Many of you who in your late twenties or early thirties will remember as a child curling up early Sunday morning to listen to Spike Milligan’s “Bad Jelly the Witch” on the radio. I was one of those children and I clearly remember that it didn't matter how many times I heard that story - I would never get tired of it. Once it became available in book form, with its comical drawings to accompany the even more nonsensical story, I was hooked. Terence Alan “Spike” Milligan had a lot to answer for in sparking my imagination back then, however it is more interesting to note that I was not familiar with any of his other literary works of which there are considerable; until now. At the time of Spike's death in February this year, I spoke with many of my British friends and colleagues to see if he’d had any impact on their lives. Surprisingly, none of them were familiar with the 'Bad Jelly' phenomenon, and during my travels I have found that generally only people native to or resident in New Zealand twenty five years ago are familiar with this wonderful children's book. I read with interest the many tributes to Spike following his death, and it was interesting to note just how prolific in the arts medium he really had been. Amazon.co.uk alone has 291 references to Spike’s life and work spanning a career which had, by all accounts, only begun at the age of thirty three. Apart from his diverse writing works, from war diaries to nonsense poems, he appeared in over 60 film and television productions notably the “Q” series, “Gormanghast” and televised versions of the infamous Goon Show with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine. The Goon Show being the product that bought Spike the notoriety and undisputed title of King of surreal comedy. Apart from his hats of writer, performer and comedian, he was a huge jazz aficionado and accomplished musician having composed the title music for the “Q” series which ran from 1969 to 1980. Outside of the arts, and relatively unknown to the public, Spike did a lot of work with female prisoners and was involved with various penal reforms. As a self confessed manic depressive, which went largely untreated until lithium became available in the late 80’s, he patronised the Manic Depressive Society and was also a vigorous campaigner for Greenpeace and animal rights groups. Throughout his life he was pen pal to Robert Graves (author of “I Claudius”) a relationship which mirrored that of the relationship forged between Groucho Marx and T.S Eliot; also great thinkers and writers who were admirers of surreal comedy. He forged other artistic relationships, firstly taking on Terry Nation as a fledgling writer who couldn’t get hired, but who would later go on to create the Daleks and “Blake 7”. He also had a fortuitous collaboration with Richard Lester (“A Hard Day’s Night”) which produced “The Bed Sitting Room” and “Running Jumping & Standing Still Film”. Spike was notoriously anti politically correct and it was said that the BBC had blacklisted him after an appearance in the 70’s on “Chips & Curry” with his face blacked up to portray an Asian. Even though he once famously called Prince Charles (a huge Spike fan) a ‘grovelling bastard’ on live television, Queen Elizabeth II later awarded him an Honorary Knighthood of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours List. Honorary only as he was an Irish citizen and due to archaic laws could not be known as Sir Spike, a title I’m quite sure would have appealed to his sense of humour. I was fortunate to get a ticket to a recent thanksgiving memorial for Spike at St Martin in the Fields church, central London and although the occasion was to be sombre, I was pleased that I would be hearing testimonies to his brilliance from those who knew him best.

The ceremony took place on an uncharacteristically sunny Monday morning for London and I couldn’t help but think that Spike, who once said “I don’t mind dying I just don’t want to be there’, would have been impressed at the crowd who had gathered to honour his life's work. Amongst the 700 strong congregation were comic and performing luminaries such as Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Peter O'Toole and Eddie Izzard who paid tribute to Spike by reading some of his poems coupled with selected religious verse to great reception and much laughter. Other attendees included a representative for Prince Charles, Barry Humphries and a former Labour MP. Eric Sykes, who collaborated with Milligan for many years, gave one of the most endearing tributes. Anecdotes aside, Eric said they 'were very close' and added 'it was a very small office'. Although Spike spent a great amount of time in Australia due to his brother and parents emigrating there in the early 70’s, I am unsure as to whether Spike ever visited New Zealand. A shame if that’s true as he would have got to meet a lot of people who, like myself, would have said their childhood would have been incomplete without him. Sadly I never got to meet the man who will forever remain in my memory as the author of the best children's story EVER but I’ll take comfort in the thought that wherever he is its bound to be somewhere near ‘bare bottom land’.