Robin Hood: According to Spike Milligan

According to Spike Milligan

by Spike Milligan

This version of Robin Hood has Robin and his merry men, when the King's deer manage to evade their arrows, dining out at McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and eating jam sandwiches. Nevertheless, they are still more than willing to do battle with Robin's arch enemy Sir Guy de Custard Gisborne. The fair Maid Marion, of course, is the object of much of Robin's attention, and his pursuit of the beautiful Marion leads him and his men into many adventures. Lucky for him that his band of outlaws include the immensely strong Big Dick and immensely insolent Groucho Marx. Paying scant regard to any previous versions of this age old folk tale, Spike thunders through his riotous story like a runaway horse through Sherwood.

Genres: Humor, Comedy, Fiction, Classics

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, known as Spike, was a comedian, writer and musician. He was of Irish descent, but spent most of his childhood in India and lived most of his later life in England, moving to Australia after retirement. He is famous for his work in The Goon Show, children's poetry and a series of comical autobiographical novels about his experiences serving in the British Army in WWII. Spike Milligan suffered from bipolar disorder, which led to depression and frequent breakdowns, but he will be remembered as a comic genius. His tombstone reads 'I told you I was ill' in Gaelic.

Reviews

[Geoffery Crescent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the other books in Spike Milligan's 'According to...' series, Robin Hood isn't based on a single volume, but aims to just generally take the piss out of various Robin Hood legends. The result is rather scattershot, but generally very funny and surprisingly foul-mouthed. The repeated references to Tiptree Jam (it's your jam of choice) and the sudden and inexplicable appearance of Groucho Max had me in stitches. The final chapter, in which Robin travels to the modern day and carouses with Prince Phillip reads a lot like a fever dream. Good stuff, but best enjoyed in small doses. Unlike Tiptree Jam. It's your jam of choice.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never really been into Robin Hood, and while I did try to read the original stories when I was a kid, I wasn’t interested enough to stick with it. I think I enjoyed Milligan’s take on it more, but Disney’s was the best.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a troll.

[Deborah Pickstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Milligan.

"Alas, the men held Much down; some held him up; some held him sideways. His future looked grim......and short."

I blame his mother. Nothing, since The Goon Show, has ever looked quite so ridiculous again. The face of British comedy is permanently bent.

Ying tong yiddle I po.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of words written with only a passing resemblance of order. Almost unreadable, this gibberish is Spike Milligan at his most rambling. It starts off almost legible, but progressively devolves so much that by the end, I just wanted it to end. There was a scattering of lines that did make me laugh, but not enough to salvage the rest.

[Dirk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have enjoyed Spike Milligan’s poetry and autobiographical books, so I picked it up in a charity shop, but this is the biggest load of tripe I’ve seen since a black pudding festival. One or two gags are passable but the humour has not aged well. As for the last line of the book, it sticks in the throat through its total inappropriateness. Don’t bother ever reading this.

[Russ Swan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Much as I admire(d) Spike Milligan and his comic oeuvre, and as someone with a casual interest in Robin Hood since moving to the bandit's old stomping ground, I have to say this is just dreadful.

It is juvenile and incoherent. It could have been written by a 12 yr-old who has just learned some swear words and is desperate to show how grown-up they are. Spike's obsessions with custard and jam sandwiches are perhaps part of his charm, but the fixation on male genitalia (especially that of pubescent boys) makes several passages in this book more than a little uncomfortable to read.

Plot? Nope. Humour? There is basically one (very Milliganesque) joke running through the thing, which plays on double meanings or homophones.

Are these deer?
Yes, very dear. Pound for pound

One of the few saving graces is that lines like this instantly summon Spike's voice as the narrator of my internal soundtrack. That's something at least.

My copy came from Waterstone's, along with the observation from the cashier that Nottingham is the only one of its 300+ branches to actually stock it. Local interest I supppose.

So it saddens me to say that I cannot recommend this book. I'll keep it as a curiosity, but it slightly diminishes my opinion of the great comic genius/madman [delete as applicable].

[Christopher Ainsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, the book made me laugh out loud in several places, but in others I just had to move on as it was totally incomprehensible.
I'm well aware of the Goon Show style humour, but in several places, characters switch places from one sentence to another.
The idea of Robin Hood ticking into Jam Sandwiches and Big Macs is funny, but by the end of it it's Jam Sandwiches all the way down, some chapters are just bunch of one-liners nailed together, obviously lifted from contemporary jokes.
Starts off stronger, but you get the impression that by the end Milligan had exhausted his ideas on the subject and was forced to waffle on for the sake of word count.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

You'll never understand the original story or watch any future programme or film on Robin Hood after reading this delightful cover by Spike Milligan - that well known spelling error...Spike takes any story and turns it into a novel of the Goons...you can just imagine the great ones taking the characters like Robin, Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and all and being portrayed in the Goonish style we came to love...

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just very, very silly.

Stuffed full of Spike Milligan humour. Lots of puns, punchlines every other sentence, and a side of scatological jokes.
I loved the running gags about jam sandwiches and Robin Hood not being able to swim.

He actually stuck pretty well to the original Robin Hood tales (complete with a rather strange finale), and it was quite a clever adaptation!

[Robert J.E. Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fever dream of barely coherent surrealism and absurdity.

a few funny moments, but for me this is one of Spike's weaker novels, and not recommended.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Origin: I bought this book in a sale at my local bookshop, as I've really enjoyed other books in the series.

Plot: There isn't really one! The story follows basically the same lines as the traditional stories of Robin Hood, but with Milligan's unique twist. So Robin prefers Jam sandwiches to stolen venison and Guy de Custard Gisbourne keeps stapling his head back on! Little John is renamed Big Dick and Maid Marion is a champion pole vaulter!

Opinion: Worth a bit of a chuckle. It's absolutely ridicolously silly, but with the right frame of mind it can be very enjoyable. Unfortunately, I thought it was spolit totally by the last chapter, which goes beyond the realms of silliness into utter drivel. So give that a miss if I was you!

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really on his wavelength. There were funny bits. Need to know a fair bit of history to get the full benefit. Clever in parts and I am old enough to 'hear' his voice reading it so that was a plus.

[Matt Beal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining if a little hard to read at times. Can definitely see some of Spike Milligans humour in it.

[Ali George]

I love Spike, but when he was not on form he really wasn't on form. I struggled to get through this one. If I were you I'd avoid it. Re-read the war bios and Sir Nobonk instead.