William McGonagall, the truth at last: Shock horror-a fantasia

by Spike Milligan

A riotous pastiche biography. [There was in fact a real William McGonagall, the Scottish notoriously bad, bad poet. 1825 Mar - 1902 Sep 29 ]

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Comedy

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, known as Spike, was a comedian, writer and musician. He was of Irish descent, but spent most of his childhood in India and lived most of his later life in England, moving to Australia after retirement. He is famous for his work in The Goon Show, children's poetry and a series of comical autobiographical novels about his experiences serving in the British Army in WWII. Spike Milligan suffered from bipolar disorder, which led to depression and frequent breakdowns, but he will be remembered as a comic genius. His tombstone reads 'I told you I was ill' in Gaelic.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strap-line: Shock Horror - a fantasia

Illustrated by ANYBODY and PETER SELLERS

Opening: To the devotee, William McGonagall died in Edinburgh on 29th September 1902. The reaction to this in South Africa was the outbreak of the Boer War which is borne out by the document from Fred Rollo - from Zululand - which died with him alas. A spokesman for The Times Literary Supplement said, 'I am a spokesman for The Times Literary Supplement and I now go on to say - William McGonagall is a real genius for he is the only memorable truly bad poet in our language.'

This didn't time travel so well as some of his other jollies.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the success of the surreal, semi-stream of conscious 'Puckoon', it took over a decade for Milligan to produce (with Jack Hobbs) 'William McGonagall: The Truth at Last', and the development (or perhaps degradation) of Spike's narrative style is on full display in this book. There is no straight plot, no character development, no unifying theme or cohesive structure. In essence this is one long series of puns, malapropisms, jokes, bizarre sketches, old gags and almost insane comic moments, partly illustrated with Dada like drawings.

There is an anarchic energy and some seriously funny moments in this book, however one has to be a Spike Milligan fan to really enjoy it. I suspect for anyone else they would quickly tire of the strange nature of the novel, and the manner in which Milligan (at times) seems to be jabbering utter nonsense. In some respects I think he does write in the tradition of the likes of Swift, Sterne and Carroll, however Spike creates a far more chaotic , crazy narrative.

There was a time this was a more favoured book of mine, however having read it numerous times I will admit it has lost some of its freshness. One can spot several jokes in the book that are lifted from other parts of Millgan's oeuvre, such as 'The Goon Show' or the 'Q' TV series. However one can't really hold that against him.

A major achievement in Milligan's corpus, a must have for anyone who loves his comedy, an oddity that may confuse, befuddle or even annoy those unfamiliar with Spike's style.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tear inducing. Completely nuts but fantastic in a weird way.

[Les Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An hilarious book of rubbish. Good for a laugh, but the language might offed.

[Mark Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny read with lots of photos!

[Simon Blackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite mad.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a pastiche novel and reads exactly like McGonagall's poems. It is disjointed, nonsensical in parts and you can sense that it is supposed to be funny (but you're not really sure why). If you are seeking humour - I wouldn't bother with this.