Spike: An Intimate Memoir by Norma Farnes - 2004: -

-: Fourth Estate Limited, 2004. None. Paperback. Very Good. -. The complete memoirs of a man of many talents and faces - the late, great Spike Milligan - affectionately recounted by his close friend and agent for 35 years, Norma Farnes. `What`s he really like?` Wherever I went and was introduced as Spike Milligan`s manager I waited for the inevitable question. In not far short of thirty-six years it never altered. It wasn`t one that could be answered in a few words so I generally made do with `Interesting` or `don`t ask`. After chancing on an advertisement for a secretarial position, Norma Farnes found herself initiated into the world of Number Nine Orme Court where Spike and some of post-war`s other greatest comedy writers like Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson had formed a writers` cooperative. Soon promoted to be his manager, Norma was working for a man with a reputation for being brilliant and difficult in equal measure. In this affectionate yet true account, Norma Farnes looks at the whole of Spike`s life from his childhood and extraordinary family in India, his ongoing battle with his restless mind, his numerous affairs and his heartening struggles with many varied causes. She gives a mass of wonderful anecdotes and revealing insights into Spike and his circle, including, of course, his often fraught but deep friendship with Peter Sellers. In Spike, Norma Farnes has written a moving portrait of her greatest friend. Above all, Spike`s fascinating, very human character is brought to life on every page.