Sligo, Ireland

In our fourth week, we went to Ireland to visit Sligo, the birthplace of Spike's father Leo Alphonsis. We were given an official welcome to the town by the mayor of Sligo and Jane was shown her grandfather's house by the current owner, Ray McCullough. She met most of the people in the street, Holburn Street, and talked to a journalist and historian who had both uncovered some Milligan history. We found Leo's baptism records in the Sligo cathedral and Jane was given some artifacts found in the midden outside her grandfather's house. It was a wonderful experience for me as I've never been to Ireland and I was so pleased to be making this trip with a Milligan. The Irish are very fond of Spike and we were made most welcome everywhere we went. I also tasted my first Guinness and experienced the Irish pub, music and dancing. On our last day in Sligo we went touring to some wild and remote beaches and saw some of the famous lush, green countryside and old stone houses dating back many hundreds of years. In Dublin, we found an Irish radio journalist, Myles Dungan, who had interviewed Spike almost 20 years ago at his home in North Barnet (Monkenhurst). Myles told us that Spike had not been well that day and so he had interviewed him in his bed. He gave us a copy of the interview in which Spike talks about the Goon show characters, about being Irish and about his depression.