MICHAEL PALIN's diaries begin in the late 1960s and tell how Python emerged and triumphed. Enjoying an unlikely cult status early on, the group then proceeded to tour in the United States and Canada, appearing, like pop stars, at sold-out stadiums coast to coast and on national chat shows. They even stayed in hotels newly trashed by Led Zeppelin, later investors in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, With this growing fame in the United States came the move from local public broadcasting to national television there and battles over censorship followed as up to one line in four was cut from the Python sketches, rendering them incomprehensible.

As their popularity grew, so Palin relates how, individually, the Pythons also went their separate ways. John Cleese wrote and acted in the now classic Fawlty Towers, while Michael Palin acted in an adaptation of Three Men in a Boat as well as creating, with Terry Jones, the memorable RippingYarns series. But, at the same time, Michael and the others were working to help keep the group together so they could reform for stage shows and the now celebrated series of films including The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian, many of whose lines are known by heart by a considerable proportion of the English-speaking world. A perceptive and funny chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.

MICHAEL PALIN is a scriptwriter, comedian, novelist, television presenter, actor and playwright. He established his reputation with Monty Python's Flying Circus and Ripping Yarns. His work also includes several famous films with Monty Python, as well as The Missionary, A Private Function, an award-winning performance as the hapless Ken in A Fish Called Wanda, American Friends and Fierce Creatures. His television credits include two films for the BBC's Great Railway Journeys, the plays East Of Ipswich and Number 27, and Alan Bleasdale's GBH. For many years his televised wanderings around the globe have captured record viewing audiences and his subsequent books have dominated the bestseller lists.

 

One hundred years after the birth of Ernest Hemingway , Michael Palin sets out to discover the man behind the legend: a hard-drinking womanizer who liked cats and shooting but who wrote like a dream and left an indelible impression on the Twentieth Century through his work. Inspired by the research for his bestselling novel, Hemingway's Chair , and as always driven by a desire to discover new places, Michael Palin explores Hemingway's world. Past and present intertwine when Michael travels to First World War battlefields in Italy, to Paris, and to Spain, where he learns about both bullfighting and the Civil War. He sees Florida celebrate the Hemingway centenary — with a look-alike competition, fishes on the Gulf Stream, goes on camera-safari in Africa, and visits Hemingway's hideaway in Idaho.

 

The author reads his own book unabridged, bringing out all the wit, humour and evocation of time and place which feature throughout his examination of one of the twentieth century's most colourful legends.

Michael Palin established his reputation with Monty Python's Flying Circus and Ripping Yarns . His work also includes several films with Monty Python as well as The Missionary , A Private Function , an award-winning performance as the haplesss Ken in A Fish Called Wanda , and more recently American Friends and Fierce Creatures . He has also written many books, most notably Around the World in 80Days , Vole to Vole, Full Circle and a number of children's stories. His television credits include two films for the BBC's Great Railway journeys series and GBH . He is also the author of the play The Weekend and the novel Hemingway's Chair .

---

 

Pole to Pole

Author : Michael Palin

Michael Palin

Published By : BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Length : 5 hours 40 minutes

Categories : Adventurers & Explorers
Non Fiction

Price : $26.99

Purchase…

Three years after going Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Palin was off again. Travelling from one end of the globe to the other, Palin and his team endured extremes of heat and cold as they crossed seventeen countries on trains, trucks, ships, rafts, ski-doos, buses, barges, bicycles and balloons. In this new recording, especially made for BBC Radio Collection, his vivid and humorous descriptions of their adventures will leave you wide-eyed with wonder and laughing out loud.

---

 

Sahara

Author : Michael Palin

Michael Palin

Published By : BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Length : 6 hours

Categories : Adventurers & Explorers
Non Fiction

Price : $29.49

Purchase…

Michael Palin's latest journey is across the Sahara desert, a place of romantic, almost magical appeal. Although famous as a geological location, its life, landscape and rich history are not so well-known. Periods of difficult travel will be repaid with new sights and sounds, people, languages, food and customs. The emphasis will be on Michael Palin's interaction with the people he meets, and on stretching him and his team as they undergo this arduous expedition.

Michael Palin page on Squidoo