This is the 6th of 7 (I think!) books written by Spike Milligan about his own experience of WWII and the immediate aftermath.

This book is quite sad because it’s about a love affair that started immediately after the end of the war between Milligan and an Italian ballerina called Toni when they were travelling around in an old charabanc between Naples, Rome, Padua, Venice, and Vienna as part of a Combined Services Entertainment show. It seems like Milligan and Toni were never going to be a couple once Spike had to return to civilian life in the UK and reading this book it makes me wonder at what point both of them realised this.

The humour is very distinctive and possibly not for everyone, but the book works on so many levels as Spike travels past places where he fought in the war and remembers them from that time. There’s the cameraderie between the actors and musicians in the troupe, all of whom managed to survive the war intact. There’s a love story and descriptions of places they visited, which had also survived the war. It’s a love story, a travel story, and a social commentary from a different time and is a compelling read.