Description

Bonhams Auction Catalogue : Entertainment Memorabilia including The Private World of Spike Milligan 25 Nov 2008. Soft cover, 111 pp. In good+ condition. Glossy pictorial paper covers have light bumping and creasing to edges and corners and light overall scuffing. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. NOT Ex-Library. NO remainder marks. Includes 545 lots covering a number of contemporary as well as vintage props and wardrobe, posters, one sheets and music memorabilia. The first 100 lots are from "The Private World of Spike Milligan". Spike Milligan, KBE (1918 - 2002), was a noted novelist, playwright, poet, jazz musician and eco-warrior. However, he is best remembered as one of the creators, principal writer and performing member of the ground-breaking and iconic 1950s', BBC radio programme "The Go Show". Spike is fondly remembered by a whole generation of radio listeners, including his friend HRH The Prince of Wales, as being one of the funniest personalities of the post-war period. He is considered by many to be the father of modern British comedy and inspired a host of writers and performers, such as the team who went on to produce the legendary BBC TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus". The sale includes many of Spike's original manuscripts, reflecting his large output of poetry, prose and plays. The archive includes approximately sixty of Spike's tape recordings of The Goor Shows. The auction also features a broad selection of personal photographs from his early years in Rangoon, where his father was serving in the Indian Army, through to Spike's own time in the Royal Artillery during the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II. In addition there a Broadwood grand piano, various pieces of domestic furniture and a few paintings from Spike': family homes, "Monkenhurst" in Barnet and "Carpenters" near Rye. . . This auction will give the large numbers of Goons fans, and all those who appreciated his unique acting and writing skills, an opportunity to acquire a momento of one of the greatest comedians of the second half of the 20th century.