Humphrey Carpenter
I Told You I was Ill
Saturday 20 September
It's not often you get to hear an unauthorised biographer weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of unauthorised status (Against: you don't get full access to the family or the documents. For: you don't have to worry about whether the family like what you've written). On Saturday, the Festival audience had the opportunity to hear Humphrey Carpenter in conversation with David Whetstone, Books Editor of the Journal, about his biography of Spike Milligan.
Humphrey Carpenter, who worked for BBC Radio Durham for 3 months in the 1960s ("at the same time as Kate Adie", he explains) launched his career in biography with a life of J.R.R. Tolkien, in 1977. Since then he has written about Benjamin Britten, Robert Runcie, Dennis Potter and others - but as he and David Whetstone swapped favourite Goon Show moments, it was clear that he had approached the Spike Milligan story as a real fan. He clearly regretted that Spike had not responded to his request to write the biography. His daughter Claire had been luckier, he said: at the age of seven, she had written to ask "Dear Eccles, Why do you go around pretending to be Spike Milligan?" - and had had a reply almost by return!
After a break, Humphrey Carpenter was joined by Margaret Maughan and her (and Spike's) son James Maughan-Milligan. Margaret, who still lives in Hexham, told how she had first met Spike (backstage at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle), and gave an affectionate description of the man who remained the love of her life. The audience was fascinated as the biographer discussed his work with the people who were, in a sense, his source material: did they not mind this examination of their private lives? No, said Margaret, it was always a pleasure to talk about Spike. Nor did they share his qualms that the portrait which emerged from his book was a darker one than he had expected - it was an accurate picture of a complex man.
A lively and informal discussion allowed the audience a glimpse of the complications of writing a biography, and at the same time recalled a man who was much loved both by those who knew him personally and by those who knew his work.
Spike Milligan, by Humphrey Carpenter, is available from the Festival bookstall.
