Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (Spike Milligan War Memoirs)

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Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a 1973 British comedy film adaptation of the first volume of Spike Milligan's autobiography. Part 3 begins a year previously, and launches into a favourite Milligan literary aside—a long discussion of setting up musical shows, including names of songs, instruments and players.

In some ways I think Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, makes for a reasonable follow up to the serious Sword of Honor trilogy by Evelyn Waugh. If you roared with laughter after finishing 'Catch 22', this one comes highly recommended to you, to see the other side of the Atlantic going bonkers over the war long before the actual fighting began. The humor is pithy and nearly constant, but there's a good look into what was happening in Britain in the early days of World War II, which is entirely different from the picture most of us have of the US during the same period, since beyond Pearl Harbor, none of us had to worry about the major enemy forces attacking us personally every day. I'm actually not entirely sure how many volumes of this I read the first time around but I'm pretty sure it wasn't all seven.During one training deployment, Milligan and others were caught hiding their rifles in a loft, resulting in two weeks detention. I really enjoyed this book from the vivid descriptions of war practices to the humorous practical jokes, talkbacks and commentary. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

This book is quite different from other soldiers memoirs I've read before (my favorite probably being All the Way to Berlin: A Paratrooper at War in Europe), mostly because it is written in a humorous style. This is an utterly surreal, joyous and irreverent look at Spike Milligan’s time as a young soldier in WWII. Later in voyage, after a miserable passage, the officer asks if the instruments are actually on board (which they are) and will the band please play to entertain the men. A squadron of Tommies, all gloriously drunk on wicked mischief, set out to launch a surprise attack on the Turkish bath in London where their Commanding Officer Major General Clive Candy is relaxing in the welcome warmth before the actual drill begins.If you have ever watched the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger classic 'The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp', you would remember the frenetic comic frenzy of the first fifteen minutes, choreographed like a comic interlude. This book has laugh out loud lines on every page, and I would guess all the other volumes will have too.

This book, the first in a series, looks at the time he spent with his unit wandering around Southern Britain learning how to soldier, and it's hilarious. It must be born in mind that the language and atitudes were those of the common squadie at that time and do not represent those of this society now. Based on the way this account of Spike Milligan's time in the British military during World War II reads, you'll wonder afterward how in the heck the Allies ever won the thing. Since my copy of Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is on Kindle and to get it out of the way there are some nice drawings throughout the book and they do not show well on a Kindle Viewer. Both begin with an England grossly unprepared for war and depending on outmoded traditions and building a tradition for muddling through.

It stars Jim Dale as the young Terence "Spike" Milligan, while Milligan himself plays the part of his father, Leo. Milligan says in the preface: "All the salient facts are true"; at the end of the preface: "There were the deaths of some of my friends, and therefore, no matter how funny I tried to make this book, that will always be at the back of my mind: but, were they alive today, they would have been the first to join in the laughter, and that laughter was, I'm sure, the key to victory. He wrote seven short books about the experience based on his diaries, here's the first one which concerns joining the army, training, starting a jazz band during training, more training, exploits/hijinks/affairs, and finally getting shipped off to Northern Africa, where the book ends. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

And while at times I enjoyed that style, and had to laugh because of what I read, at other points it came across a little forces. Absent a major background in The Goon Squad (which I do not have) or other 1950-1980 British radio and television comedy (which I do) it is likely that a lot of this will mean little to even a modern Englishman. Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall, is the first of Spike Milligan's seven memoirs that recount his recollections of life in the army during World War 2.My neighbours probably think I've gone completely off my trolley as I've spent most of this book laughing very much out loud! For all the privations of army life, it is clear that Spike had a lot of fun during this period, and the humour that was to make his name with the Goons and beyond is here in abundance. I read this book as a teenager in the mid-1970s (or, put another way, a very long time ago) and I loved it and have always meant to read it again.