in the first book I can assure you that nothing had changed, at least not back in '98 when I joined
Then don't, but what does "a hater" mean anyway? But he is my favourite comedian of all time, and I was thrilled to have him as a guest. Plus in this video his reverence and affection for Spike Milligan shines thorough
I had the immense privilege and pleasure of meeting all 3 Goons, in Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Seccombe in Durban, South Africa in 1969, when I was 14, and their sane insanity, shaped the way I view " humour", versus the slapstick foul mouthed comics of today. They are all comedy geniuses in their own right, and together are a complete and utter RIOT!!
I've read the books countless times and now listen to the audiobooks every year.
He was almost exactly the same age as my grandad and even though my grandad didn't talk much about the serious side of the war, his funny stories where hilarious and the humor so similar of the barracks humour Spike describes in his books.
It was only after his death we found out about some of the horrors he'd witnessed.
I don't know how you go about rating these things but I've never read a better and more honest account than Spikes and I'm so glad to see it being discussed with the appreciation it deserves.
I read the 1st 3 books about 50 years ago and still have chuckles remembering bits of them (e.g the tent). Thanks to you, I have now spent a fortune buying the whole set!
Spike is responsible for my Silliness Today. Thanks Spike XXX
'What are we going to do now?'.....
Brilliant show as always, thank you so much to everyone involved. Spike's books were my introduction to first person personal accounts of conflict and helped me recognise that the "soldier's eye level" experience was what really interested me, without even realising that's what Spike was writing about. I'd read them at first for the humour, it was only as a grew older and became better acquainted with other personal accounts, was able to speak to veterans about their own experiences, that I came to really appreciate the honesty and validity of what he'd written, it helped me understand much more of what those experiences actually were, and I can see from the discussion that I'm far from being the only one who's been influenced and informed by his writing. That he could do that with an eloquence and humour that makes his books so engaging really is testament to him as an author and human being.
Thanks Jon. I'm still buzzing about the discussion
I love spike in lots of ways but his war books entertained me in its good times and the bad times, you have to read the books several times to understand the passion and horrors they all went through, best war books I have ever read.
Marvellous. All contributors were knowledgeable and fascinating in equal measure. It all brought fresh light and insight into what was an important influence on me in my formative years. I must return to the books and read them with greater wisdom (I hope).
You are welcome Philip
Thank you for posting this on FaceBook. I'm currently preparing December issue of the Goon Show News, magazine of The Goon Show Preservation Society. I shall write about this and share the link if I may - excellent. Well done and thank you.
By all means publish the link and if you need any more information please email me
@@WW2TV Wow, phew and blimey! Just finished watching it. What an excellent hour spent. Well done for that. Four excellent contributors plus yourself of course. I was wondering about Stewart Lee's involvement - is he into military history? Or are there other reasons that he was there - I certainly enjoyed what he had to say. And chuckled at full volume at the very end when he and Jane instantly knew what to do with 'What are we going to do now'! Excellent. I would love any 'behind the scenes' comments please - what any of them had to say, how they were invited, why they were chosen etc. That would be most welcome. Thank you Paul. I'm going to skim through it again now to try a grab a screen shot to use as a picture. Thanks again.
@@peterepetere1234 Well I wanted a comedian's opinion about his writing and I knew Stewart Lee was a fan because he had tried to interview Spike in the 90s. The idea on my shows it to bring people in from different fields to provoke a good healthy discussion. Email me at paul@ddayhistorian.com
He writes with great compassion.
I also haven’t read AHMPIHD since I was a teenager - just reordered it. Spike reads the audible version himself and my jaw is sore laughing
from the sample. Squaddie humor like only a squaddie can do it. As to Spike, it sounds like he was both very imaginative and very empathetic, both attributes that are said to play a large role in PTSD -
Best account ever! I would also add, Tolstoy’s Sebastopol Sketches are the cousin of Milligan’s tomes. Have read and reread these books for over 40 years.
For Stewart Lee
“Here lies the body of Havelock the dog,
Shot in the head and he dropped like a log,
He was a very nice dog.”
Thanks for the nice comments. Jane was really pleased her fathers work is so respected Mt military historians
@@WW2TV Love the man. His book of letters and family history still entertain me!
Thank you Paul really enjoyed this 😀.
Love the fact that Jane has a poster on the wall for 'rhubarb, rhubarb'.
Spike and Eric are having a laugh in heaven!
That alone would make Heaven a desirable place to be!
Brilliant discussion! Read some of them as a Canadian teen and Goon Show fan 30 years ago and with a renewed WW2 interest of mine it's clearly time to re-read Spike's books.
Fantastic show thank you! I too first read Spikes books as a young teenager. I well remember looking forward to the next volume and re-reading the others before I got stuck into the latest. I always thought that some of the things he wrote were so off the wall that they just must have been true! Their officer 'shooing' away some German paras who want to surrender to them for instance! A great broadcast.
well here goes. been building myself up to mention ptsd. spike's novels and his other books are everyones favourite. mine too. most of all i was inspired by spikes poetry and prose. has helped me in my life and continues to this day.
thank you spike milligan.
'i told you i was ill !' is written on his gravestone in gaelic.
Absolutely brilliant show,great stuff about a great comedian, author and one of that Greatest Generation to whom we owe so much.
An outstanding show. I really enjoyed learning about Spike and his war time service.
I really enjoyed this on so many different levels. I have loved Spike for many years, l still listen to The Goons and laugh like it was the first time l heard them. Combine that with my interest in WII and it was brilliant
This is wonderful. Thank you so much for it.
Especially all the stuff about his sensitivity to sound. It's fascinating.
Superb, great insight into a great man
Can’t remember how many times I’ve read his war memoirs, just going through them all again on audio book. My stepson has just discovered Spike as well.
Yep, they never get any less funny or poignant
I try to make useful comments. This time I can only give you my deepest accolades for the experience of celebrating a truly great artist with some of the most informed and likable people possible including his daughter. Honestly I feel privileged and kind of embarrassed to need to say this. Thank you so much as ever
Thanks for that. It is a show I remember very fondly
Stewart Lee on sound. SM recalled the sound of a train going over a girder bridge in India during the night when he was a kid. A slow rhythmic "Guudoooooongk Guudooooooognk, Guudoooooongk" . If you've done train journeys in India it's exactly how he describes it.
It was Spike’s books that ignited my interest in history. I think the biggest attraction was that they depicted “life” rather than “History”. Too much of history military history is written by the officers and not by other ranks. Blackadder, not Baldrick will write the war diaries that much researchers depend upon.
I had 2 great uncles serve in the Great War and have tried to follow their service.
One, who served in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and survived, I can find quite a bit because though he started as an private soldier, he ended the war as a captain. In our conversations when I was young he credits being an officer with his survival because of the better medical care. During convalescence, he learned to play bridge and billiards.
The other, was a private with the 46th Battalion CEF and died of wounds a few weeks after Vimy Ridge. I have his service records, including medical, but as a private, they are very limited. Just name of clearing station and hospital but dates are not included. The battalion diaries don’t list him or anyone other than officers by name.
Spike was one of the men and knew their lives better than most which is reflected in his writings and his humour.
Wonderful show, thanks to all. I’ll have to keep an eye out for Spike’s books, I’ve not read them in too many years.
My part in his downfall is the only book that has made me cry laughing
Can't believe his wife got rid of his diarys 😢
If you read the bit about barracks humour in the first book I can assure you that nothing had changed, at least not back in '98 when I joined
26th July 2022. 👍🏾
Did Jumbo Jenkins ever find out about the goat shit rissoles?.
Th only thing I know that is as good from the British soldier's point of view is George MacDonald Fraser's "Quartered Safe Out Here".
stewart lee is a hater i cant watch him
Then don't, but what does "a hater" mean anyway? But he is my favourite comedian of all time, and I was thrilled to have him as a guest. Plus in this video his reverence and affection for Spike Milligan shines thorough
I had the immense privilege and pleasure of meeting all 3 Goons, in Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Seccombe in Durban, South Africa in 1969, when I was 14, and their sane insanity, shaped the way I view " humour", versus the slapstick foul mouthed comics of today. They are all comedy geniuses in their own right, and together are a complete and utter RIOT!!