Comic genius Spike Milligan welcomed an honorary knighthood in typically eccentric fashion, saying simply: "Help!"

The 82-year-old star, who lives at Uddimore, near Rye, has been recognised as one of the country's most prolific and original funnymen.

He has long been a favourite of the Prince of Wales.

Milligan's wife Shelagh, 56, said he was "delighted and thrilled" to receive the title.

She said: "I asked Spike what his reaction was and he simply said, 'Help,' and no more.

"But I can say that he is deeply pleased to have been recognised for all the work he has done, like the Goon Show.

"He likes a pat on the back like the rest of us. It is very nice for him to be appreciated in this way.

"I know he will accept it with open arms. He really is happy about it."

Milligan's finely-tuned sense of the absurd dominated post-war radio's Goon Show, which he wrote and in which he featured alongside Sir Harry Secombe and the late Peter Sellers. His talent was given further rein in his Q series on BBC2.

However, he has long been a tortured artist.

His prolific work rate took a toll on his health, causing mental breakdowns, and he has long been wracked by depression.

There has always been far more to Milligan than his madcap comedy.

He is an accomplished poet and wrote several volumes of war memoirs which, though riotously funny, contained the bitter aftertaste of brutal conflict.

He has taken numerous brief screen roles including parts in Monty Python's Life Of Brian, Mel Brooks' History Of The World: Part 1. In an adaptation of his book Adolf Hitler - My Part In His Downfall he played his own father.

Milligan has also been an impressive jazz musician, playing the cornet and trumpet, and waged passionate campaigns for his beliefs. He railed against abortion, vivisection, needless noise and factory farming.

Milligan was born in India but adopted his Irish father's nationality after becoming stateless in 1960 due to immigration laws - despite spending seven years on active service in the British Army.

He refused to take the oath of allegiance which would have given him a British passport.

The three-times-married star was admitted to the private Cromwell Hospital in west London in October with severe kidney failure. He was discharged from hospital after treatment for blood poisoning.

His daughter Jane, who lives in London, said: "I am very pleased and proud for him. I think he is brilliant."