Terrence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 - 27 February 2002) was a renowned Anglo-Irish comic, poet and surrealist. Widely regarded as the Godfather of British Comedy, he is best known for his work on The Goon Show with Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. Not so well known is that he was an accomplished jazz trumpeter, until old age forced him to give up the instrument. He toured widely with his shows, made a number of TV series (most notably the Q series) and wrote a veritable plethora of humorous books and poetry for all ages