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Goodbye Soldier cover art

Goodbye Soldier

By: Spike Milligan
Narrated by: Spike Milligan
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Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Goodbye Soldier, written and read by Spike Milligan.

"My name is Maria Antonoinetta Fontana, but everyone call me Toni."

"I'm Spike, sometimes known as 'stop thief' or 'hey you.'"

"Yeser, I know."

The sixth volume of Spike Milligan's off-the-wall account of his part in World War Two sees our hero doing very little soldiering. Because it's 1946. Rather, he is now part of the Bill Hall Trio - a 'Combined Services Entertainment' inflicted on unsuspecting soldiers across Italy and Austria - and is largely preoccupied with the unbearably beautiful ballerina, Ms Toni Fontana ("Arghhhhhhhhh!"). But he must enjoy it while he can before he is demobbed and sent home to Catford - so he does....

©2016 Spike Milligan (P)2016 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Goodbye Soldier

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Amazing book but Issue with the recording

Audible won’t investigate this properly, but having listened to this on cassette, I can confirm that their recording was copied at the wrong speed so spike sounds old and slurred (which he certainly isn’t if you listen to the next, or previous, book). A great book but unless audible resolve this, it’s not worth listening to

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10 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Give this a miss

Severley let down with the quality of the audio. Couple this with Spikes' poor health at the time of the recording it makes for a poor experience. I truly am a big fan of all his work but this tarnishes his memory. Should be pulled from circulation.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Sound issues

Having listened to the previous volumes yes there’s a sound issue with the recording I find this is helped by playing at 1.5x speed which takes spike back to being full of energy rather then being full of shit

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Listen at 1.25x speed for best results

Working my way through the series, enjoying them all. Got to this one and it sounded different. I think the timing is wrong. Once I started to listened at 1.25x speed it sounded more like the others.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not how I want to remember Spike.

Compared to the previous audio books this is a disappointment. The story is winding down but particularly because as the narrator Spike has aged dramatically and has lost his unique, youthful, energetic giggling delivery. Buy the book rather than listen if you're really keen.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Dull

It's a real shame, but by the end of these memoirs, Spike had run out of interesting things to say, so just churns out a bunch of concerts dates and anecdotes.
By the time of this performance, he's clearly struggling, too. Stick to the first 3 books and pretend it's a trilogy.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Poor Spike

Buy the book as it is funny

But spikes voice is not what it was and to be honest it was heartbreaking to listen to

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A delightful time capsule

Yes he’s old, yes sone jokes are now a bit off, but Spike’s war diaries remain a lense into the life if an ordinary bloke’s experience of war. Except, of course, Spike is extraordinary. His delight at his own jokes is infectious, his sorrow at lost love heartbreaking. And sprinkled throughout are insights into the human condition. Ignore the negatives, Spike remains a precious presence.

Tip - speed it to 1.1

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

very dated

unfortunately Spike's performance is poor ... he's clearly in his later years, very sad.... the language is dated and very nonPC...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Good bye Soldier

Well worth a listen about a man who we have seen on films and TV but did not no things he had been through

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