Spike Milligan
Comedian
Comedian, writer, and poet who, along with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine, popularized The Goon Show, an innovative comedy radio show. He was also a prolific writer who wrote many books including a seven-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War.
He was a jazz vocalist and trumpeter prior to fighting in Nazi Germany during World War II.
He provided a voice for ITV's children's animated series, Wolves, Witches and Giants, from 1995 until 1998.
He was deemed stateless by the British government, after which he claimed Irish citizenship because his father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, MSM, RA, was Irish. He married three times and had six children.
His surreal sketch show, Q5, served as an inspiration for Monty Python's Flying Circus, of which John Cleese was one of the stars.