It is commonly reported that Spike Milligan has the epitaph “I told them I was ill” on his grave stone. In fact what actually ended up being inscribed on his granite headstone in 2002, was the Gaelic translation Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite, since humour isn’t permitted in Church of England cemeteries.
circa 2011
On a visit to Winchelsea last June I found his grave in the graveyard of St Thomas the Martyr Church and discovered that it now says: Dú rt mé leat so mé breoite, which according to Google translate means the slightly pithier but cryptic & not quite so amusing: “I’m here I’m sick”.
I’ve attached a good photo of Spike’s original unadulterated headstone courtesy of Google images (first photo) with my own recent photo showing the change below it.
So what else is of interest in these photos?
In both photos there is only reference to his four ‘legitimate’ children: three by his first and one by his second marriage. Whereas James, who was born in 1976 to mother Margaret Maughan, doesn’t get a mention which seems a bit unfair because there doesn’t appear to be any doubt about his paternity. Neither is Romany mentioned. Her mother was mother Roberta Watt.
In the second (recent) photo, you can see that added at the bottom of the headstone is a commemoration to Shelagh Milligan, Spike’s third and final wife with whom he had no children, and to whom he left his entire estate.
Apparently it took several years for the original headstone to be erected due to disagreement between Spike’s widow Shelagh and one or more of her step children. Exactly what the disagreement was about isn’t known, but possible reasons include the inclusion of the humorous epitaph, the unsuccessfully contested Will and the the omission of two of Spike’s children’s names from the stone.
In 2011, following Shelagh’s death James made a protracted but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prevent her name being added to the headstone, despite her having been buried with Spike.
After more than a year at the stonemason, the headstone containing what had recently been voted the nation’s favourite epitaph, was returned in 2002 to the (now) joint grave with Shelagh’s name appended. Additionally there had also been a subtle and till now unnoticed change to Spike’s original epitaph.
The original much loved epitaph…..
Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite “I told them I was ill”
Had mysteriously morphed, by the removal of the letter ‘i’ into …..
The world’s most popular epitaph had been wrecked for some unknown reason and I think I am the first person (outside his family) to have spotted this.
I reckon that someone from Shelagh’s side of the family felt “I’m here I’m sick” a more appropriate epitaph believing that Spike would have been ‘sick’ of all the family feuding.
