Monty

Monty: His Part in My Victory is volume three of Spike Milligan''s outrageous, hilarious, legendary War Memoirs.

''It''s all over, Von Arnheim has surrendered and he''s very angry.''''This could mean war...''

The third volume of Spike Milligan''s laugh-a-line account of life as a gunner in World War Two resumes on the eve of victory in North Africa. Now Britain''s looniest war hero must combat some of the direst threats a soldier has ever faced - boredom (''Christ, I just thought of Catford''), a cold (''In this weather?'' ''Yed.''), moving camp (''It''s a sort of Brighton with camels''), relaxing on the beach (''Life was golden, and we were the assayers''), moving camp again (''We''re already somewhere else''), a visit to Carthage (''It''s terrible, it''s like Catford'') and a perilous encounter with the gloriously endowed Mademoiselle Villion (''"Help! massage," I said weakly''). Against the odds, they survive and are sent at last to Italy to be killed...

''Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar'' Sunday Times

''Milligan is the Great God to all of us'' John Cleese

''The Godfather of Alternative Comedy'' Eddie Izzard

''That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man'' Stephen Fry

Spike Milligan was one of the greatest and most influential comedians of the twentieth century. Born in India in 1918, he served in the Royal Artillery during WWII in North Africa and Italy. At the end of the war, he forged a career as a jazz musician, sketch-show writer and performer, before joining forces with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe to form the legendary Goon Show. Until his death in 2002, he had success as on stage and screen and as the author of over eighty books of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays, cartoons and children''s stories.