Book info

• Title Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years
• Author Michael Palin
• Year 2006
• Genre Memoir

Michael Palin's diaries begin when he was newly married and struggling to make a name for himself in the world of television comedy. But Monty Python was just around the corner... Enjoying an unlikely cult status early on, the Pythons then proceeded to tour the USA and Canada. As their popularity grew, so Palin relates how the group went their separate ways, later to re-form for stage shows and the celebrated films THE HOLY GRAIL and LIFE OF BRIAN. Living through the three-day week and the miners strike, and all the trials of a peripatetic life are also essential ingredients of these perceptive and funny diaries.

Thoughts

My Monty Python knowledge is limited, and I know Michael Palin more from his travel work than anything else, but it’s never too late to learn. I love this collection of diaries, covering a full decade that coincidentally starts at the beginning of Python, and ends at the height of its powers with the release of Life of Brian.

What’s really interesting is that behind the scenes, it seems a very fractious group, highs and lows, egos ebbing and flowing, which is understandable but it’s a wonder anything got made really! It was fun to see other bits of well known culture being referenced too - Fawlty Towers, Star Wars, even the moon landings early on the diary.

Clearly there’s a lot of editing taken place here, but what’s left is good and honest, and fascinating.

Rating: 4 / 5