Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years
Encyclopedia
Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years, dedicated by Michael Palin to his mother and father, has reduced “mountains to molehills”, according to his own words, to take the reader inside the period of the author’s life that corresponds to the Monty Python
era.
In the introduction we are advised that he started keeping this specific diary (there was an aborted attempt at age 11) on April 1969, at 25 years of age, one month before the Python experience started in full swing. It started as a means to keep away from smoking, after fellow Python Terry Gilliam
accused him of being addicted to cigarettes. He has continued the diary, written on Ryman’s reporter’s notepads for 37 years (up to January 2006).
The first entry on the book-diary corresponds to April 17, 1969, and there is a four month gap after August 11, 1971, owed, according to the Palin’s family folklore, to William’s (his second son) stage of “putting things inside other things”, in this case the reporter’s pad in the trash bin. The diary is resumed on December 24, 1971, and the very last entry corresponds to December 31, 1979.
Even though the interest most people have on Mr. Palin comes from his involvement in Monty Python (and that defines the range of dates for the diary, as we learn that the first day of filming for Monty Python’s Flying Circus was Tuesday, July 8), the book mainly takes the reader through the would-seem common life of the author, who manages to keep his feet on the ground through the stresses of fame and fortune, and someone whose happy family make his achievements as an entertainer less enviable than his home life.
We travel with him through his cool job as actor, writer (Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Jabberwocky
, Ripping Yarns
), his growing family (his son Thomas was 6 months old when the diary begins, and then William and Rachel joined the family), his father’s illness and death, his despise for Nixon and his self search for something else, as if what he had going on was not enough, at least intellectually. He perceives a novelist inside, but in the diary we never get to actually know what happens to his first novel.
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
era.
In the introduction we are advised that he started keeping this specific diary (there was an aborted attempt at age 11) on April 1969, at 25 years of age, one month before the Python experience started in full swing. It started as a means to keep away from smoking, after fellow Python Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
accused him of being addicted to cigarettes. He has continued the diary, written on Ryman’s reporter’s notepads for 37 years (up to January 2006).
The first entry on the book-diary corresponds to April 17, 1969, and there is a four month gap after August 11, 1971, owed, according to the Palin’s family folklore, to William’s (his second son) stage of “putting things inside other things”, in this case the reporter’s pad in the trash bin. The diary is resumed on December 24, 1971, and the very last entry corresponds to December 31, 1979.
Even though the interest most people have on Mr. Palin comes from his involvement in Monty Python (and that defines the range of dates for the diary, as we learn that the first day of filming for Monty Python’s Flying Circus was Tuesday, July 8), the book mainly takes the reader through the would-seem common life of the author, who manages to keep his feet on the ground through the stresses of fame and fortune, and someone whose happy family make his achievements as an entertainer less enviable than his home life.
We travel with him through his cool job as actor, writer (Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky (film)
Jabberwocky is a 1977 British fantasy black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Michael Palin as a young cooper who is forced through clumsy, often slapstick misfortunes to hunt a terrible dragon after the death of his father...
, Ripping Yarns
Ripping Yarns
Ripping Yarns is a British television comedy series, shown on BBC 2 from 1976 to 1979. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame...
), his growing family (his son Thomas was 6 months old when the diary begins, and then William and Rachel joined the family), his father’s illness and death, his despise for Nixon and his self search for something else, as if what he had going on was not enough, at least intellectually. He perceives a novelist inside, but in the diary we never get to actually know what happens to his first novel.