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Spike Milligan
Spike
Milligan's parents moved to Woy Woy in the early 50's, they first
resided at Ettalong Hall before moving to a modest fibro house in
Orange Grove.
Spike was a regular visitor and patron for a local environmental group
which stopped development on Rileys Island in the late 70's , and
helped save the little Church of England on Blackwall Road.
Spike would often visit Woy Woy to have a break from fame and do
some writing as well as wander around Blackwall Mountain, he
mentions Woy Woy often in his work and quotes - one was an ad on
local TV here in the 70's for a bottle shop chain , at the end of
the commercial he says " Hello Mum , Hello Dad , they live in Woy
Woy you know ! "
My mate recalls sitting in his front yard one Saturday morning when
suddenly into his street comes an old style Model T Ford style car
complete with wooden spoke wheels
As it turns out Spike was driving and as he chugged by he waved and
whistled and Spike tipped his hat to him and squeezed the old style horn
on the car and round the corner he went!
Spike isn't with us anymore and there are lots of sites that compile
his many achievements so I'll just leave my tribute as it stands.
Spikefest
was comedy festival that began in 2003 and was held around
the beginning of October. The idea was to establish a regular comedy
festival yearly and attract people to the coast , part of the event
was a " silly walk " where the participants were to walk backwards
for a couple of kilometres into Woy Woy , the only trouble was the insurance
companies wouldn't back the concept unless
people actually didn't walk backwards and injure themselves.......
The event ran for 2 years then disappeared from the face of the
earth.
Recently
a new pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Woy Woy bridge was
named " The Spike Milligan Bridge " after much heated debate, at least
they didn't call it the " Woy Woy Footbridge " in keeping with the
great Australian tradition of bland place names.
Local larrikins were putting signs up with different bridge names
until official signage had been posted, I'm sure
Spike would be having a chuckle somewhere ....
This is my
favourite Spike Milligan site (click link below) if you want more
information also you can visit the Spike Milligan wing at Woy Woy
Library.
A Tribute to
Spike
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