23 January 2014

Poetry Thursday - String by Spike Milligan

(via)
String

String is a 
Very important thing
Rope is thicker
But string is quicker.



That enigmatic little poem isn't on Spike Milligan's website, but you can find lots of others there - http://www.spikemilligan.co.uk/spike-milligan-poems.php - including "A Silly Poem", which may well make you smile.

Spike (Terence Alan) Milligan died in 2002 and is much missed. He performed as a jazz musician, served in the Royal Artillery in WW2 (he was born in 1918) and from 1951 to 1972 was part of the Goon Show - some very British humour there, indeed you could say it shaped the landscape of British comedy. He also appeared on tv and wrote books.
A statue of him sitting on a bench, cast in bronze, is to be erected in Finchley in the grounds of Avenue House in East End Road; it is expected to be in place by 16 April 2014, Spike's 96th birthday. 
Model of the memorial statue (via)

3 comments:

Gillian Cooper said...

I wish I 'got' Spike Milligan more. Richard and my oldest find him hysterical, but I laugh at only some of his humour. Can't get it all I suppose

Talia Elizabeth said...

In a lot of what he wrote, I suspect he was not really trying to be funny. He was trying to get down on paper and out of his heads some of the darkest thoughts it is possible to have. He was a sensitive artist who was forced to look at Mankind at its most violently inhuman and disgusting level.
He wrote to cope.

Unknown said...

I love Spike Milligan's spark. I'll never forget when he was invited to the Muppets show, in those days they drove their celebrity guests crazy but when Spike was on their show, he drove the Muppets crazy he he
Ta