Career: After the war, Milligan returned to jazz and made ends meet performing in the Bill Hall Trio and other musical comedy acts. His big break came in the 1950s as a writer-performer on The Goon Show, a hugely popular BBC radio show that ran for nearly 10 years and also made stars of Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine and Harry Secombe. Milligan went on to make a number of TV shows as a writer-performer, including The Telegoons, The World of Beachcomber, Curry & Chips, The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, and the Q comedy sketch show (Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9 and There's a Lot of It About). Away from radio and TV, he wrote poetry, novels and a series of war memoirs, including Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. He died from kidney failure on February 27, 2002 at the age of 83.

Career: During his theatre job, he developed his skills as a drummer and played with a number of touring bands. He became a member of the Entertainments National Service Association, which provided entertainment for British forces and factory workers during the Second World War. In 1943, Sellers joined the RAF and toured with Ralph Reader's RAF Gang Show troupe. In 1948, he landed a six-week run at the Windmill Theatre in London, providing a comedy turn in-between the nude shows. He made his TV debut in 1948 doing impressions on New to You, but his big break came on the radio in 1951 when he appeared in The Goon Show. The hugely popular series ran until 1960. He took on a number of small film roles in the 1950s until he was offered one of the main roles in Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (1955). Other films followed, including I'm All Right Jack, which became the highest grossing film at the British box office in 1960. Further success came in the 1960s with roles in Lolita (1962), The Pink Panther (1962), Dr Strangelove (1964), A Shot in the Dark (1964), What's New Pussycat (1965) and Casino Royale (1967). After a serious of poorly received films, he returned to his Inspector Clouseau character in box-office success The Return of the Pink Panther (1975). He followed this up in 1976 with The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and the Revenge of the Pink Panther in 1978. In 1979 he starred in the acclaimed films The Prisoner of Zenda and Being There. He died on July 24, 1980 at the age of 54.