And it's not just on the dusty back of army vehicles thta he is remembered - here's something happening today:

Stars celebrate life of Spike Milligan

Stars from the world of showbusiness turned out today to celebrate the life of comic genius Spike Milligan.

Stephen Fry, Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley and Eric Sykes were among the stars paying tribute to Milligan at St Martin-in-the-Fields, in Trafalgar Square, central London.

Other famous faces at the thanksgiving service included Terry Wogan, Bill Wyman, June Whitfield, Paul Merton and Beatles producer George Martin.

Milligan's death in February at the age of 83 marked the end of an era of British comedy.

The congregation was 700-strong and along with friends and family there were 200 Milligan fans who had applied for tickets.

The event began in comic fashion when everyone stood up as organ music was played in the belief that the service was about to start.

After ten minutes of nothing happening it dawned that the music was simply a recital of some of Milligan's favourite classical pieces and everybody sat down again.

Eddie Izzard had the congregation in stitches when he took to the podium to read the Milligan poem Have A Nice Day and introduced himself by saying: "Good morning. I am the Duke of Kent."

At Peter Sellers' funeral 22 years ago, Sir Harry Secombe sang a hymn and Milligan joked: "I hope you die before me because I don't want you singing at my funeral."

But Sir Harry had the last laugh today when his son David announced they had unearthed a recording of him singing Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer and it was played at the service.

Story filed: 12:34 Monday 24th June 2002