Monty, his part in my victory - Spike Milligan [21]
“It looks a good programme,” said Edgington, “not a spoon player in it.”
Fildes comes in. “The theatre’s packed.”
“Well for Christ sake unpack it — we’re due to start in 10 minutes,” I said. 1
A vast Gunner, in a vaster vest and shorts, is calling down! the corridors ‘Beginners please’, and spitting out grape pips.
The pit band strikes up a tune which I recognised as ‘The King’ though I doubt if the Queen would; there follows a strangled version of the Royal Artillery March Past that suggests Gunners are cripples. The curtain rose, crashed down and rose again, the whole cast appear singing ‘Kiss the Blues Goodbye’.
The show was away…
L/Bdr Reg Bennett who discovered our band during French Concert party
Programme of Concert
When our turn came I announced “Now! from the fabulous star studded 56 Heavy Regiment! the 19 Battery Jazz Quartet!” We started by my putting my trumpet through the curtains, beginning on a low C then dinging up to play ‘Softly as in a Morning Sunrise’…very loudly…Then Kidgell sings ‘Tangerine’, we feature ‘Snatch’ on violin in ‘Stardust’, we round off with Nagasaki (Back in Nagasaki: where the fellers chew tobacco and the women wiggy-waggy-woo).
You can’t describe a show, you have to be there at that time with that audience, that’s what made it come alive. Come alive it did; troop audiences went into hysterics at the antics, and we got the sort of applause that would usually only be heard at a Promenade Concert.
A pencilled note at the foot of Part II Orders read: All ranks from now on will walk on their hands to keep their boots Clean for parade.
The village of’ MacDonald. We used to pass it on our way to Setif of an evening. Every wog — man or boy — we ever saw there, had red hair!!
2nd July 1943
After a week of success at Setif, the Concert Party were to go on tour. “I can’t believe it,” said Edgington, “I must rearrange my socks.”
“It’s true,” I said, “Bougie, Djelli, Phillipville and who lows — maybe Broadway!”
“All on the coast,” said Kidgell. “We can swim every day!” The Major calls me in and pep-talks me. “Bombardier Milligan, you and 19 Battery band hold the honour of the regiment when you are on the stage, I want you all to present a soldierly appearance, play in a smart military manner, keep your bugle straight, and salute at the finish. Try and play some stirring numbers, like ‘Whistling Rufus’. Remember you are playing for your King and Country.”
“Yes sir, I will, and if ever I play a wrong note, I will immediately think of Hitler.”
“Good man Milligan.”
Mon. 3rd July ‘43
Dead on ten o’clock, three lorries containing the Concert Party set off for Bougie, some 60 kilometers away. We drove through the Kerrata Gorge, onto the Gulf of Bougie Coast Road heading West. It was scarifying. To our left were cliffs, and to our right a sheer 200 foot drop into the sea. I spotted dolphins pursuing a school of flying fish that kept breaking the surface and gliding up to fifty yards to escape; but the most exciting moment was when we were nearing Bougie. A huge Manta Ray broke the surface and came down with a colossal splash, it repeated this several times. “His old woman must be after him,” says Shashall. We pass a company of 2/4 Hampshires marching like the clappers and covered in sweat, the only sympathy they got were cries of ‘It’ll be over by Christmas’. We drove in white sunlight, a light breeze coming from the coast. Bougie was a French Colonial town, now being used as Naval base. The show was at the Municipal Theatre, modern-horror architecture, but cool inside. We have access to magnificent bathing, a curving bay shut off from the world by low hills, trees and Bougainvilleas which ran down to the beach, as we did. But wait! there on the beach are several WRENS, all brown and beautiful in bathing costumes. Why oh why, at the sight of a female does the male of the species automatically indulge in exhausting horse play? Wrestling,