LONDON, Feb 27: Spike Milligan, a founding father of 20th century British comedy and zany genius behind the ground-breaking “Goon Show”, died on Wednesday aged 83.

Milligan, pioneer of the meandering joke without a punchline, turned surreal comedy into an art form, influencing a whole generation of British comedians from the “Beyond the Fringe” team to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.

Broadcaster Michael Parkinson said: “You could make the argument that modern British comedy started with Spike Milligan. He was the godfather of it all.”

Terence Alan (Spike) Milligan was born in India on April 16, 1918, to an over-possessive mother and a sergeant-major.

As a soldier, Milligan ended World War Two in a psychiatric hospital after being shelled in Tunisia. His experiences were a rich vein of inspiration later for hugely popular war memoirs.

His first marriage to June Marlowe collapsed under the strain of writing Goon scripts. The couple had three children. Second wife Paddy Ridgeway died of cancer in 1978, he married Shelagh Sinclair in 1983 and he also had an illegitimate son.

Along with Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers, Milligan’s inconsequential nonsense and silly voices reigned supreme. He took zany humour to new heights of absurdity — but at a cost.

“I laugh that I may not weep,” was his most likely motto.

Milligan was renowned for his sharp tongue, once calling Prince Charles “a grovelling little bastard” on live television.

Milligan made it up with Charles after that remark by sending him a telegram saying, “I suppose a knighthood is out of the question now?” But it wasn’t — Milligan was given an honorary knighthood two years ago.—Reuters