0:00:07 > 0:00:09I would describe him as a gentleman.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Well, it's still very tense here.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Anything could happen at any minute - honestly!
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Funny, amusing gent, I have to say.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Welease Woger!
0:00:18 > 0:00:19CROWD CHEERS
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Michael's genius is to come up with an extraordinary array
0:00:23 > 0:00:25of funny characters.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29SHOUTING: Arrange them nicely in a vase!
0:00:31 > 0:00:33I've always admired Michael as an actor.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35He's a terrific actor.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Stalin?
0:00:37 > 0:00:39There's a kind of fire in his eyes.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I must have wronged him so badly.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45Michael, to me, hasn't changed
0:00:45 > 0:00:48and that's kind of remarkable given the huge success
0:00:48 > 0:00:53and the way his career has blossomed into different fields.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55He's quite an exceptional man.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I'm more likely to be mad than you.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00He really created a new animal in television.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03The kind of irreverent travel documentary.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05So that's what a field looks like.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Well, everybody says how nice Michael is,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10but they don't know the real Michael as I do.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15He is, in fact, a very ambitious, ruthless, vicious bastard.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20A sociopath really because he has no feelings for all the people
0:01:20 > 0:01:22on whose careers he has trodden.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25It gives me great personal pleasure to present
0:01:25 > 0:01:29the BAFTA Fellowship for 2013
0:01:29 > 0:01:31to my dear friend Michael Palin.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:38 > 0:01:41Everybody stood up, which was rather wonderful, apart from my family,
0:01:41 > 0:01:42who were all in the front row.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45They couldn't see that everyone else was standing up all around them
0:01:45 > 0:01:48so they were just sitting there, saying "Oh, Dad."
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Humour. What is it? Where does it come from?
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Is it genetic or environmental?
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Are comedians born or are they made?
0:02:21 > 0:02:25I was born in Sheffield in South Yorkshire
0:02:25 > 0:02:27on the 5th of May, 1943.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33I had quite a sort of regular, I suppose, middle class childhood.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38My father worked at an office in the steelworks. He was export manager.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41My father had quite a bad stammer and I think that made him
0:02:41 > 0:02:42very frustrated sometimes
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and rather curmudgeonly every now and then
0:02:45 > 0:02:47and he could get very cross and he could get very angry
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and he could be fine, he could be lovely.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I'm afraid his father was the least funny man I've ever met.
0:02:53 > 0:02:59He was an angry man imprisoned by a terrible stutter.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Michael's mother however was lovely.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05She was just so nice.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08And she was quite interested in the fact that
0:03:08 > 0:03:10I was interested in things like acting and all that,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14whereas my father just thought that acting was a slippery slope
0:03:14 > 0:03:19to decadence and wandering the streets of London with lewd company
0:03:19 > 0:03:22and no money at all and having to come back to him
0:03:22 > 0:03:24and ask him for money, so he wasn't very keen on the acting.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28As children, my sister Angela and I were not exactly pampered,
0:03:28 > 0:03:29but we were secure.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33I went for walks, holiday trips to Norfolk,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36played French cricket and drank my welfare state orange juice,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39and at the grand age of five I was promptly sent out into the world
0:03:39 > 0:03:41to be educated.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43MUSIC: School Day by Chuck Berry
0:03:43 > 0:03:46# Up in the mornin' and out to school
0:03:46 > 0:03:49# The teacher is teachin' the Golden Rule. #
0:03:49 > 0:03:55I do remember when I was ten years old because it was 1953 and it was
0:03:55 > 0:04:01the Coronation and I used to do a little show for anyone who
0:04:01 > 0:04:04wanted to come along in the milk room during the break.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12I can remember doing improvisations in here.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13I must have been about nine or ten
0:04:13 > 0:04:17cos it was vaguely satirical material about the Coronation.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19The Duke of Edinburgh being caught short in the Abbey.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22But I can remember garnering a little audience of loyal people who
0:04:22 > 0:04:26just came along and laughed at me, so I suppose by the time I was ten,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28I knew that I could make people laugh.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36- RADIO:- # And much binding in the marsh. #
0:04:36 > 0:04:39We did listen to certain comedy shows on the radio.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Much Binding In The Marsh, Take It From Here, very funny shows,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46and that was one thing that really united the family.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48My father, mother and myself, and my sister if she was there,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52we'd all sit round, but then I discovered the Goon shows.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58- RADIO:- This is BBC light programmes and candidly, I'm fed up with it.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59Careful there, Wallace,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01otherwise I'll be forced to speak to John Snagge.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06These were something that I knew that I could never explain to my
0:05:06 > 0:05:10father and I just hoped and prayed that my father would never come in
0:05:10 > 0:05:15but he did come in and it was in the one of the extreme moments where
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Minnie and Henry Crun were talking.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19HE IMPERSONATES: Min, what the hell you doing?
0:05:19 > 0:05:22I'm going to go open the window!
0:05:22 > 0:05:26And he said to me, "Is the set broken, old boy?"
0:05:26 > 0:05:29I said, "No, no, no, that's the way it's supposed to be."
0:05:29 > 0:05:30He could never understand.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33He thought there was something wrong with the sound system
0:05:33 > 0:05:35causing these falsettos.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Oxford University, one of the world's great seats of learning,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48but it's also a crucible, a melting pot of ideas, thoughts...
0:05:48 > 0:05:49CAR HORN HONKS
0:05:49 > 0:05:51HE SCREAMS
0:05:51 > 0:05:54There are certain things I would point to at Oxford which
0:05:54 > 0:05:56changed the direction of my life and one of them certainly
0:05:56 > 0:06:00was on the first day meeting someone called Robert Hewison.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06I first met Michael in the autumn of 1962,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09my first day at university,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13and it so happened that Michael was going to same college.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18We both loved the Goon shows and Peter Sellers
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and all that sort of stuff.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23We did work terribly hard at university,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27but at being funny rather than actually doing any academic work.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Me being the pushier one of the two,
0:06:30 > 0:06:35I got us our first gig for the university psychological society.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Which I remember fondly because we hardly got a laugh
0:06:39 > 0:06:43and we did 30 minutes and you could have heard a pin drop.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47# Here I go again. #
0:06:49 > 0:06:52I suppose the most important thing I did there was to be chosen to be
0:06:52 > 0:06:54in the Oxford University Revue at the Edinburgh Festival.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57# There I was
0:06:57 > 0:07:01# All by myself
0:07:01 > 0:07:03# Doin' all right. #
0:07:03 > 0:07:06There was myself, Terry Jones, Annabel Leventon,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Doug Fisher and Nigel Pegram.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Just the five of us.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Terry Jones and myself had met at Oxford and we wrote the revue
0:07:14 > 0:07:18together and performed it together
0:07:18 > 0:07:20in a hall which was lent to us
0:07:20 > 0:07:23by the Edinburgh parks and burials department.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27We came to here, the great temple of the arts,
0:07:27 > 0:07:28the Cranston Street Hall.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31- Oh, the name, what it meant in those days.- Yes.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Everyone was just desperate for somewhere to perform
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and we got the parks and burials department headquarters.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43Being on stage there doing new material that we'd...
0:07:43 > 0:07:46I'd written some of it, Terry had written some of it,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49was just a feeling that,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53"Hey, just possibly, just possibly, one could do this
0:07:53 > 0:07:56"for a living."
0:07:56 > 0:07:58The difference between doing a revue in Oxford than Edinburgh
0:07:58 > 0:08:00was in Edinburgh, people noticed you,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02people from the outside world, impresarios.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06David Frost coming backstage and talking to you, you know,
0:08:06 > 0:08:07people from London taking notice.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10You gradually got the feeling that it was going in a direction.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13David Frost had come up to the Edinburgh Revue.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15He'd actually come talent spotting and had seen us,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17so we're all crammed at the bottom of the stairs.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20We're all trying to get in front of David Frost
0:08:20 > 0:08:22so he'll recognise us in the future.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24I, unfortunately, got the back of his head,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27but Terry got in front of him and he said, "We like it very much."
0:08:37 > 0:08:42# I'm in with the in-crowd
0:08:42 > 0:08:46# I go where the in-crowd go. #
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Thanks to a contact, a friend of a friend at Oxford,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I was asked to audition as a presenter
0:08:54 > 0:08:57of a television pop show called Now...
0:09:00 > 0:09:04..which was being put on in Bristol by Television Wales and the West,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07and, erm... I got the job.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11MUSIC: It's Not Unusual by Tom Jones
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It was really enjoyable to do. Tom Jones was just starting.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16He'd come on every other week.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Eric Clapton was there regularly.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23# It's not unusual to have fun with anyone
0:09:24 > 0:09:28# But when I see you hanging about with anyone
0:09:29 > 0:09:33# It's not unusual to see me cry
0:09:33 > 0:09:36# I wanna die. #
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Although it may not have been the greatest show ever,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42it did pay me £30 a week
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and I got married in 1966 on that,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48so I'd invested a lot into getting into television
0:09:48 > 0:09:50and it was a very hairy existence.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53You didn't know where the next job was going to come from.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Fortunately, I had Terry then
0:09:55 > 0:09:57so the two of us worked pretty well together.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08The Frost Report came along and we were
0:10:08 > 0:10:10contacted by James Gilbert, Jimmy Gilbert,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12who was the producer who said,
0:10:12 > 0:10:17"David saw you up in Edinburgh and are you still writing with Terry?
0:10:17 > 0:10:20"We'd love you to be contributors to the programme."
0:10:20 > 0:10:23And I think The Frost Report was the first time where I felt
0:10:23 > 0:10:25we could, Mike and I, could get material on.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30There was one about what judges do when the court has risen.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32They go out back of the courtroom and into a fairground.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Ooh, up and down the slide and all that in judges' outfits.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44We were able to get one or two long sketches accepted.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48This was the holy grail of The Frost Report was to get a long sketch
0:10:48 > 0:10:51accepted because they were generally John Cleese
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and Graham Chapman, who I didn't know particularly well at that time,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57but they were supplying some wonderful material.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59We were all on the writers' table for The Frost Report
0:10:59 > 0:11:02beginning of '66, you know,
0:11:02 > 0:11:08with Dick Vosburgh and Barry Cryer and Chapman, Eric, Terry Jones.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10There was Marty Feldman.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Lots of people who'd been working far longer than we had
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and were very good so you had to find your little niche.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19# It's all too beautiful. #
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Mike Palin and I had been working for The Frost Report, I suppose,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29through 1966, something like that,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34and in probably late '66 or early '67, I got a phone call
0:11:34 > 0:11:38from Humphrey Barclay, who was a young thrusting producer
0:11:38 > 0:11:40in light entertainment for Rediffusion.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44He asked me if I'd like to combine with Eric Idle
0:11:44 > 0:11:47and write and perform a children's show.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49So we all got together.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Humphrey had independently found a guy called David Jason.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57So we were all young and keen,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00you know, sparkling with energy
0:12:00 > 0:12:02and desperate to want to get on and do it.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Do not adjust your set.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12I'm Terry Jones and I'm King Lear.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15I'm Eric Idle and I'm Edmund.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17I'm Michael Palin and I'm Cordelia.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20And I'm David Jason and I'm the King of France.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24It was a bit like Python was to be, really.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26You would tend to... We were writing it...
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Eric, Terry and myself were writing
0:12:28 > 0:12:33and you tend to play some of the characters that you've written.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Mike Palin had that extra quality where he couldn't help but be funny.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41I am not a criminal.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46I am, in fact, a stool pigeon.
0:12:46 > 0:12:53- You what?- I am a plain-clothed police officer in disguise.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57So am I. Superintendent Jackson, CID.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Well, so am I. Sergeant Pepper, Criminal Records.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04So am I. Police Constable Raymond Francis, Q Division.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08We used to watch Do Not Adjust Your Set which was a kids' programme
0:13:08 > 0:13:13allegedly but funnier than anything else on adult television.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Well, it's still very tense here.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17Anything could happen at any minute - honestly!
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Mike Palin and the writers,
0:13:20 > 0:13:26they wanted to expand their writing to include more adult material,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29because they were having to cut so much of their material
0:13:29 > 0:13:32because the producers were saying,
0:13:32 > 0:13:34"No, no, we can't use that. Cut that out."
0:13:34 > 0:13:35With only 15 seconds left,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37there's just time for a quick word from David.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40- Boot!- It's the end!
0:13:42 > 0:13:46After Do Not Adjust Your Set in 1968, say, early '69,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49we were writing for anyone wherever we could.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51We just needed the money.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54We had our first child in 1968.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57There was mortgage to pay and all that sort of thing,
0:13:57 > 0:13:59so you just needed to keep working.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06And we came up with this idea of treating the history
0:14:06 > 0:14:10of Britain as if television had been there at the time.
0:14:10 > 0:14:11It was a kind of loose format,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14but it meant you could do lots of jokes about history, really.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18I mean, an estate agent showing somebody Stonehenge.
0:14:18 > 0:14:19- Cosy, innit?- Well...
0:14:19 > 0:14:22As I say, it's ideal for a young couple like yourselves
0:14:22 > 0:14:23with 30 or 40 children.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26It's got character, charm and a slab in the middle.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29- What about the gaps?- Doors?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Isn't it a bit draughty in winter?
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Not if you keep running about, dear. Not if you keep running about.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36I thought it was funny.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41I remember them interviewing Richard III in the bath
0:14:41 > 0:14:45with the rest of the team after whatever battle it was.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47Bosworth Field? No, no, he lost that one.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Well, anyway, I always thought they were funny.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53- You must be very pleased with the boys?- Certainly am, David.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55They did a wonderful job.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57- Did you expect to win? - Well, I never had any doubts, David.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59The boys have been fighting very well on the Continent,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02but this was the big one they were all looking forward to.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07That was where we got the idea of telephoning them and saying,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12"Why don't we get together in a group and do a show together?"
0:15:12 > 0:15:18So when he did ring up, I think in April 1969, and said,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20"Oh, I've just seen your series,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23"The Complete And Utter History Of Britain."
0:15:23 > 0:15:25I was rather pleased and said, "Oh, good, good."
0:15:25 > 0:15:28He said, "You won't be doing any more of those, will you?"
0:15:28 > 0:15:29which is very much more John.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32And we got together and had a couple of friendly chats
0:15:32 > 0:15:34and then went off to the BBC to see
0:15:34 > 0:15:37the Head of Light Entertainment, Head of Comedy, Michael Mills,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40who asked us what we were proposing to do
0:15:40 > 0:15:42and we were unable to tell him.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47We were so wonderfully, gloriously incompetent and badly prepared.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49He just asked what sort of...
0:15:49 > 0:15:52What's it going to be called for a start?
0:15:52 > 0:15:56And we said, "Well, we don't know."
0:15:56 > 0:15:59"Well, will it have music? Music interlude?"
0:16:01 > 0:16:02"I don't know."
0:16:02 > 0:16:06And he looked at us with pity as we tried to stagger our way
0:16:06 > 0:16:08through a meeting that we hadn't prepared for.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11And at the end he stood up and this is just quite extraordinary,
0:16:11 > 0:16:15probably the most wonderful words I've ever heard uttered.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20He said, "All right, I'll give you 13 shows, but that's all."
0:16:20 > 0:16:22And now for something completely different.
0:16:22 > 0:16:23It's...
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Monty Python's Flying Circus-s-s!
0:16:32 > 0:16:35A comedy show written by a small group of people
0:16:35 > 0:16:39that liked each other's work and see what would come of it.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44It was simple as that and, most extraordinarily, the mix worked.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47It worked ever so well. I don't quite know why. It just did.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50So the thing about Python was we were a good team
0:16:50 > 0:16:52because we were all good at different things
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and people forget that that's what you want in a team.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58You don't want people who are good at the same thing.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Michael's really good at diffusing tension in a group situation
0:17:02 > 0:17:04or hostilities.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07He has a natural gift for that and that goes a long way.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Sometimes he can be annoyingly conciliatory.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Sometimes you want him to stand up for a point of view.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17I always used to say he could have tea with Hitler and Stalin
0:17:17 > 0:17:21and they'd both come away with the impression he was on their side.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23He's immensely agreeable.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26- Is it funny?- It is funny, yeah.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29It's just a matter of working it out when you do it with someone.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32It held together better than I expected.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34In a sense, the most important part of the process of putting
0:17:34 > 0:17:36a show together was that first reading.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39If something made everybody laugh hilariously,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42like the dead parrot, that was gold star. That went on a pile.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44I wish to make a complaint.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46- Sorry, we're closing for lunch. - Never mind that, my lad.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased
0:17:49 > 0:17:51not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Oh, yes, the Norwegian Blue. What's wrong with it?
0:17:53 > 0:17:55I'll tell you what's wrong with it.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57It's dead, that's what's wrong with it.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Nah, nah, it's resting, look.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02I could write almost anything. I...
0:18:02 > 0:18:06I liked more the kind of surreal ideas.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08# I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
0:18:08 > 0:18:11# I sleep all night, I work all day
0:18:11 > 0:18:13# He's a lumberjack and he's OK
0:18:13 > 0:18:16# He sleeps all night and he works all day. #
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Michael was the only person in the group who could have played
0:18:19 > 0:18:23that part because he has that natural butchness about him.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26He's very male, but there's a sweetness too,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29so I think that added to the humour of it.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34# I cut down trees, I wear high heels, suspenders and a bra
0:18:34 > 0:18:39# I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear mama. #
0:18:39 > 0:18:45But his great gift is characters, rather than dialogue itself.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
0:18:52 > 0:18:55The Fish Slapping Dance, it's very strange cos it feels as though
0:18:55 > 0:18:57we improvised it, but we clearly didn't.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03There's something about the Fish Slapping Dance,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07I've not found anybody who... Well, I would say it's the perfect test of
0:19:07 > 0:19:09whether you have a sense of humour or not.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23But when he does that dainty hopping around to the music,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25it's absolutely wonderful and then
0:19:25 > 0:19:29when we were rehearsing it, the water was much higher in the lock.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33When we came to shoot it, it dropped about to about 12 feet
0:19:33 > 0:19:35but Michael goes right in.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And what I love about it is it's so hard to say why it's funny.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52And yet nearly everybody smiles and some people fall about,
0:19:52 > 0:19:57so I would regard that the high point of my career.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01COCONUT SHELLS CLIP-CLOPPING
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Whoa, there!
0:20:04 > 0:20:06All I remember is that we had no idea what we were doing
0:20:06 > 0:20:10although I think we didn't realise quite how clueless we were
0:20:10 > 0:20:13so when we sat down to write The Holy Grail,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16the first draft, we threw away 90% of.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon
0:20:19 > 0:20:20from the castle of Camelot.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26Sovereign of all England.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29- Pull the other one.- I am!
0:20:29 > 0:20:33Terry and myself had written a sketch about two people
0:20:33 > 0:20:37coming up to battlements with coconuts and all that.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41It was a very silly idea and didn't really go anywhere,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43but when we were all talking together,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47as happened with Python, sort of ripples go round,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50ideas bounce off each other and someone said,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53"Why don't we do a story of The Holy Grail?"
0:21:02 > 0:21:07The key scene was the moment when Michael wrote the coconuts
0:21:07 > 0:21:10and we then realised that that's what it was about.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15I mean, earlier we'd had King Arthur wandering through the pet department
0:21:15 > 0:21:19of Harrods going to buy a pet ant.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21You see what I mean? We were all over the shop.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Once we saw Michael's sketch, I remember thinking,
0:21:25 > 0:21:26"We have a movie."
0:21:29 > 0:21:32- It's very scripted?- As ever, yes.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35It's very scripted and then we get together and just about ten minutes
0:21:35 > 0:21:39before a take, the script is slightly rewritten.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42About five minutes before the take, it's fairly radically rewritten,
0:21:42 > 0:21:43so in fact at the very last minute,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45there's usually some little extra bits creep in.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Hello!
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Hello, who is it?
0:21:50 > 0:21:53It is King Arthur and these are my Knights of the Round Table.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Whose castle is this?
0:21:55 > 0:21:58This is the castle of my master, Guy de Lombard!
0:21:58 > 0:22:03We'd chosen Scotland because wonderful scenery that was free
0:22:03 > 0:22:06and, in fact, it wasn't that easy.
0:22:06 > 0:22:07Some of the castles in Scotland
0:22:07 > 0:22:09are really impressive that we wanted to use,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12and they're owned by the National Trust for Scotland
0:22:12 > 0:22:14and they weren't particularly keen.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16They weren't at all keen that we should use them.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20They said the script was not compatible with the dignity
0:22:20 > 0:22:23of the fabric of the buildings.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26You know, these were buildings they poured boiling oil down.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28People's heads had been put on spikes at the gate,
0:22:28 > 0:22:34but not comedy, no, so we ended up using a privately-owned castle
0:22:34 > 0:22:37called Doune Castle and that was great.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39They were very nice and let us
0:22:39 > 0:22:43muck around and throw cows over the battlements and that sort of thing.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46If you do not agree to my commands, then I shall...
0:22:46 > 0:22:48COW MOOS
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Jesus Christ!
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Crikey!
0:22:52 > 0:22:55And they've done well out of it because now they're the place
0:22:55 > 0:23:00where Japanese tourists go to see where Monty Python filmed.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03And the gift shop, they very presciently decided
0:23:03 > 0:23:04to sell coconut halves
0:23:04 > 0:23:06and do very well out of it.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08- You're using coconuts.- What?
0:23:08 > 0:23:11You've got two empty halves of coconut
0:23:11 > 0:23:13- and you're banging them together. - So?
0:23:13 > 0:23:15We had to reassure ourselves at the end of each day
0:23:15 > 0:23:18that what we'd done was funny.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And I particularly remember the Knights Who Say Ni...
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Ni, ni, ni, ni, ni.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28- Who are you? - We are the Knights Who Say...
0:23:28 > 0:23:32- ..ni, ni, ni, ni, ni.- No, not the Knights Who Say Ni?- The same.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36..which was done fairly late on in the day in the middle of some woods.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41It was quite cold. I had to stand on top of a ladder to make me tall
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and then this huge helmet was put on my head
0:23:44 > 0:23:45so I couldn't really see much
0:23:45 > 0:23:49and then, you know, somehow through the comedy of the sketch,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52I just had the feeling why are we doing this?
0:23:52 > 0:23:53This is just not going to work.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58We shall say ni again to you if you do not appease us.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00We'll, what is it you want?
0:24:00 > 0:24:01We want...
0:24:03 > 0:24:05..a shrubbery!
0:24:05 > 0:24:06A what?
0:24:06 > 0:24:08But, in the end, who knows?
0:24:08 > 0:24:10In the end it's now something that everybody sort of remembers -
0:24:10 > 0:24:12the Knights Who Say Ni.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15- Ni, ni, ni, ni, ni. - Ah, please, please, no more!
0:24:15 > 0:24:21I thought Michael's scene with the Knights of Ni was inspired
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and it's one of those things, it means nothing.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27That's what's so laughable about it.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29It means absolutely nothing
0:24:29 > 0:24:33and in the end it's one of the ones that everyone always talks about.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37# My school, my school
0:24:37 > 0:24:41# How bravely she stands. #
0:24:41 > 0:24:45It was the BBC approaching Michael to do his own show.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49They recognised that he's a star and would be really good at it,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52but Michael's such a nice chap he had to bring his old partner along,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55so I had to be involved.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57The reason behind the Ripping Yarns was we felt
0:24:57 > 0:25:01if we're going to do something with two Pythons in it,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04writing and performing, it actually... It can't be like Python.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06We've got to make it as far away as possible.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Terry Jones and myself had experimented
0:25:09 > 0:25:14with longer narrative formats in the Python shows and so we thought,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"Well, let's try and do little half-hour stories."
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Thank you, Foster. Next, please.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Meeting the headmaster was just one of those ghastly chores
0:25:24 > 0:25:27which produced such depression within me.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32- CANE SWIPES - Oooh, that's better!
0:25:32 > 0:25:35There was also the compulsory fight with a grizzly bear,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38which all new boys had to go through.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Mike comes up with the whole Tomkinson's Schooldays was his idea.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48He wrote the first five or ten minutes
0:25:48 > 0:25:53and... I think that was a cry from the heart from his point of view,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56that it was actually ABOUT his schooldays.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00And there was St Tadger's Day when, by an old tradition,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02boys who had been at the school for less that two years,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05were allowed to be nailed to the walls by senior pupils.
0:26:10 > 0:26:16People make the connection that it was based on my schooldays,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19but no-one got nailed to the school wall when I was at Shrewsbury,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22nor did we have a school leopard that patrolled,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25waiting to catch boys who were trying to escape.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Tomkinson!
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I was 17 miles from Graybridge
0:26:29 > 0:26:31before I was caught by the school leopard.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Spike sent me a fan letter after the first Ripping Yarn
0:26:38 > 0:26:41in his very distinctive style.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44"More Ripping Yarns, please. Yours, Spike."
0:26:44 > 0:26:48That was one of the best communications I've ever received.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51# Brian
0:26:51 > 0:26:54# The babe they call Brian. #
0:26:54 > 0:26:57The Life Of Brian had to be set in the Holy Land or something
0:26:57 > 0:26:59that looked like the Holy Land,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03so it had to be sort of desert and rocky so we chose Tunisia.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Good morning, Michael.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11I was just practising for the burning fiery bush scene.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14- Oh, right.- Carry on. - He's written a fiery bush scene.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18- Good luck with the make-up sketch. - In it, what Michael has...
0:27:20 > 0:27:23- ..is a strong grip. - Oh, John, hurry up and get made up.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25TRUMPET FANFARE
0:27:25 > 0:27:27CROWDS CHEER
0:27:27 > 0:27:29When we had crowd scenes,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32we had local extras and it was rather bizarre
0:27:32 > 0:27:38cos a lot of Muslim shepherds coming in to do a send up of,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40you know, Christianity.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42They couldn't really sort of get to grips with it really.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45People of Jerusalem.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50There was one scene where I'm being... Pilate is talking about
0:27:50 > 0:27:52"Welease Woger" and all that sort of stuff.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Welease Woger!
0:27:55 > 0:27:58He wanks higher than any in Wome!
0:27:58 > 0:28:01They all have to roar with laughter at him.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03This man commands a cwack legion!
0:28:03 > 0:28:06CROWD LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY
0:28:08 > 0:28:10He wanks as high as any in Wome!
0:28:10 > 0:28:13CROWD LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY
0:28:14 > 0:28:16They didn't get it the first time at all
0:28:16 > 0:28:18and the second time, Terry Jones, as the director,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20came up and actually showed them what to do.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23He did this amazing act just rolling on his back going...
0:28:23 > 0:28:25"Ah-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!"
0:28:25 > 0:28:28Cackled with laughter, kicked his legs in the air.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31I got up and I said to the assistant director,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34"Just tell them to do what I do, all right?"
0:28:34 > 0:28:36"Blah-blah-blah-blah."
0:28:36 > 0:28:39And I sort of started laughing hilariously
0:28:39 > 0:28:41and then fell on my back and wagged my legs in the air.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43And they were all laughing at Terry and what he'd done.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46This was the director, the man who was telling them what to do.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Their laughter was actually laughing at him,
0:28:48 > 0:28:50rather than what I was doing.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53All right, sir. My final offer, half a shekel for an old ex-leper?
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Did you say ex-leper?
0:28:55 > 0:28:57That's right, sir. 16 years behind the bell and proud of it, sir.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00- Well, what happened? - I was cured, sir.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02- Cured?- Yes, a bloody miracle, sir. God bless you.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- Who cured you?- Jesus did, sir.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07I was hopping along, minding my own business.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09All of a sudden, up he comes. Cures me!
0:29:09 > 0:29:12One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood's gone.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15Not so much as a by-your-leave. "You're cured mate."
0:29:15 > 0:29:16Bloody do-gooder!
0:29:16 > 0:29:18I think it's a very good joke.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22It's the nearest you can get to actually making a joke about Christ.
0:29:22 > 0:29:23People being so ungrateful.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26- There you are.- Thank you, sir.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Half a denarii for me bloody life story?!
0:29:29 > 0:29:30There's no pleasing some people.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32That's just what Jesus said, sir.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39I knew that some people, whatever you said or felt, would be upset
0:29:39 > 0:29:44just by having Monty Python and Jesus mentioned in the same film,
0:29:44 > 0:29:49because some people just can't see comedy as helping you understand
0:29:49 > 0:29:54things better or feel more comfortable about things
0:29:54 > 0:29:57through comedy. They see comedy definitely
0:29:57 > 0:29:58as something kind of which is
0:29:58 > 0:30:01essentially destructive and I just don't see that.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03I think quite the opposite.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14When Saturday Night Live was kind of going from round about after
0:30:14 > 0:30:15Python broke in the States,
0:30:15 > 0:30:21and in 1984 I was asked to go over there and host.
0:30:21 > 0:30:27And it was my mother's 80th birthday and I took her
0:30:27 > 0:30:31and my sister to New York and Lorne Michaels, the producer
0:30:31 > 0:30:34of Saturday Night Live, hearing my mother was there, said,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37"Would she like to come on the programme, make an appearance?"
0:30:37 > 0:30:42So I thought, well, she's 80. She's just here on holiday.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44I don't think so, but I said I'd ask.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49So that night I asked her and I said, "Would you come on the show?"
0:30:49 > 0:30:52"Yes, yes, all right, dear, yes, fine, whatever you want me to do."
0:30:56 > 0:30:59All right, there's your book. Now anything else you want?
0:30:59 > 0:31:00Any vitamin tablets?
0:31:01 > 0:31:03Murdoch newspapers?
0:31:04 > 0:31:06Hair-curling equipment?
0:31:06 > 0:31:10- No, that's all. Now go ahead and be funny.- Thank you.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14They adored her
0:31:14 > 0:31:18and she stayed on at the party till about five in the morning.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Her finest hour. Not mine, but hers.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30Action.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32Sam!
0:31:32 > 0:31:33Sam, do you know Alison?
0:31:33 > 0:31:36I think Terry Gilliam felt very loyal to me
0:31:36 > 0:31:39because I'd done Jabberwocky and his next film, Brazil,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41was a bigger thing altogether.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Don't get excited just because you're on film today.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46It can all be cut out later.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48That was fun. Cut.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50He offered me the part of Jack Lint.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53We liked that, actually, because
0:31:53 > 0:31:55I was playing a really nasty character.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57Excuse me.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02- Jack.- Sam.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06You can be the smoothest, nicest, most charming person, but be very,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09very nasty underneath, so he said, "It'd be good for you to do that."
0:32:09 > 0:32:12In a strange way, this was probably one of the more difficult things
0:32:12 > 0:32:15for Mike because I was trying to get him to play himself,
0:32:15 > 0:32:16which isn't what Mike does.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Mike is brilliant at playing ten million other characters.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23No, I play the character of Jack. Yeah. Jack Lint.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26She's innocent, Jack.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31- Sam, we've always been close, haven't we?- Yes, Jack.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33Until this all blows over, just stay away from me.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37In a slightly sheepish moment when he said,
0:32:37 > 0:32:42"Oh, I'm trying to get De Niro to have a part."
0:32:42 > 0:32:45I said, "Oh, wow! God figure, yes, great."
0:32:45 > 0:32:46We're all in it together, kid.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53He said, "But I showed him the script
0:32:53 > 0:32:57"and the part he wanted is the part that I've given you."
0:32:57 > 0:32:59I said, "Oh, well, that doesn't matter."
0:32:59 > 0:33:01"No", he said, "No, no, no, I told him it's taken.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04"My friend Mike's got that. It's taken."
0:33:04 > 0:33:06So De Niro - look elsewhere!
0:33:08 > 0:33:10Jack?
0:33:10 > 0:33:15But I was then shot through the head by Robert De Niro.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20That's going on my CV - shot by Robert De Niro.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22I might put it on my gravestone.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25Hello, Wanda.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35I had the idea early on in A Fish Called Wanda
0:33:35 > 0:33:39that somebody with a terrible stutter should be trying to
0:33:39 > 0:33:41tell somebody something very, very urgently
0:33:41 > 0:33:43and not be able to get a word out.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45Ca...
0:33:45 > 0:33:48- Plenty of time.- Ca...
0:33:48 > 0:33:50Ca...
0:33:50 > 0:33:51- The Ca...- Oh, come on!
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Sorry. I'm sorry.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Um... All right, wait.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58The Ca... The...
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Here. Write it. Write it.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12- Cathcart Towers Hotel? - Cathcart Towers Hotel.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13Well, where is it?
0:34:13 > 0:34:16And I think I always knew it was going to be Michael
0:34:16 > 0:34:21because I knew that Michael's father had had a terrible stutter
0:34:21 > 0:34:25and that is why he is so wonderful in that scene
0:34:25 > 0:34:30because he studied it, you know, while he was growing up.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32It's perfection.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35I thought it was the most wonderful film to be involved in,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39but, looking back on my diaries, I found that about a year before
0:34:39 > 0:34:44when I first read, or six months before, I found it very violent.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47There's too much violence to make it funny.
0:34:47 > 0:34:48Will you shut up?
0:34:48 > 0:34:50Oh, Jesus Christ. Don't kill me, please.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52Shut up, then.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55And what I'd done was I'd really looked at the Kevin Kline part.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58He is a pretty awful character,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02and not been able to see how funny Kevin could make it.
0:35:07 > 0:35:08I'm almost full.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13- Almost.- Stop!
0:35:13 > 0:35:15Please don't...
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Come on, Wanda.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Gullet time!
0:35:19 > 0:35:22It was a very good combination of different styles
0:35:22 > 0:35:23and yet they all gelled,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27a bit like the way Python brought people from all different kind of...
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Different ideas and approaches, different ways of life,
0:35:30 > 0:35:32together and it all worked.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37The thing that really annoyed me about Jamie and Michael is that
0:35:37 > 0:35:42I think Jamie kisses four men in the course of the movie and she said
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Michael was the best kisser.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56We did have a kissing scene, which was very enjoyable indeed.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59And I said I was kissing in character.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03No, not yet.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07After A Fish Called Wanda all I was aware was that there were no
0:36:07 > 0:36:12really good film scripts around and so it was a little bit of limbo.
0:36:12 > 0:36:13PHONE RINGS
0:36:15 > 0:36:16Hello.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21Out of the blue, a man called Will Wyatt, head of documentaries
0:36:21 > 0:36:23at the BBC then, had got in touch with me and said,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27"We've got this idea for something that's never been done before.
0:36:27 > 0:36:28"We want you to present it."
0:36:28 > 0:36:3180 days? Yes.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Oh, I see. And I'd be... I'd be Phileas Fogg?
0:36:35 > 0:36:38Would you do this thing called Around The World In 80 Days?
0:36:53 > 0:36:54Whoops!
0:36:56 > 0:37:00There was a very nice guy called Clem Vallance who had come up
0:37:00 > 0:37:03with the idea and I thought this is a wonderful idea
0:37:03 > 0:37:05and I said yes straight away.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09I couldn't believe why anyone would not want to do something like this.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17When the idea of Around The World In 80 Days came up,
0:37:17 > 0:37:22Michael was the person that was kind of behind my thinking.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24He'd just done one documentary,
0:37:24 > 0:37:26which was a train journey through England.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30They call this the Skyline and it runs through some of the most
0:37:30 > 0:37:33gloomily beautiful country in the world.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37And that's why perhaps I thought of him when we had
0:37:37 > 0:37:40the idea of doing a Phileas Fogg and going around the world.
0:37:40 > 0:37:47Phileas Fogg left from here 116 years ago in October 1872.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50He set off with head high, clear eye, never hurried, always calm,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53but then, of course, he was fictional.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55I will have some help.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59Fogg took a servant, Passepartout, and I shall have my Passepartout.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02The trouble is he's five people and works for the BBC.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Ah, now I thought I was the only one travelling light.
0:38:05 > 0:38:06I'm not going, no.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09There were two crews, Crew A and Crew B,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12that leapfrogged each other to keep up with Michael,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14but Michael was the one who kept going.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17How are you? I love you.
0:38:17 > 0:38:18Oh, that's nice.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22I had every single tape of Monty Python.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24- Well, that's...- And I loved you in A Fish Called Wanda.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27- And you've never met me before?- I don't care.- Completely unsolicited.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29- I love you. - No-one will believe this.
0:38:29 > 0:38:30I thought why am I doing this?
0:38:30 > 0:38:32What kind of person am I supposed to be?
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Am I supposed to be Michael Palin the comedy actor?
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Am I supposed to be Michael Palin the travel nerd?
0:38:39 > 0:38:41I mean, what am I doing here?
0:38:41 > 0:38:43We are...
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Well, well and truly scuppered because if I don't get to Jeddah
0:38:49 > 0:38:52in time for the connection, we have to find out when the next one is.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Could be a week, three or four days.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57It's a real... HE GROANS
0:38:57 > 0:39:02On the third episode, everything had gone wrong, we had to get a dhow,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05an old sailing boat with 18 Gujarati fishing men onboard
0:39:05 > 0:39:08from Dubai to Bombay.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11We spent seven days on that ship going very, very slowly,
0:39:11 > 0:39:15living onboard because there were no cabins, anything like that,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19with these Gujarati fishermen, who cooked food for us and all that,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22and by the end of that I realised that I didn't have to pretend to be
0:39:22 > 0:39:24anybody, I could just be me.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28Unbelievable what this man can take.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Full volume now. This is full volume.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32Are you all right?
0:39:32 > 0:39:34Are you all right in there?
0:39:35 > 0:39:39And the act of listening and engaging them in what I was doing
0:39:39 > 0:39:40seemed to work.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42Seven weeks out of London
0:39:42 > 0:39:46and I'm taking a day trip to the island of Cheung Chau.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49It's been called the Hong Kong Riviera.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51It's also the home of a friend of mine, Basil Pao,
0:39:51 > 0:39:56an artist, designer, photographer and complete renaissance Chinaman.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59With the prospect of several pound's worth of BBC expenses,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01I'm hoping to lure him to Shanghai with me
0:40:01 > 0:40:04as interpreter and travelling companion.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08When Mike did Around The World In 80 Days
0:40:08 > 0:40:12and the producer needed help in Hong Kong,
0:40:12 > 0:40:13for me to just take him around.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16And Mike and Basil get on very well.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18They're sort of naughty boys.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21They whisper in a corner and laugh and titter.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25And he was present at the very famous snake banquet
0:40:25 > 0:40:30where Michael had free-range snake for the first time.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32This may look like a day at the zoo,
0:40:32 > 0:40:36but in fact it's a night at one of Canton's most famous restaurants.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38There's really only one ingredient.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40He's going to kill it now.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42He's disembowelled it. Now he's going to kill it.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45- Yeah, ready for your meal. - It's like the Middle Ages, isn't it?
0:40:45 > 0:40:48They used to do this to bishops in England.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50- Whoa.- Good heavens.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53I'm afraid that that was my idea.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Just some ice cream for me, please.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58It was Clem Vallance's idea and it was his idea
0:40:58 > 0:41:00and he insisted on having the snake killed at the table,
0:41:00 > 0:41:02which is just not done.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07Actually we can't get this in Hong Kong.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09And it tasted like chicken, a lot of it.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11Doesn't everything taste like chicken?
0:41:11 > 0:41:14And at the end, because the Chinese are very fond of their toasts,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18there was a little glass in front of us which was
0:41:18 > 0:41:22a bright green lurid colour and they toasted us.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25We said, "Cheers" and we drank it or sipped it,
0:41:25 > 0:41:30and then Michael said, "What actually is that?"
0:41:30 > 0:41:33And it was snake's gall bladder liqueur.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40DRUM ROLL
0:41:45 > 0:41:51This is it. I'm standing on the top of the world at the North Pole.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Pole To Pole was a very difficult series to do.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59It took a lot longer than 80 days.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03There were certain natural hazards that we couldn't avoid
0:42:03 > 0:42:08like landing a light plane at the North Pole on ice.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14We, ourselves, touched down with only minutes' worth of fuel left.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22The plane we're in was designed in the 1950s.
0:42:22 > 0:42:23Our lives depend on it.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26I remember Pole To Pole as probably the nearest
0:42:26 > 0:42:29we came to getting killed in the whole series.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31There are no airstrips, no control towers,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34no emergency vehicles below us.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37There is rapidly-changing weather, intense cold
0:42:37 > 0:42:39and hundreds of miles of frozen ocean.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42I think certainly the public liked seeing somebody
0:42:42 > 0:42:44showing that it can be difficult.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47There was no attempt to, you know, put me in a suit
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and smart clothes and take me from one place to another.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54It was actually the getting there and the actual nuts and bolts
0:42:54 > 0:42:58of how you get across a desert or across a river or up mountains.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02He was incredibly up for almost everything.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06There are people crazy enough to take boats over these rapids
0:43:06 > 0:43:09and what's more, people daft enough to pay them to do it.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14Michael and the team went white-water rafting in the Zambezi
0:43:14 > 0:43:15and it was great.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22We went through ten rapids of the Zambezi
0:43:22 > 0:43:26and it was by far the worst day of my life really.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32There's hardly time for fear, though at this point I distinctly remember
0:43:32 > 0:43:34something I want to change in my will.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42Michael was persuaded by the other people who were in the raft
0:43:42 > 0:43:43to go swimming.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47Now that's not a good idea in a set of rapids and he was in there
0:43:47 > 0:43:50and he got buffeted by a wave, from one to another.
0:43:50 > 0:43:56He hit a rock, or hit several rocks, and cracked a rib.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58The worst thing was actually doing it off camera.
0:43:58 > 0:43:59If he'd have done it on camera,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02it would have been much easier or much better to say,
0:44:02 > 0:44:07"Hey, I've suffered for my art," but sadly nobody saw him do it.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10Despite the fact of being a national treasure and all that,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13he is capable of being just another idiot.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18We were in a refugee camp in Algeria.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22The people there had brought a camel head for us to eat
0:44:22 > 0:44:24while we were there.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28And we ate that hunk of camel for several days, for every meal,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31different bits of it, and by the last night
0:44:31 > 0:44:35we were eating the sort of fatty bits and bones and stuff already.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40The only meat I've eaten for the last three days is camel.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42I suppose this is where it comes from.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46So when she offered me at the end of the week,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50"We've still got some camel meat. Would you like some to go with you?"
0:44:50 > 0:44:53I said, "Well, yeah, all right."
0:44:53 > 0:44:56I took it and I knew as I popped it in my mouth
0:44:56 > 0:44:58that this was going to revisit me.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02We both knew it was going to be bad, but I survived.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09What you've got to keep, and I think that's what worked
0:45:09 > 0:45:11in the series, is a sense of wonder.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13You've always got to have a sense of wonder.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15If for a moment you go a bit blase, been there,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18done that, I'll do this usual thing.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20And because we had such strange itineraries,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23and went to such different places, I never ever got bored.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26It was always wondrous.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29# On the road again
0:45:29 > 0:45:32# I just can't wait to get on the road again... #
0:45:32 > 0:45:34SHE LAUGHS
0:45:34 > 0:45:37# The life I love is making music with my friends
0:45:37 > 0:45:41# And I can't wait to get on the road again
0:45:41 > 0:45:44# On the road again
0:45:44 > 0:45:49# Going places that I've never been
0:45:49 > 0:45:52# Seeing things that I may never see again
0:45:52 > 0:45:56# I can't wait to get on the road again. #
0:45:56 > 0:45:58We always said, "Well, that's going to be the last one."
0:45:58 > 0:46:01And then we'd be drawn back a year later because you think,
0:46:01 > 0:46:02"Oh, wow, yeah, it's been popular.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04"Let's have a look at the Atlas again."
0:46:04 > 0:46:07And my wife was very keen for me to go abroad regularly.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09HE LAUGHS
0:46:20 > 0:46:24When Alan Bleasdale got in touch and said, you know,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28there's a big new series, would I play one of the main characters?
0:46:28 > 0:46:30I couldn't say no to that.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35I had to say to Michael Palin, "Jim Nelson is the part
0:46:35 > 0:46:37"that you can play perfectly,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40"and you'll be absolutely wonderful in it."
0:46:40 > 0:46:42Jim, isn't it?
0:46:42 > 0:46:44To some.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46- Not all.- Pleased to meet you.
0:46:50 > 0:46:51This is a school.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54You're not a member of this school.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57- I'd like you to leave.- Oh, come on, Jim. You know who I am.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00It wouldn't interest me if you were Bishop Tutu wearing one.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03I wrote GBH for the simple reason that I was fed up.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06I think a lot of people were fed up at the time that I started writing
0:47:06 > 0:47:09GBH, which was in the mid-80s.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11CHANTING
0:47:13 > 0:47:17SHOUTING
0:47:17 > 0:47:21What I was trying to write was, basically and simply,
0:47:21 > 0:47:23a plea for common decency.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25CHANTING AND SHOUTING CONTINUES
0:47:25 > 0:47:28- Robbie, you stay with Miss Hutchinson!- I'll come with you, sir!
0:47:28 > 0:47:33- Robbie, stay with Miss Hutchinson! You don't follow me, right?- Right!
0:47:33 > 0:47:37I felt that so long as he was... Alan was confident in me,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41and others around were confident that I could do it, I could do it.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45You know, sometimes I needed my own competence to be reinforced.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47We were on the same side once.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49Here's your chance to forget the past,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52and come back and play the game on our side.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57But I knew I could do it.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01I knew what had to be done. I knew how it had to be delivered.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03And I knew that I had to be kind of intelligent
0:48:03 > 0:48:05about the way that I did it.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07All that was there, but it still didn't prevent me from being like,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09"God, I've got to get this right."
0:48:09 > 0:48:13Because here we all are, living under the most reactionary,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16democratically elected government we've ever known,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19in a Labour-controlled city, where all animals are equal,
0:48:19 > 0:48:22but some councillors are more equal than others,
0:48:22 > 0:48:26where too often lions led by donkey jackets, living proof that
0:48:26 > 0:48:29the further left you go, the more right wing you become.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33For me, GBH was the most demanding acting I've ever done.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37The most rewarding, really.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39BIRDSONG
0:48:42 > 0:48:44BIRD SQUAWKS
0:48:46 > 0:48:50The film was based on his great-grandfather, Edward Palin,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53who was a don at Oxford.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57He had to leave St John's College, Oxford, where he was vice president,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01because, you know, as you know, they had to be celibate then.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04And the meets these two American women,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Caroline and her young and beautiful charge, Elinor.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11And what shall you take back with you, Mr Ashby?
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Ah, Mr Ashby...
0:49:22 > 0:49:24Can I talk to you about John?
0:49:25 > 0:49:27And it was interesting, because, you know,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30there was a lot of flak that they got... The Pythons got for not
0:49:30 > 0:49:35writing women and writing real women and...
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Well, this was a great example, I thought,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42of how well Michael and Tristram Powell did write women.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45How was your day with Mr Ashby? What did you do?
0:49:45 > 0:49:48Well, how did you know I was with Mr Ashby?
0:49:50 > 0:49:53I found the letter. The one you didn't post.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55That was a private letter.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58- It was lying on the desk.- Well, you had no business reading it.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01What could you have been thinking of?
0:50:01 > 0:50:03Connie gives you a sort of subtlety
0:50:03 > 0:50:07and a kind of delicacy of emotion which is very, very...
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Absolutely real, absolutely right, and absolutely spot on,
0:50:11 > 0:50:13and rather touching, really.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15TOILET FLUSHES
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Stalin and Beria put you on a list.
0:50:22 > 0:50:23Stalin?
0:50:23 > 0:50:27The Death of Stalin came from Armando Iannucci.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30There's a handful of people I think can do no wrong
0:50:30 > 0:50:33in television writers and Armando is about three of them.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37So I said, "Yeah, you know, got to look at this."
0:50:37 > 0:50:41We had this character, Molotov, in The Death of Stalin,
0:50:41 > 0:50:47who has to obey... Who kind of is the most passionately enthusiastic
0:50:47 > 0:50:49about whatever the party believes.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Beria, he wants you out.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53Now I've been talking with Comrade Bulganin...
0:50:53 > 0:50:55- No, no, this is...- I think he's right. We can outvote them.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58- No, no, no, this is factionalism, Niki.- No, no, it's not!
0:50:58 > 0:51:01- Stalin didn't like factionalism. - Stalin is dead!
0:51:01 > 0:51:03And I just felt that was right up Michael's street.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07That's the sort of character I think he could play -
0:51:07 > 0:51:11not just as a satire, but actually give it a bit of heart as well.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14SOBBING: I can't believe he's gone!
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Oh!
0:51:17 > 0:51:20There was a feeling right at the start that we were doing something
0:51:20 > 0:51:24a bit special. We had rehearsal and rehearsals were great and that's
0:51:24 > 0:51:28when we sort of added things and modified things here and there.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32We were changing the script at the last minute, and he'd just quietly
0:51:32 > 0:51:34go away and five minutes later come back,
0:51:34 > 0:51:35and he'd learned it perfectly.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38He has this enormously complicated speech
0:51:38 > 0:51:40right in the middle of the film.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43I've always been loyal to Stalin.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45Always.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48These arrests were authorised by Stalin, but Stalin was also
0:51:48 > 0:51:53loyal to the collective leadership, and that is true loyalty.
0:51:53 > 0:51:58I could see that he was slightly nervous of this big speech looming,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01but he delivers it terrifically and perfectly,
0:52:01 > 0:52:03and it was such a joy to have
0:52:03 > 0:52:07hopefully a classic Michael Palin moment up on screen again.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12However, he also had an iron will, undeviating, strong,
0:52:12 > 0:52:17can we not do the same and stick to what we believed in?
0:52:17 > 0:52:18No.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22It is stronger still to forge our own beliefs with
0:52:22 > 0:52:24the beliefs of the collective leadership.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27Which I have now...
0:52:27 > 0:52:28done.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34I think Michael was attracted to The Death of Stalin
0:52:34 > 0:52:36cos there was that mischievous side of him who thought,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39"Well, this is a potentially controversial topic,
0:52:39 > 0:52:40"let's do this, then."
0:52:40 > 0:52:44I think comedy can go anywhere. So I believe that was able
0:52:44 > 0:52:46to be part of me, the comedy crusade.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Oh, I shouldn't say crusade now. Get me killed.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Not the C word.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56AUDIENCE CLAP IN TIME
0:53:03 > 0:53:05CHEERING
0:53:05 > 0:53:07We came out of this TARDIS that was turned on,
0:53:07 > 0:53:10and there was just this huge, enveloping warmth from the audience.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13I mean, it was the most extraordinary thing, really.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:53:18 > 0:53:22Well, we - for many, many years - discussed the idea of getting back
0:53:22 > 0:53:24together and doing a live show.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29And I'd always been very wary of it.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33Largely because once Graham died in 1989, I felt,
0:53:33 > 0:53:35"Well, it's not really Python."
0:53:35 > 0:53:37It's like a sort of six-legged table.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40When you take one leg off, suddenly it's slightly wobbly.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44But... I don't know. We came to a point where...
0:53:44 > 0:53:46HE LAUGHS
0:53:46 > 0:53:50..certain people needed large amounts of money fairly quickly.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54And a man called Jim Beach had become our manager.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Jim was the manager of Queen. And Jim had vision.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00So Jim said, "Look, if you really want to make some money,
0:54:00 > 0:54:03"Why don't you just do a couple of nights at the O2 Arena?"
0:54:03 > 0:54:05We said, "The O2 Arena? What, 15,000 people?"
0:54:05 > 0:54:07He said, "Yeah, just do it." "Could we?"
0:54:07 > 0:54:10"Yeah, yeah. I can get it for you. Don't worry, don't worry."
0:54:10 > 0:54:12HE SIGHS
0:54:12 > 0:54:16And within I should think about 5.5 seconds, we'd all agreed.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Having being disagreeing for the last 15 years.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21I know what they mean by well hung jury.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23LAUGHTER
0:54:23 > 0:54:25Anyway I've finished changing. WHISTLING AND CHEERING
0:54:25 > 0:54:27Really serious.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32The actions of these vicious men are a violent stain upon the community,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35and the full penalty of the law is scarcely sufficient
0:54:35 > 0:54:38to deal with their ghastly crimes.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40And I waggled my wig.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43It's wonderful to see Mike being funny again.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46You know, I mean, we make the joke constantly about his boring
0:54:46 > 0:54:49travel shows because we know how brilliant he is.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Oh, he knows everything that Michael Palin.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53Yes, and he's been everywhere, too.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56You ever watch any of those travel...?
0:54:56 > 0:54:58- THEY YAWN - ..travel prog...
0:54:58 > 0:55:00THEY SNORE
0:55:00 > 0:55:02LAUGHTER
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Just the idea of it just getting there and mouthing the sketches
0:55:05 > 0:55:07wasn't good enough.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11That would look a bit sad and it wouldn't be rewarding.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14So that was the thing that worried me, but rehearsals went well.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Our chief weapon is surprise!
0:55:19 > 0:55:22In the very first read through, he's like whoosh! And he's flying.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25He's alive. He's sparkling.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28His timing, everything about it, is extraordinary.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31CHEERING
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Our chief weapon is surprise!
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Everyone realised, as the shows went on,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46that forgetting your lines was not going to be a problem,
0:55:46 > 0:55:49because the audience loved it when you got it wrong.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52Where were we?
0:55:52 > 0:55:54You say, "Now that's what I call a dead parrot."
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Now that's what I call a dead parrot!
0:55:56 > 0:55:58LAUGHTER
0:55:58 > 0:56:00CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:56:00 > 0:56:01No, no...
0:56:06 > 0:56:08"No, no," I say...
0:56:08 > 0:56:11- It's stunned.- Stunned?!
0:56:11 > 0:56:12Yeah, stunned!
0:56:12 > 0:56:14They love it when you fluff.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16They've seen it a million times.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20When you make a mistake, it's special to that evening.
0:56:20 > 0:56:27# Always look on the bright side of life... #
0:56:27 > 0:56:28Come on!
0:56:28 > 0:56:31I think ten shows was exactly enough.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Towards the end of about show eight -
0:56:34 > 0:56:35well, earlier for some people -
0:56:35 > 0:56:38there was a feeling perhaps we'd done enough.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40We'd be hopeless at going round the world
0:56:40 > 0:56:41doing the same show all the time.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44I mean, it might have been a good way of making money,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46but honestly, we'd have got bored stiff.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49Well, there was something very special about the O2,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52cos it wasn't a performance in any normal sense.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55It was something else. It was a celebration.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57They were thanking us for making them laugh.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59We were thanking them for thanking us.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01There was a wonderful atmosphere.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03Thank you!
0:57:03 > 0:57:05CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:57:05 > 0:57:10- Thank you!- Thank you!- Thank you! - Thank you.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17I suppose one of the things that makes him
0:57:17 > 0:57:20so well loved is how he's expanded himself in terms
0:57:20 > 0:57:24of his communication with the world and people.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34He is completely devoted to his family.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Now that he's got grandchildren,
0:57:36 > 0:57:40it's harder for him to go off on these, you know, crazy journeys.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43I think he will continue to travel,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47but I'm not sure that he'll take a television crew with him this time.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54I think the thing about Michael is that it shows that really
0:57:54 > 0:57:58hard work can overcome complete mediocrity.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00And I think it's a tribute.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02You know, I think it's an encouragement
0:58:02 > 0:58:05to all not particularly talented and rather mediocre people to see
0:58:05 > 0:58:10what can be achieved by sheer hard work and good luck.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17I'm hoping that as a result of being back on the big screen
0:58:17 > 0:58:20that we see more of him on the big screen.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23I hope his phone hasn't stopped ringing.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26And I hope occasionally he picks it up.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29CHEERING
0:58:29 > 0:58:31I never say never to anything.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34It's fatal to because who knows?
0:58:34 > 0:58:37All I want to do is to continue doing new stuff.
0:58:37 > 0:58:39So, I mean, the past is great,
0:58:39 > 0:58:42but the future is more interesting to me at the moment.