Milligan archive up for auction

Spike Milligan received an honorary knighthood in 2001

Books, letters and drawings owned by the late Spike Milligan are to be sold off next month at an auction in London.

Items up for grabs include 40 original Goon Show recordings on quarter-inch tape and a piano that was often played by his neighbour, Sir Paul McCartney.

Also in the sale is a script for The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town, as featured in the Two Ronnies.

The auction takes place at Bonhams on 25 November. Milligan died in 2002 at the age of 83.

The sale has been sanctioned by his widow, Shelagh, who lived with the late comedian for 27 years.

Anarchic

"I just don't have the space in my new house to put everything," she told Bonhams magazine. "But I can't pretend I'm going to find it easy."

The famously mercurial Milligan found fame in the 1950s with anarchic comedy programme The Goon Show, alongside Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe.

The auction includes his own copies of his many books of poetry, including Silly Verse for Kids and The Little Pot Boiler.

Other items to be sold at the same memorabilia sale include a scooter driven by Phil Daniels in the cult film Quadrophenia and a jacket worn by Jon Pertwee in Doctor Who.