Sir Michael Edward Palin, KCMG, CBE, FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.Palin wrote most of his material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "The Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam". Palin continued to work with Jones, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer. His journeys have taken him across the world, the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television.
He was awarded the CBE in the 2000 Queens Millennium Honors List for his services to television drama and travel documentaries.
He is a graduate of Oxford with a degree in History.
Member of Monty Pythons Flying Circus along with John Cleese , Graham Chapman , Terry Jones , Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam.
Children: Thomas (b. 1969), William (b. 1971) and Rachel (b. 1975)
Left the Reform Club in London on September 25 1988 for a journey "Around the World in 80 Days" (1989/II) , accompanied by a BBC TV team.
Attended Brasenose College, Oxford University.
Whilst filming "Full Circle with Michael Palin" , Palin helped to hatch a baby crocodile and asked the crew to get a shot of himself with a crocodile in his hand.
He is an old boy of the ultra-exclusive and expensive English public school, Shrewsbury School. The section of Monty Pythons Meaning of Life set in the school of "Sudbury" is a reference to his time there.
The Virgin Super Voyager train number 221 130 named after him.
The public voted him the best-looking member of the Python troupe.
His father had a rather serious stutter. This came in handy when he played Ken (the stuttering thief) in A Fish Called Wanda .
In a quest for a "Peter Jonesy sort of voice", the casting crew for the original radio series, "The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy" approached Palin to play the part of The Book (he turned the part down). The part was eventually given to the very "Peter Jonesy" Peter Jones.
The Pythons had little idea how fanatical their American audience had become until they performed the live Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl live shows that were soon immortalized. According to Carol Cleveland , as the group were exiting backstage one night, a 20-something girl ran up to Palin, screamed "Oh, Michael!", and promptly fainted in his arms. Palin had to pass the girl to others to help, as he was literally shocked into speechlessness.
His wide travels are so well known that he now has his own travel website called "Palins Travels.".
In addition to attending the exclusive Shrewsbury School, and later, the University of Oxford; as a lad, he also attended Birkdale School in Sheffield.
Was born the son of an engineer in the industrial city of Sheffield, and remains a supporter of Sheffield United Football Club.
After Sarah Palins nomination for John McCains running mate in the 2008 presidential elections got announced, someone made a YouTube video saying that the wrong Palin got chosen. It proposed Michael Palin, jokingly using clips of him from movies and skits as evidence that he was right for the nomination.
(August 2011) London, England: Publication of his memoir Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988
While a majority of his ancestry is English, one of his paternal great-grandmothers was Irish.
Wrote and acted for Oxfords equivalent of the Cambridge Footlights.
Knew Eric Idle and Terry Jones from university.
Son of Edward and Mary Palin. He had one sister called Angela.
Credits fellow Python Terry Gilliam with getting him to quit smoking. Gilliam had been having dinner with Palin and his wife Helen at the Palins home one evening in April 1969. Afterwards, Michael discovered he had run out of cigarettes and became increasingly panicky when he failed to find coins for the cigarette slot machine up the road anywhere. Gilliam, half joking, half worried, called Michael an addict, resulting in Michael denying himself a cigarette and never buying a pack again.
I am certainly more interested in interviewing than being interviewed.
Sometimes you find yourself attacked from the start.
[My father] was always confronting people. Bus conductors, waitresses:,he felt everyone was laying traps and should be treated with suspicion.
Me trying to be endlessly obliging, him being increasingly aggressive.
I met [John Cleese] on "The Frost Report" (1966) , after which he,was offered all sorts of things, but he rang me up instead, and decided,to do Python. Which was quite a risk, for a man so driven by success.
There was always something else he wanted to do. He seemed constantly,driven by this sense that there was a nirvana somewhere; some unique,place where mind, body and soul would be utterly satisfied.
We did enjoy writing sketches about Marcel Proust. And we were actually,trying to debunk that sort of elitism. But you do have to know about,something, in order to debunk it.
The television shows were, as you suggest, uneven. Really good material,was in there, among a lot of dross. I still think some of the obscure,stuff is good, and often needed to be there.
After he [my father] died I had to go through some of his papers, and I,found out that when I was at Shrewsbury my school fees were half what,he earned. That was how important it was for him to send me to a public,school.
I have odd sorts of memories of the first two or three years at school.
They must have had fun reading it and laughing at me. My earliest,comedy scripts must have been my exam papers.
I wanted to be close to my father, I had the usual feelings towards him.
Generally speaking, authority has to win respect now, when in those days,it was automatically granted it. I think there was a terrific need,after the war to get back to the old hierarchies and make sure church,army, politicians and all that were in place again. I always thought it,was interesting that the Labour government won after the war and then,pretty quickly they were replaced by the Conservatives as people,thought this was what we really need, order not revolution.
Well, I think I probably tried to.
At the end of my time at Oxford, I had a lot of acting offers and things,like that. By that time I had worked with Terry [Jones] on the Oxford,revue, and acting with Terry, there were certain things we did together,which seemed to work awfully well and awfully easily and there was a,rapport between us.
At times during the rest of my early life there were moments when I was,slightly embarrassed by the fact that my father would never turn any,lights on in the house unless there was someone actually in that room.
My parents have been married forty-two years. I wonder how many of those were happy.
I enjoy writing, I enjoy my house, my family and, more than anything I enjoy the feeling of seeing each day used to the full to actually produce something. The end.
Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.
I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.
The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.
One of the most important days of my life was when I learned to ride a bicycle. .
