After many years of being a "Goon show" fan, I at last was able to see Spike Milligan in an old "wooden theatre coverted to movie-house" place in suburban Perth, Western Australia more than two decades ago. It was a bitterly cold Perth winter night, and the old Kombi had difficulty getting there. No problem, as Spike was late too.. Around 45 minutes late none-the-less. The theatre was hardly 1/4 full.

Rumour had it that Spike was "truly mad". And the night had the uncomfortable and voyeuristic feel of peering in at a man well beyong his prime. The show was almost completely ad-hoc, ragged, and unscripted. But by the end there was a feeling of being blessed. For Spike Milligan must truly be seen as one of the pioneers of a British comedy tradition that later evolved into the Carry On series, Monty Python's Flying Circus, and a tradition that has made British comedy the finest in the world, especially compared to American humour that tends to rely on sarcasm and put-downs. As Oscar Wilde knew, wit done well can lift the spirit and highlight basic humanity. Sarcasm on the other hand is wit in the hands of a poor workman - it denigrates rather than respects.

Spike Milligan knew the difference, and the world is better for it.

But the key to the night was walking out of the theatre. There, shaking hands with everyone in that small dingy old-time theatre foyer and mumbling throw away quips to all who could listen was the man himself. Those sparkling mischievious eyes spoke for the spirit of the man...

If you are around my age and upbringing, we are now more frequently losing those who, obviously or not, shaped our times and our character. We have lost in quick succession George Harrison, Princess Margaret, the creator of the "everyman" Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and now the last Goon in quick succession. In a time where the world is looking as shaky as ever, us on the wrong side of forty are seeing the human forms of our influences leaving us. Yet their contribution to the world can never be lost...

Spike got his honorary knighthood - despite calling Prince Charles "grovelling". His telegram to Prince Charles at the time read "...I guess a knighthood is out of the question..."

As the offspring of Brits, I despair to see the type of humour spawned by Spike and his cronies underappreciated in an Asia where US culture predominates. The US has it's greats of course - the self deprecating and human humour of Woody Allen for example, yet there is little of the larrikan humour done so well by Milligan. The Boom Boom Rooms of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which gave us the great hope of a form of indigeneous humour evolving that could compete with imported humour are either dead or a shadow of their previous selves, as "political correctness" reigns supreme.

Leaders take themselves far too seriously, and "face" is the great value.. For the greatest gift, as Grandma Rat used to say, is the ability to laugh at ourselves.

And that was the great lesson that Spike taught us on that rainy night in Perth...

More at the BBC website (of course) - Charles leads Milligan tributes