![]() ![]() ![]() Milligan found himself classed as stateless, and took Irish citizenship, although he continued to live in England). With the establishment of the Irish Republic the British government rescinded the British passports given to children of Irish-born British citizens. Although the family returned to England in 1933 (after a brief spell in Burma), Spike retained the sensibility of an outsider, an iconoclast and a rebel. The legacy of British colonialism on Milligan should not be underestimated. As an Irishman Spike’s father, a captain in the Royal Artillery, was himself a colonial subject (all of Ireland being then under British rule). ![]() His first 16 years were spent under the waning days of British colonial rule in India. Terence Alan (‘Spike’) Milligan was born of an Irish father and English mother in India in 1918. Though virtually unknown across the Atlantic, contemporary performers as varied as Eddie Izzard and Robin Williams have acknowledged that his legacy not only influenced them, but also inspired their own development. His radio scripts for The Goon Show, his television series Q, his novels and war memoirs have been cited as an influence by practically every significant innovator in comedy over the last four decades. Spike Milligan, who died February 27 aged 83, was the single most important figure of post-war British comedy. ![]()
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