Milligan auction fetches £73,000

There were 100 lots in the auction including furniture

Memorabilia owned by the late Spike Milligan has fetched £73,000 at a London auction.

Fans packed out Bonhams for the chance to own some of the comedian's personal possessions, including original Goon Show recordings and his scripts.

The top lot was a collection of seven Christmas cards that ex-Beatle George Harrison sent to Milligan, which sold for £7,200.

The comic's widow put the items up for sale because she is moving house.

The Beatles, who all knew Milligan, featured prominently in the auction.

One card from Harrison reads: "Spike - I told you - you should have joined the Beatles!"

A Christmas gift from the musician also fetched £3,360.

A poem and cartoon created by Sir Paul McCartney entitled The Poet Of Dumbwoman's Lane, went for £6,000 and a copy of Arthur Janov's The Primal Scream given to Milligan and signed by John Lennon sold for £4,200.

'Jam-packed'

A misspelt director's chair sold for £696.

A collection of handwritten notices that Milligan used to leave around his house, including one reading "no smoking, we are trying to give up lung cancer", sold for £5,040 inclusive of buyer's premium - far higher than its original £100-£150 estimate.

An archive of Milligan's wartime diaries were snapped up for £6,000 and 40 of the original Goon Show recordings on quarter-inch tape made £1,560.

"It was a very different set of people in the auction room today and it was absolutely jam-packed," said Bonhams spokeswoman Michelle Gonsalves.

"I couldn't get through the door. Some of the lots were very fiercely battled between phone bidders and people in the room."

The sale sparked controversy last week when a statement released on behalf of Milligan's four children said they were "deeply distressed" they had not been consulted over the auction.

The comedian shot to fame in the 1950s, writing and staring in the Goon Show alongside Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. He died in 2002, aged 83.