War Memoirs Mussolini Volume 4: His Part in My Downfall

By Spike Milligan

Book Overview

VOLUME FOUR OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A HILARIOUS, SUBVERSIVE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WW2

'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail

'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times
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A voice is calling across the land, 'Bombardier Milligan.' 'Bombadier Milligan is dead, ' I replied in a disguised voice. The voice replied, 'Then he's going to miss his breakfast.'

The fourth volume of Spike Milligan's legendary account of his time in the army during World War Two begins as he and his regiment land in sunny Italy in 1943 ('The ship touched the beach very gently, so gently I suspect it's not insured').

After a bout of Sandfly Fever, from which he soon recovers ('I'm ready to be killed again'), our plucky hero is piddled on by a farm dog ('Mussolini's revenge?') before forging his way inland towards the enemy and the sound of guns ('We're getting near civilisation'), where matters suddenly take a dark turn ('I was not really me any more') . . .
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'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express
'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese

'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard

'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin

'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0241958121
• ISBN13: 9780241958124
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Great book, still going strong

There's something about MUSSOLINI that does not make it as memorable as his past war books. Granted it is still a great book, and it flows along wonderfully, until after the Christmas program. Everything after that seems rushed up until the abrupt ending. Even still, this book is wonderful, sad, funny and corny (he groans over some of his own jokes). What makes all his memoirs so priceless are not just his jokes, but the people in his 19 Battery that, with their antics, brings the book to life.* This review is for Spike Milligan's MUSSOLINI: HIS PART IN MY DOWNFALL. How it ended up in EIGHT FEET... is beyond me.

Good old Spike has done it again.

Truly a funny guy, Spike has a way of letting you look at the harsh realities of WWII in a brand new way. Much of his humor gets lost in the shuffle, but what comes through is fabulously funny and just a simple joy to read.

What a fantastically funny, and interesting tale Spike tells

Spike Milligan has surely outdone himself with this book. I found it in my parents attic a couple of years ago, and have read, and re-read it many times. Milligans own 'unique' brand of humour comes pouring through page after page in this wonderfully frank and lucid account of his time in the Royal Artillery in WWII. Tragic and funny- highly reccommended.