Spike Milligan: Man Of Letters

William Davis Esq.
Punch Magazine
 
8 October 1974
 
Dear Bill
 
I am sending you another photograph. The one you keep publishing makes me feel I am suffering from a severed head.
 
Love, light and peace,
Spike Milligan
 
Here are the funniest, rudest and most revealing letters – most of which have never been seen before – from one of the greatest comics of the twentieth century to some of its most famous politicians, actors, celebrities and rock stars (as well as a host of unlikely individuals) on some surprising subjects:

• rounded teabags (‘what did you do with the corners?’)
• backless hospital gowns (‘beyond my comprehension’) 
• heartfelt apologies (‘pardon me for being alive’) 
• and the imbalance of male and female ducks in London’s parks

Here, then, is the real Spike Milligan: obsessive, rude, generous and relentlessly witty.