Bettie's Books

bookshelves: radio-4x, summer-2014, published-2006, amusing, epistolatory-diary-blog, autobiography-memoir, britain-scotland, nonfiction

He has such a lovely face.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n46wt

Description: "Michael Palin is not just one of Britain's foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night . . . then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary." --John Cleese
"For Palin it has been one hell of a ride, but he seems to have maintained equilibrium all along the way. . . . In sum, it's tempting to call him a Renaissance Man. But that, as any Pythonite would be quick to tell you, would be silly." --Jonathan Yardley, "The Washington Post Book World"
Michael Palin has kept a diary since he was newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter, and Monty Python was just around the corner.
This volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys--Jones and Gilliam--and Eric Idle came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin's story. Here too is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, his solo effort as an actor," " and his writing endeavours (often in partnership with Terry Jones) that produce "Ripping Yarns" and even a pantomime.
Meanwhile, Monty Python refuses to go away: his account of the making of both "The Holy Grail" and the "Life of Brian" movies are page-turners, and the sometimes extraordinary goings-on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team makes for funny and riveting reading.

Episode 1: The Monty Python star recalls the influential comedy troupe's huge success in the 70s and the making of their first film.

2/5 Recalling the Python team's success in America and the start of their own solo projects.

3/5 The comic actor and travel writer reflects on his relationship with his ailing dad.

4/5 The comic actor shares his surreal experience of guest hosting a big American TV show.

5/5 The actor and writer recalls how the influential comedy group reconvened in 1977.