Customer Reviews

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall

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And I haven't stopped laughing. I had never heard of Spike Milligan before, but I found his book funny in a way that only the Brits can be, and touching with many moving parts about the war from a crazy man's perspective. I have since read five other Spike Milligan books, and none of them were a disappointment. Seeing WWII from Spike's point of view is realistic, funny, and very thought provoking. My British friend told me he (Spike) was crazy. At first I thought that was just a saying, but it's true. Spike is mentally defunct, in a very happy and bubbly kind of way. You will enjoy this book.

This is a review of the series of seven embellished autobiographies as a whole, rather than just this one book. "Adolf Hitler:..." sees our skinny hero called up to serve his country in 1940 and introduces many of the other characters - particularly those involved in the genesis of The Goon Show. In subsequent books the war takes Spike to Africa, Italy and Liberated Europe and is a wonderful insight of those turbulent times through the eyes of a sometimes scared, sometimes overbearingly joyful, sometime shellshocked trumpet playing clown from London. This series takes you through the ups and downs: the death of friends, the pining for a world forever changed, romance in Capri, continual banter between friends, cold collation and the bloody awful Warsaw concerto. The first book was written in 1973 (I think) and the last was sometime in the early nineties; and you can definitely see the change in Spike as his writes the later books - the pathos is much stronger, the notes about wartime friends who recently died are truly moving. Spike acknowledges he is writing history, but that "I spiced mine up a bit". It's the history of wartorn and postwar europe from the individual man's perspective - a man who eats pasta on italian balconies, drinking cheap red wine until he passes out; who plays raucous tunes and chases the girls; who always goes for the punch line - but it's also the eulogy of his wartime friends, friends he loved. It also explains (in part) how Spike Milligan, as we know him, came to be.

Free flowing comedy counterchanged with pathos and bathos - it's all there and I love every word.

The other books are "Rommel? Gunner Who?", "Monty: His Part in My Victory", "Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall", "Where Have All the Bullets Gone?", "Goodbye Soldier" and "Peace Work".

I'm usually not one to read autobios, but since it is Spike Milligan I made the exception. It was funny, just as I expected it to be, but there were parts that were very moving and sad; as should be expected I suppose for a WWII novel. His accounts of the absurd are always dead on hilarious, and I found myself reading a passage over and over and just cracking up.
I knew that Spike suffered from depression, and I think in parts it was very apparent. The places that are especially poignant are when he relates a humorous tale, and then explain how he visited the place years later, and how the memories are too much for him to bear. In one particular paragraph he laments: "Oh, Yesterday, how you plague me!"
I love Spike Milligan and his comedy, and have read several run-of-the-mill internet bios on him but his own biography really brings him to life. A great read!

I have actually only got little to add to the existing reviews here on this page. The man Spike Milligan is a legend, if one that is not known by too many young people these days, and his comic style, his quick wit, and his at times absurd take on things and life in general all shines through in this hillarious account of his experience of the Second World War.

If you can, then get ahold of the audiobook version read by the man himself.

It is shory, not very relevant, but extremely entertaining.

In one of the funniest autobiographies I have read, Spike Milligan brings his sense of the ridiculous to his life as a gunner in the British army during WW2.

This is the first in a series of autobiographical books that describe his wartime experiences. It covers a brief outline of his family history and the period from just before the war to just before his unit embarks for service overseas.

Spike Milligan's sense of humor permeates the book, and to my mind works really well. However if you don't like the sort of British humor used by the Goons (or their cousins/descendants, Monty Python) then this could be a problem.

I first read this book as a kid at school. I couldn't put it down then, and got some very strange looks from teachers for laughing out loud for no apparent reason (they couldn't see the book - and I didn't and don't usually laugh out loud while reading or sitting in class).

Reading it again, the book is still a delight. An offbeat view of the world that looks at ordinary men coping with extraordinary and difficult times.

This is a fascinating and very personal account of the wartime experiences of one of the most original British humorists.

I usually don't like war memoirs but I'd read anything by this guy. It is one of the funniest and most original books ever. Spike Milligan is a one-off and I'm so disappointed it's out of print. Our family's copy has fallen to bits cause so many people have read it. It should definitely be put into print again AND SOON!

English comic Spike Milligan's story of how dozens of soldiers in his WWII outfit were defeated in their united attempt to heave a huge field tent - "the lump" - into the back of a lorry had me laughing so hard, I literally had to stop reading.

Twenty-four later, I started again. The same hysterical laughter ensued. I couldn't continue.

Unfortunately, I never made it to the end, & not for the same reason as above.

After it came in the mail, the author opened the book. His first reaction, upon seeing the type size - & I quote - was: "Holy...s#%@!"

And by page 110, the eye strain was unbearable. The type size being so minute, I had wondered if it actually could be measured. With the indispensable aid of a magnifying glass, it was. Each letter turned out to be 1/16th of an inch in height.

The insane type size wasn't necessarily fatal. But the lunatic publisher compounded the felony by allotting four ounces of ink to print the entire edition of @ 100,000 copies (the UK WWII-era rationing of ink, evidently, was still in force in 1971).

And in addition to this, the publisher, 38 years ago, had the gall to charge @ $15.00 ("£ 6.99". Fortunately, I paid far less).

For that price in 1971, you could have purchased a hardcover edition of a first rate biography, history, or scientific reference guide. In fact, it will not come as a surprise if I later discover that William Manchester's "The Arms of Krupp" (1968; the German armament juggernaut of World Wars I & II) actually cost less to purchase than this cheaply produced paperback.

AHM was pulped, which was a darned shame.

I've now read all of Spike Milligan's war memoirs and think they're excellent (I'm also not a big fan of the Goons). While generally very funny you can really sense his depressive moods even at times when he's not explicit about them.

I first read this book shortly after I had left the military, having served some seven years, two overseas. The book has "the ring of truth" to it, particularly the "barrack room humour." Several sections of the book literally had me in tears. (of laughter.. ) Look for the piece on "the five mile hike." As a soldier, hikes are a fact of life, but the author's description of an early morning "rise and shine" is, as they say, RIGHT ON!!"

Spike Milligan was born in India, the son of an Irish father who was serving in the British Indian Army. He spent most of his life in England and served in the British Army in World War II - though he took Irish citizenship. Milligan was an undoubted comedy genius and was the principal writer of The Goon Show. He was one of the few people who could get away with referring to a member of the British Royal Family - Prince Charles - as a "little grovelling b@$t@rd" on live television. "Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall" is the first of Spike's war memoirs, and runs from September 1939 to January 1943. The majority of the book is set in England and - despite his best attempts to avoid being called up - covers Spike's rather haphazard training and eventual deployment to Algiers. It covers life in the barracks, the training, the pranks, the womanising and even, occasionally, a few fart jokes.

Unsurprisingly, there's an awful lot of daft, Spike-like gags in the book. However, it's not an entirely light-hearted book - there are moments of sadness, and Spike does occasionally have a few serious points to make. Some of his memories from those days clearly caused him a some pain, even so many years later. (For example, Spike was a keen musician in those days - he treasured his record collection and even formed a band with some of his fellow soldiers. Unfortunately, he only had a single record surviving from those days when he wrote the book. "I don't play it much; it creates such vivid memories. I have to go out for a walk; even then it's about three hours before I can settle down again."). Still, a very funny and easily read-book overall - totally recommended.