Goon used his noodle to highlight animal rights

Spike Milligan once walked into Harrods with a dustbin full of spaghetti.

Forty years ago this month, the comic marched into the upmarket Knightsbridge department store with  28lbs (12.7kg) of cooked pasta, which they intended to present to the food hall manager.

It was in protest at the store selling foie gras pâté – and was said to be what a human would have to eat to equal the six pounds of maize rammed down a foie gras goose’s throat every day for three to four weeks.

The stunt, on a busy Saturday morning, was organised by Compassion in World Farming, of which the animal-loving comedian was a staunch supporter.

At the time its spokesperson Carol Long told charity’s local newspaper the Petersfield Post: ‘We decided that we would still take the spaghetti into the food hall – with Spike leading the way. We were stopped in the meat department and, after listening to us, we were escorted out of the building by security guards.’

The newspaper has just unearthed the story from its archives to mark the 40th anniversary.  

Producing foie gras has been illegal in the UK since 2007, but it remains legal to import it.

One of Milligan’s most famous routines involved a dustbin…

Published: 7 Jan 2026