Obituaries

Eamonn Kelly (1914-2001)

Eamon Kelly

Eamonn Kelly, actor, story-teller and writer, was also prominent on the Dublin stage, as well as on radio and television.

He was quiet about his vegetarianism, by which he had lived for the last 20 years of his life, and was reluctant to become involved in vegetarian organisations. However, when asked, he revealed that his diet was his own personal response to the violence in the Ireland of the 1970s

Nicholas McMurry
Vegetarian Society of Ireland

Spike Milligan (1918-2002)

He made the world laugh, and it made him cry.

This is not the place to list his great achievements in comedy. That can be found elsewhere. It is sufficient to say that the Goon Show and his many books are well worth exploring, and that his influence on the next generation of comedians, particularly on Monty Python, was enormous.

Alongside the comic genius, Milligan suffered hugely from depression, and through frustration with the world around him. His campaigns on population control and hunting were well known. However, he was also a committed vegetarian and deeply upset at man's inhumanity to his fellow creatures. Rumours about him flourish, but I have heard that he was once arrested for trying to forcefeed a manager of Harrods with spaghetti to demonstrate what a fois gras goose felt like.

He will be remembered as a great comedian, but let us hope also, for his humanity.

Nicholas McMurry
Vegetarian Society of Ireland

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