Comedy and tragedy, with Spike Milligan | Letter

Steven Bowditch on an indelible memory of a night at the theatre and the death of a presidentI too saw Spike Milligan in The Bed-Sitting Room as a 16-year-old (Letters, 30 December), on a trip organised by my church youth club. Due to the double selling of our tickets at the theatre in London, we were put in a box next to the stage. During the performance, Milligan climbed up the outside and peered over. He shouted: “There will come a time when all those in the box will sit at the back of the theatre and all those at the back will have the best seats!” He then added: “You’re not on complimentaries, are you?”On the way home, the coach driver stopped to see why there were scores of people on otherwise empty streets buying the late-night final. The date was 22 November 1963. The headlines were about the assassination of John F Kennedy. Some memories never leave you.Steven BowditchCarlisle Continue reading...