As Milligan himself states in the introduction, many terrible things happened in the war, but humour helped him cope. Sorry, your eyesight isn’t up to what we need for a pilot; however, we have a number of vacancies for rear gunners. From the bizarre officer's dances Spike's band played at to the crazy antics they got up to when learning to work the radios--he was a radio operator--it's funny in a slightly crazed way. Milligan notes that until 1940 they were entertaining nightly, which he later saw as his first steps into show business. Milligan, Edgington and others start to dress like the characters, fashioning clubs and running into the woods shouting gibberish.

This is an utterly surreal, joyous and irreverent look at Spike Milligan’s time as a young soldier in WWII. We were issued with an air-mail letter, in which we were allowed to say we'd arrived safe and sound. And while at times I enjoyed that style, and had to laugh because of what I read, at other points it came across a little forces. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Ultimately, however, Milligan published seven volumes covering his war service, his first nervous breakdown and reallocation to rear-echelon duties, his demob and early years trying to break into the entertainment industry.

The film is about Spike being drafted into the army at the beginning of WWII and covered his basic training. This book has laugh out loud lines on every page, and I would guess all the other volumes will have too. But along the way Spike and his friends get involved in many amusing - and some not-so amusing - scrapes. In this, the first of Spike Milligan's uproarious recollections of life in the army, our hero takes us from the outbreak of war in 1939 ('it must have been something we said'), through his attempts to avoid enlistment ('time for my appendicitis, I thought') and his gunner training in Bexhill ('There was one drawback.

It must be born in mind that the language and atitudes were those of the common squadie at that time and do not represent those of this society now. Since my copy of Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is on Kindle and to get it out of the way there are some nice drawings throughout the book and they do not show well on a Kindle Viewer. A sergeant-major lights a pipe and drops the match while using it, causing an explosion and second degree burns on the bum. He was of Irish descent, but spent most of his childhood in India and lived most of his later life in England, moving to Australia after retirement.Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, published in 1971, is the first volume of Spike Milligan's war memoirs. It starts with Milligan joining his regiment (56th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery) late and immediately being singled out as a troublemaker.

It is while playing jazz that he meets his lifelong friend, self-taught pianist Harry Edgington, a man "with moral scruples that would have pleased Jesus". My Dad was a massive fan and yet I can't believe I've never had Spike Milligan in my own life before now. While there he was given the usual punitive tasks such as shovelling coke into a single pile in pouring rain, but his guards also appreciated his artistic ability, and he was asked to draw Vargas girls for them to hang on the wall. Both begin with an England grossly unprepared for war and depending on outmoded traditions and building a tradition for muddling through. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a 1973 British comedy film adaptation of the first volume of Spike Milligan's autobiography.The film Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1972) was produced by Gregory Smith and Norman Cohen, and directed by Norman Cohen.

I really enjoyed this book from the vivid descriptions of war practices to the humorous practical jokes, talkbacks and commentary. Luckily I was in the man cave whilst my other half slept like Tutankhamun's long-dehydrated corpse in the next room.I love it, cannot wait to read more, he certainly has a talent for painting a vivid and often funny picture with his words. I am amazed it took me so long to get around to reading Spike Milligan’s war memoirs, but I am truly glad that there are many more books to read. Milligan refers to his first commanding officer as "Leather Suitcase" for the numerous leather patches on his uniform. This book takes us from the outbreak of war through to the beginning of 1943 when Milligan arrives in Algiers.