Terence Alan Milligan, KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was a British-Irish writer, artist, musician, humanitarian, comedian and poet. He played the piano, trumpet, saxophone, and guitar. While producing a prodigous number of books, he remains most famous as the creator, principal writer and performing member of The Goon Show.

Quotes

• For ten years Caesar ruled with an iron hand. Then with a wooden foot, and finally with a piece of string.
  • The Goon Show, Season 7, Episode 25: "The Histories of Pliny the Elder" (28 March 1957)

• Are you going to come along quietly, or am I going to have to use ear plugs?
  • The Goon Show, Season 9, Episode 12: "The Call of the West" (January 20, 1959)
  • Alternative: "Are you going to come along quietly, or do you want musical accompaniment?"

• Contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion.
  • The Last Goon Show of All (5 October 1972)

• Policemen are numbered in case they get lost.
  • The Last Goon Show of All (5 October 1972)

• A lot of learning can
  be a little thing.
  • England Home and Beauty for Sale, Small Dreams of a Scorpion: Poems (1972)

• I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.
  • Spike Milligan with Jeremy Taylor Live at Cambridge University. Recorded at Cambridge University on December 2, 1973, this was previously released as a double LP, and later re-issued as a 2 CD set. Milligan used variations on the Shakespear line throughout his later life.

• If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it.
  • Rommel? Gunner Who? A Confrontation in the Desert. Penguin Books Ltd. 1989-12-01. ISBN 978-0140041071. 

• On the Ning Nang Nong
  When the cows go bong!
  • Poem On the Ning Nang Nong.

• God made night
  But
  Man made darkness.
  • Poem God Made Night, Small Dreams of a Scorpion: Poems (1972)

• Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite.
  • I told you I was ill.
    • His epitaph

External links