Spike Milligan

He married June Marlow in 1952 and divorced her in 1960. They had three children.

He married again in 1962. His second wife Patricia died from cancer in 1978. Their daughter Jane Milligan is an actress.

In spite of being married, he had liaisons with other women which resulted in the birth of two children out of wedlock.

Milligan was born in British India to an Irish father and English mother. His father Leo Alphonso Milligan served in the British Indian Army.

He attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Poona, and later went to St. Paul’s Christian Brothers, Rangoon.

Later on he shifted to the U.K. where he spent the most of his life.

He had an inherent interest in music and comedy, and performed as a musician during the late 1930s and early 1940s. He had to enlist in the army to fight in the war with Nazi Germany, which soon took the form of World War II.

Even while serving in the military, he continued performing comedy sketches to entertain the soldiers, and played guitar for a comedy group called The Bill Hall Trio.

While serving as a Gunner during the war in North Africa, he met Harry Secombe with whom he would collaborate later on for his shows.

He was badly wounded in the Battle of Monte Cassino and was hospitalized for a long period. After being demobilized from the army, he became a fulltime entertainer.

He returned to England and tried to make a living performing musical comedy acts. He also attempted to get into the world of radio. He got his first break when he was appointed as a writer on comedian Derek Roy’s show.

The iconic radio program ‘The Goon Show’ which made him an international comedian was his biggest career achievement. The show was so tremendously popular that many television shows, plays, and films were based on it.

He narrated the children’s animated television series, ‘Wolves Witches and Giants’ which consisted of comic adaptations of classic fairy tales featuring villains like wolves, witches and giants. The show debuted in 1995 and was highly successful.