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94-532: American Friends is a 1991 British film starring Michael Palin . It was written by Palin and its director, Tristram Powell . Palin plays Francis Ashby, a senior Oxford professor on holiday in the Swiss Alps in 1861. There he meets the American Caroline Hartley ( Connie Booth ) and her 18-year-old ward Elinor ( Trini Alvarado ). Ashby is drawn to them both, particularly Elinor, but

188-700: A Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours for "services to television drama and travel documentaries". He then was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2019 New Year Honours for "services to travel, culture and geography". Palin is the only member of the Monty Python team to receive a knighthood. Travel writer One early travel memoirist in Western literature

282-657: A First World War drama titled The Wipers Times written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman . At the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, it was announced that Palin was set to star alongside Adam Driver in Terry Gilliam 's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote . Palin, however, dropped out of the film after it ran into a financial problem. While speaking at the Edinburgh International Film Festival , Palin announced that he

376-659: A penis transplant . After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns , an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. They had earlier collaborated on the play Secrets from the BBC series Black and Blue in 1973. He played the lead role of the peasant Dennis in Terry Gilliam's 1977 film Jabberwocky . (He had earlier played

470-618: A travel writer and travel documentarian in programmes broadcast on the BBC . His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles , the Sahara , the Himalayas , Eastern Europe, and Brazil ; in 2018, he visited North Korea , documenting his visit to the isolated country in a series broadcast on Channel 5 . Palin visited Nigeria in 2023 to make a travel documentary that

564-400: A 2018 poll for Yorkshire Day he was named the greatest Yorkshireman ever, ahead of Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart . In September 2013, Moorlands School, Leeds, named one of their school houses "Palin" after him. The University of St Andrews awarded Palin an honorary Doctor of Science degree during their June 2017 graduation ceremonies, with the degree recognising his contribution to

658-718: A Tour to the Hebrides in 1786 and Goethe published his Italian Journey , based on diaries, in 1816. Fray Ilarione da Bergamo and Fray Francisco de Ajofrín wrote travel accounts of colonial Mexico in the 1760s. Fannie Calderón de la Barca , the Scottish-born wife of the Spanish ambassador to Mexico 1839–1842, wrote Life in Mexico , an important travel narrative of her time there, with many observations of local life. A British traveller, Mrs Alec Tweedie , published

752-542: A book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao , the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, Around the World in 80 Days , contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.) All seven of these books were also made available as audiobooks, and all of them are read by Palin himself. Around

846-404: A chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer. He appeared as the "It's" man (a Robinson Crusoe -type castaway with torn clothes and a long, unkempt beard) at the beginning of most episodes. He also frequently played a Gumby , a character Palin said: "had these moronic views that were expressed with extraordinary force." Palin frequently co-wrote sketches with Terry Jones , including

940-715: A colonial mind-set; and Belated Travelers (1994), an analysis of colonial anxiety by Ali Behdad. Prizes awarded annually for travel books have included the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award , which ran from 1980 to 2004, the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature , and the Dolman Best Travel Book Award , which began in 2006. The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards , which began in 1985, are given by

1034-536: A film, American Friends , he wrote based upon a real event in the life of his great-grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford . In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in Alan Bleasdale 's Channel 4 drama series GBH . In 1994, Palin narrated the English language audiobook version of Esio Trot by children's author Roald Dahl . In 1997, Palin had a small cameo role in

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1128-470: A number of travelogues, ranging from Denmark (1895) and Finland (1897), to the U.S. (1913), several on Mexico (1901, 1906, 1917), and one on Russia, Siberia, and China (1926). A more recent example is Che Guevara 's The Motorcycle Diaries . A travelogue is a film , book written up from a travel diary, or illustrated talk describing the experiences of and places visited by traveller. American writer Paul Theroux has published many works of travel literature,

1222-565: A one-man stage show at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven , Wales, about the loss of HMS Erebus during the third Franklin expedition , which is recounted in his book Erebus: The Story of a Ship . Palin's first travel documentary was episode 4 of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World , entitled "Confessions of a Trainspotter". Throughout the hour-long show, Palin humorously reminisces about his childhood hobby of train spotting while he travels throughout

1316-681: A presenter on a comedy pop show called Now! for the television contractor Television Wales and the West . At the same time, Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, to help with writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages. Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various BBC programmes, such as The Ken Dodd Show , The Billy Cotton Bandshow , and The Illustrated Weekly Hudd . They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called Diversions . They were also in

1410-575: A quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great-grandmother – Brita Gallagher – who had set sail from Ireland 150 years earlier during the Great Famine (1845–1849) , bound for a new life in Burlington , New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line. Between 1989 and 2012, Palin appeared as a presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after

1504-403: A school performance of A Christmas Carol . At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue and read a Shakespeare play to his mother while playing all the parts. After leaving Shrewsbury in 1962, he went on to read Modern History at Brasenose College, Oxford . With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at

1598-800: A series of books about discovering unique experiences in Canada, Australia and around the world. Bill Bryson in 2011 won the Golden Eagle Award from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild. On 22 November 2012, Durham University officially renamed the Main Library the Bill Bryson Library for his contributions as the university's 11th chancellor (2005–11). Paul Theroux was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast , which

1692-419: A special kind of texts that sometimes are disregarded in the literary world. They weave together aspects of memoir , non-fiction , and occasionally even fiction to produce a story that is equally about the trip and the goal. Throughout history, people have told stories about their travels like the ancient tales of explorers and pilgrims, as well as blogs and vlogs in recent time. A "factual" piece detailing

1786-399: A trip to a distant country is that the travelogue emerged as a significant item in late nineteenth-century newspapers . Short stories genre of that era were influenced directly and significantly by the travelogues that shared many traits with short stories. Authors generally, especially Henry James and Guy de Maupassant , frequently wrote travelogues and short tales concurrently, often using

1880-599: A university Christmas party. Terry Jones , also a student at Oxford, saw that performance and began writing with Hewison and Palin. That year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-op drama festival. He also performed and wrote in the Oxford Revue (called the Et ceteras) with Jones. After finishing university in 1965, Palin became

1974-418: Is Frederick Douglass ' autobiographical Narrative , which is deeply intertwined with his travel experiences, beginning with his travels being entirely at the command of his masters and ending with him traveling when and where he wishes. Solomon Northup 's Twelve Years a Slave is a more traditional travel narrative, and he too overcomes the restrictions of law and tradition in the south to escape after he

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2068-610: Is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin . In 2003, inside the Globe a commemorative stone was placed – Palin has his own stone, to mark donors to the theatre, but it is misspelt as "Michael Pallin". The story goes that John Cleese paid for the stone, and mischievously insisted on misspelling his name. In honour of his achievements as a traveller, especially rail travel, Palin has two British trains named after him. In 2002, Virgin Trains' new £5 million high-speed Super Voyager train number 221130

2162-832: Is a BBC TV director, whose work includes MasterChef: The Professionals . William is Director of Conservation at the Old Royal Naval College , Greenwich, London, and oversaw the 2018–19 restoration of the Painted Hall. A photograph of William as a baby briefly appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film". The theatre designer Jeremy Herbert is a nephew. Palin describes his religious belief as " agnostic with doubts". He has lived in Gospel Oak , London, since

2256-542: Is a prolific travel writer. Among his many travel books is the acclaimed Roads to Santiago . Englishmen Eric Newby , H. V. Morton , the Americans Bill Bryson and Paul Theroux , and Welsh author Jan Morris are or were widely acclaimed as travel writers (though Morris has frequently claimed herself as a writer of 'place' rather than travel per se ). Canadian travel writer Robin Esrock has written

2350-550: Is a type of travel literature that developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, detailing how slaves escaped the restrictive laws of the southern United States and the Caribbean to find freedom. As John Cox says in Traveling South , "travel was a necessary prelude to the publication of a narrative by a slave, for slavery could not be simultaneously experienced and written." A particularly famous slave travel narrative

2444-591: Is an autobiographical work by the British naturalist. It tells of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and widowed mother on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939. It describes the life of the Durrell family in a humorous manner, and explores the fauna of the island. It is the first and most well-known of Durrell's "Corfu trilogy", together with Birds, Beasts, and Relatives and The Garden of

2538-504: Is kidnapped and enslaved. Harriet Ann Jacobs ' Incidents includes significant travel that covers a small distance, as she escapes one living situation for a slightly better one, but also later includes her escape from slavery to freedom in the north. Some fictional travel stories are related to travel literature. Although it may be desirable in some contexts to distinguish fictional from non-fictional works, such distinctions have proved notoriously difficult to make in practice, as in

2632-461: Is known for A Walk in the Woods , made into a Hollywood film of the same name . There is no specific format for a travel journal, it typically includes details and reflections about an individual's experiences, observations, and emotions during the journey. Some of the common details in the journal include: The writings of escaped slaves of their experience under slavery and their escape from it

2726-483: Is rather surprised when they arrive in Oxford and rent a house. Women are not allowed in the college, nor are fellows allowed to marry, which puts him in an embarrassing situation. Ashby's rival for the post of college president, Oliver Syme ( Alfred Molina ), takes full advantage of this to try to discredit Ashby. The plot was based on a real-life incident involving Palin's great-grandfather, Edward Palin. The film won

2820-527: The Journey Through Wales (1191) and Description of Wales (1194) by Gerald of Wales , and the travel journals of Ibn Jubayr (1145–1214), Marco Polo (1254–1354), and Ibn Battuta (1304–1377), all of whom recorded their travels across the known world in detail. As early as the 2nd century CE, Lucian of Samosata discussed history and travel writers who added embellished, fantastic stories to their works. The travel genre

2914-472: The BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role . Other notable films include Jabberwocky (1977), Time Bandits (1981), The Missionary (1982), A Private Function (1984), Brazil (1985), Fierce Creatures (1997), and The Death of Stalin (2017). Since 1980, Palin has made numerous television travel documentaries and is a widely recognised writer and presenter. He has acted as

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3008-640: The Dongria Kondh tribe of India , who were resisting mining on their land by the company Vedanta Resources . Palin said, "I've been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in

3102-657: The Matisse programme. In 2013, he travelled to the United States and filmed in both Maine and Pennsylvania, to write and present "Michael Palin in Wyeth World", which is about the American painter Andrew Wyeth and the people who inspired his paintings. In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day , 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after

3196-598: The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best film/screenplay. The CD soundtrack composed by Georges Delerue is available on Music Box Records label. Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin KCMG , CBE , FRGS , FRSGS , FRSL ( / ˈ p eɪ l ɪ n / ; born 5 May 1943 ) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He

3290-470: The documentary , to the literary, as well as the journalistic, and from memoir to the humorous to the serious. They are often associated with tourism and include guide books . Travel writing may be found on web sites, in periodicals, on blogs and in books. It has been produced by a variety of writers, including travelers, military officers, missionaries, explorers, scientists, pilgrims, social and physical scientists, educators, and migrants. Travelogues are

3384-602: The primitivist presentations of foreign cultures; Haunted Journeys: Desire and Transgression in European Travel Writing (1991) by Dennis Porter, a close look at the psychological correlatives of travel; Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing by Sara Mills , an inquiry into the intersection of gender and colonialism during the 19th century; Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (1992), Mary Louise Pratt 's influential study of Victorian travel writing's dissemination of

3478-472: The " Spanish Inquisition sketch ", which featured the catchphrase "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition !". He also composed songs with Jones including "The Lumberjack Song", " Every Sperm Is Sacred " and " Spam ". His solo musical compositions included " Decomposing Composers " and " Finland ". In 1971, he co-wrote, with Hugh Leonard and Terence Feely , the film Percy , which depicts

3572-959: The 16th century, accounts to travels to India and Persia had become common enough that they had been compiled into collections such as the Novus Orbis (" New World ") by Simon Grynaeus , and collections by Ramusio and Richard Hakluyt . 16th century travelers to Persia included the brothers Robert Shirley and Anthony Shirley , and for India Duarte Barbosa , Ralph Fitch , Ludovico di Varthema , Cesare Federici , and Jan Huyghen van Linschoten . Humanist travellers in Europe also produced accounts, often noting monuments and inscriptions, e.g., Seyfried Rybisch 's Itinerarium (1570s), Michel de Montaigne 's Journal de voyage (1581), Germain Audebert's  [ fr ] Voyage d'Italie (1585) and Aernout van Buchel 's Iter Italicum (1587–1588). In

3666-544: The 18th century, travel literature was commonly known as "books of travels", which mainly consisted of maritime diaries . In 18th-century Britain, travel literature was highly popular, and almost every famous writer worked in the travel literature form; Gulliver's Travels (1726), for example, is a social satire imitating one, and Captain James Cook 's diaries (1784) were the equivalent of today's best-sellers. Alexander von Humboldt 's Personal narrative of travels to

3760-502: The 1960s. Palin is most notably a supporter of Sheffield Wednesday , famously holding aloft a trophy and shouting the club's name while in Venice shooting Around the World in 80 Days . He has also followed the fortunes of Sheffield United and Stenhousemuir F.C. Palin assisted Campaign for Better Transport and others with campaigns on sustainable transport, particularly those relating to urban areas, and has been president of

3854-685: The Australian soap opera Home and Away . He played an English surfer with a fear of sharks , who interrupts a conversation between two main characters to ask whether there were any sharks in the sea. This was filmed while he was in Australia for the Full Circle series, with a segment about the filming of the role featuring in the series. In November 2005, he appeared in the John Peel's Record Box documentary. In 2013, Palin appeared in

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3948-641: The Gods (1978). Ivan T. Sanderson published Animal Treasure , a report of an expedition to the jungles of then-British West Africa; Caribbean Treasure , an account of an expedition to Trinidad , Haiti , and Surinam , begun in late 1936 and ending in late 1938; and Living Treasure , an account of an expedition to Jamaica , British Honduras (now Belize ) and the Yucatán . These authors are naturalists , who write in support of their fields of study. Another naturalist, Charles Darwin , wrote his famous account of

4042-617: The Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world". Palin notes in his book of Around the World in 80 Days that the final leg of his journey could originally have taken him and his crew on one of the trains involved in the Clapham Junction rail crash , but they arrived ahead of schedule and caught an earlier train. In recent years, Palin has written and presented occasional documentary programmes about artists who interest him. The first, on Scottish painter Anne Redpath ,

4136-813: The Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden , Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn , and the successful children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and David Jason . The show also featured musical numbers by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band , including future Monty Python musical collaborator Neil Innes . The animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set were made by Terry Gilliam. Eager to work with Palin sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in How to Irritate People together with Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor . The Palin/Jones team were reunited for The Complete and Utter History of Britain . On

4230-558: The Reverend Charles Fortescue, who is recalled from Africa to aid prostitutes. He co-starred with Maggie Smith again in the 1984 comedy film A Private Function . In 1984, he reunited with Terry Gilliam to appear in Brazil . He appeared in the comedy film A Fish Called Wanda , which co-starred and was co-written by John Cleese, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role . Cleese reunited

4324-623: The Russian Ivan Goncharov , who wrote about his experience of a tour around the world in Frigate "Pallada" (1858), and Lafcadio Hearn , who interpreted the culture of Japan with insight and sensitivity. The 20th century's interwar period has been described as a heyday of travel literature when many established writers such as Graham Greene , Robert Byron , Rebecca West , Freya Stark , Peter Fleming and Evelyn Waugh were traveling and writing notable travel books. In

4418-669: The SATW Foundation, and include two awards for travel books and travel guidebooks, as well as awards for travel coverage in publications, websites, and broadcast and audio-visual formats, and for magazine, newspaper, and website articles in a variety of categories. The National Outdoor Book Awards also recognize travel literature in the outdoor and adventure areas, as do the Banff Mountain Book Awards. The North American Travel Journalists Association holds an annual awards competition honoring travel journalism in

4512-638: The UK by train from London to the Kyle of Lochalsh , via Manchester , York , Newcastle upon Tyne , Edinburgh and Inverness . He rides vintage railway lines and trains including the Flying Scotsman . At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him. In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In

4606-621: The White Cow: Memories of an Irish Island (1986), and Peter Mayle 's best-selling A Year in Provence (1989) and its sequels. Travel and nature writing merge in many of the works by Sally Carrighar , Gerald Durrell and Ivan T. Sanderson . Sally Carrighar's works include One Day at Teton Marsh (1965), Home to the Wilderness (1973), and Wild Heritage (1965). Gerald Durrell 's My Family and Other Animals (1956)

4700-488: The World in 80 Days and Hemingway Adventure are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions. For four of the trips, a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table-style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of

4794-428: The cameo role of "Dennis the Peasant" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail , also directed by Gilliam.) Palin also appeared in All You Need Is Cash (1978) as Eric Manchester (based on Derek Taylor ), the press agent for the Rutles . In 1980, Palin co-wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film. In 1982, Palin wrote and starred in The Missionary , co-starring Maggie Smith . In it, he plays

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4888-404: The campaign since 1986. On 2 January 2011, he became the first person to sign the UK-based Campaign for Better Transport's Fair Fares Now campaign. In July 2015, he signed an open letter and gave an interview to support "a strong BBC at the centre of British life" at a time when the government was reviewing the corporation's size and activities. In July 2010, Palin sent a message of support for

4982-559: The crater of a volcano in the Lipari Islands in 1407, leaving us with his impressions. "Councils of mad youth" were his stated reasons for going. In the mid-15th century, Gilles le Bouvier, in his Livre de la description des pays , gave us his reason to travel and write: Because many people of diverse nations and countries delight and take pleasure, as I have done in times past, in seeing the world and things therein, and also because many wish to know without going there, and others wish to see, go, and travel, I have begun this little book. By

5076-466: The earliest known records of taking pleasure in travel, of travelling for the sake of travel and writing about it, is Petrarch 's (1304–1374) ascent of Mont Ventoux in 1336. He states that he went to the mountaintop for the pleasure of seeing the top of the famous height. His companions who stayed at the bottom he called frigida incuriositas ("a cold lack of curiosity"). He then wrote about his climb, making allegorical comparisons between climbing

5170-438: The equinoctial regions of America, during the years 1799–1804 , originally published in French, was translated to multiple languages and influenced later naturalists, including Charles Darwin . Other later examples of travel literature include accounts of the Grand Tour : aristocrats, clergy, and others with money and leisure time travelled Europe to learn about the art and architecture of its past. One tourism literature pioneer

5264-546: The famous instance of the travel writings of Marco Polo or John Mandeville . Examples of fictional works of travel literature based on actual journeys are: In the 21st century, travel literature became a genre of social media in the form of travel blogs, with travel bloggers using outlets like personal blogs , Pinterest , Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and travel websites to convey information about their adventures, and provide advice for navigating particular countries, or for traveling generally. Travel blogs were among

5358-583: The first instances of blogging, which began in the mid-1990s. Notable travel bloggers include Matthew Kepnes , Johnny Ward , and Drew Binsky . The systematic study of travel literature emerged as a field of scholarly inquiry in the mid-1990s, with its own conferences, organizations, journals, monographs, anthologies, and encyclopedias. Important, pre-1995 monographs are: Abroad (1980) by Paul Fussell , an exploration of British interwar travel writing as escapism; Gone Primitive: Modern Intellects, Savage Minds (1990) by Marianna Torgovnick, an inquiry into

5452-421: The first success being The Great Railway Bazaar . In addition to published travel journals, archive records show that it was historically common for travellers to record their journey in diary format, with no apparent intention of future publication, but as a personal record of their experiences. This practice is particularly visible in nineteenth-century European travel diaries. Anglo-American Bill Bryson

5546-467: The form of travel websites . A travel journal, also called road journal, is a record made by a traveller, sometimes in diary form, of the traveler's experiences, written during the course of the journey and later edited for publication. This is a long-established literary format; an early example is the writing of Pausanias (2nd century CE) who produced his Description of Greece based on his own observations. James Boswell published his The Journal of

5640-404: The game show "Blackmail") to unflappable calmness (such as the Dead parrot vendor or Cheese Shop proprietor). As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by Cleese. He also played timid, socially inept characters such as Arthur Putey, the man who sits quietly as a marriage counsellor ( Eric Idle ) makes love to his wife ( Carol Cleveland ), and Mr Anchovy,

5734-576: The globe. Fictional travel narratives may also show this tendency, as in Mark Twain 's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) or Robert M. Pirsig 's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974). Sometimes a writer will settle into a locality for an extended period, absorbing a sense of place while continuing to observe with a travel writer's sensibility. Examples of such writings include Lawrence Durrell 's Bitter Lemons (1957), Bruce Chatwin 's widely acclaimed In Patagonia (1977) and The Songlines (1987), Deborah Tall 's The Island of

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5828-767: The journey of HMS Beagle at the intersection of science, natural history and travel. A number of writers famous in other fields have written about their travel experiences. Examples are Samuel Johnson 's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775); Charles Dickens ' American Notes for General Circulation (1842); Mary Wollstonecraft 's Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796); Hilaire Belloc 's The Path To Rome (1902); D. H. Lawrence 's Twilight in Italy and Other Essays (1916); Mornings in Mexico and Other Essays (1927); Rebecca West 's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941); and John Steinbeck 's Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962). The Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom

5922-501: The landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads. Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon called the "Palin effect", referring to areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions – for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in Peru after Palin visited Machu Picchu . In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer , Palin named Peru's Pongo de Mainique (canyon below

6016-456: The late 20th century there was a surge in popularity of travel writing, particularly in the English-speaking world with writers such as Bruce Chatwin , Paul Theroux , Jonathan Raban , Colin Thubron , and others. While travel writing previously had mainly attracted interest by historians and biographers, critical studies of travel literature now also developed into an academic discipline in its own right. Travel books come in styles ranging from

6110-411: The main cast almost a decade later to make Fierce Creatures . After filming for Fierce Creatures finished, Palin went on a travel journey for a BBC documentary and, returning a year later, found that the end of Fierce Creatures had failed at test screenings and had to be reshot. After Fierce Creatures and a small part in The Wind in the Willows , a film directed by and starring Terry Jones, it

6204-484: The most famous Python sketches, including " Argument Clinic ", " Dead Parrot sketch ", " The Lumberjack Song ", " The Spanish Inquisition ", " Bicycle Repair Man " and " The Fish-Slapping Dance ". Palin continued to work with Jones away from Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns . Palin co-wrote and starred in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983). For his performance in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) he received

6298-441: The mountain and his own moral progress in life. Michault Taillevent  [ fr ] , a poet for the Duke of Burgundy , travelled through the Jura Mountains in 1430 and recorded his personal reflections, his horrified reaction to the sheer rock faces, and the terrifying thunderous cascades of mountain streams. Antoine de la Sale ( c.  1388  – c.  1462 ), author of Petit Jehan de Saintre , climbed to

6392-439: The noted poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101) presented a philosophical and moral argument as its central purpose. Chinese travel literature of this period was written in a variety of different styles, including narratives , prose , essays and diaries , although most were written in prose. Zhou Daguan 's account of Cambodia in the thirteenth century is among the major sources for the city of Angkor in its prime. One of

6486-577: The promotion of geography, Palin was awarded the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March 2009, along with a Fellowship of this Society (FRGS). In June 2013, he was similarly honoured in Canada with a gold medal for achievements in geography by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society . In June 2009, Palin was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society . Because of his self-described "amenable, conciliatory character" Michael Palin has been referred to as unofficially "Britain's Nicest Man". In

6580-404: The public's understanding of contemporary geography. He joins his fellow Pythons John Cleese and Terry Jones in receiving an honorary degree from the Fife institution. In October 2018, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society awarded Palin the first Louie Kamookak Medal for advances in geography, for his book on the history of the polar exploration vessel HMS Erebus . Palin was appointed

6674-483: The same countries as their settings . Travel literature often intersects with philosophy or essay writing, as in V. S. Naipaul 's India: A Wounded Civilization (1976), whose trip became the occasion for extended observations on a nation and people. This is similarly the case in Rebecca West 's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), focused on her journey through Yugoslavia, and in Robin Esrock 's series of books about his discoveries in Canada, Australia and around

6768-508: The strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality. During this period Cleese contacted Palin about doing the show that ultimately became Monty Python's Flying Circus . At the same time the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had led Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam to be offered their own series and, while it

6862-433: The taste of visiting the lakes by furnishing the traveller with a Guide; and for that purpose, the writer has here collected and laid before him, all the select stations and points of view, noticed by those authors who have last made the tour of the lakes, verified by his own repeated observations. To this end he included various 'stations' or viewpoints around the lakes, from which tourists would be encouraged to appreciate

6956-467: The team of writers working for The Frost Report , whose other members included Frank Muir , Barry Cryer , Marty Feldman , Ronnie Barker , Ronnie Corbett , Dick Vosburgh and future Monty Python members Graham Chapman , John Cleese and Eric Idle . Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, The Frost Report was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, Terry Gilliam ,

7050-445: The veteran TV globetrotter Alan Whicker and journalist Miles Kington turned down presenting the first of these, Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin , that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows. In 2018, he was hired by ITN Productions to present travel documentaries commissioned by Channel 5, with journeys to North Korea and Iraq completed by 2022. Following each trip, Palin wrote

7144-619: The views in terms of their aesthetic qualities. Published in 1778 the book was a major success. Mariana Starke popularized what became the standard travel guide, a reference book that can include information relating to accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying detail and historical and cultural information are also often included. Different kinds of guide books exist, focusing on different aspects of travel, from adventure travel to relaxation, or aimed at travelers with different incomes, or focusing on sexual orientation or types of diet. Travel guides can also take

7238-543: The villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in." Palin is a longstanding Vice President of the National Churches Trust . Palin is a co-founder of The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering. When it opened in 1993 Palin became Vice President of Action for Stammering Children. Palin's awareness and understanding of stammering stemmed from his father’s experience as a person who stammers. Over

7332-840: The war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium for the programme, called the Last Day of World War One , produced for the BBC's Timewatch series. In 1966, Palin married Helen Gibbins (born October 1942), whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's teleplay for the 1987 BBC television drama East of Ipswich . Their marriage lasted for 57 years, until Helen's death from kidney failure on 2 May 2023. The Palins' three children are Thomas (born 1969), William (born 1970), and Rachel (born 1975), and there are four grandchildren. Rachel

7426-564: The world on June 27, 1898. A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place, designed for the use of visitors or tourists". An early example is Thomas West 's guide to the English Lake District , published in 1778. Thomas West , an English priest , popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. In the introduction he wrote that he aimed: to encourage

7520-531: The world. In the world of sailing Frank Cowper 's Sailing Tours (1892–1896) and Joshua Slocum 's Sailing Alone Around the World (1900) are classics of outdoor adventure literature. In April 1895, Joshua Slocum set sail from Boston, Massachusetts and in Sailing Alone Around the World , he described his departure in the following manner: More than three years later, Slocum returned to Newport, Rhode Island , having circumnavigated

7614-604: The years Palin has provided support and connection to young people and families of people who stammer. All but the latest two of his travel books can be read with no charge, complete and unabridged, on Palin's Travels website Archived 1 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine . Palin was instrumental in setting up the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in 1993. Also in 1993, each member of Monty Python had an asteroid named after them. Palin's

7708-611: Was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1927. Palin was educated at Birkdale and Shrewsbury School . His sister Angela was nine years his senior; despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1987. Palin has ancestral roots in Letterkenny , County Donegal . His great-grandmother fled the Irish Famine and was adopted by a wealthy English family. When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in

7802-748: Was Palin on Redpath in 1997. In The Bright Side of Life (2000), Palin continued on a Scottish theme, looking at the work of the Scottish Colourists . Two further programmes followed on European painters; Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse (2004) and Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi (2005), about the French artist Henri Matisse and Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi respectively. The DVD Michael Palin on Art contains all these documentaries except for

7896-585: Was Pausanias , a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period , James Boswell 's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786) helped shape travel memoir as a genre. Early examples of travel literature include the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (generally considered a 1st century CE work; authorship is debated), Pausanias ' Description of Greece in the 2nd century CE, Safarnama (Book of Travels) by Nasir Khusraw (1003-1077),

7990-514: Was Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) with An Inland Voyage (1878), and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879), about his travels in the Cévennes (France), is among the first popular books to present hiking and camping as recreational activities, and tells of commissioning one of the first sleeping bags . Other notable writers of travel literature in the 19th century include

8084-489: Was a fairly common genre in medieval Arabic literature . In China, 'travel record literature' ( Chinese : 遊記文學 ; pinyin : yóujì wénxué ) became popular during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Travel writers such as Fan Chengda (1126–1193) and Xu Xiake (1587–1641) incorporated a wealth of geographical and topographical information into their writing, while the 'daytrip essay' Record of Stone Bell Mountain by

8178-587: Was a member of the Monty Python comedy group . He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 . Palin started in television working on programmes including the Ken Dodd Show , The Frost Report , and Do Not Adjust Your Set . Palin joined Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) alongside John Cleese , Eric Idle , Terry Gilliam , Terry Jones , and Graham Chapman . He acted in some of

8272-740: Was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name. He was also awarded in 1989 the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for Riding the Iron Rooster . In 2005, Jan Morris was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". The French writer, Lucie Azema , has noted that the majority of travel writing is by men and even when women have written travel books, these tend to be forgotten. In her book Les femmes aussi sont du voyage (Women are also travellers), she has argued that male travel writing gives an unequal, colonialist and misogynistic view of

8366-559: Was aired in spring 2024. From 2009 to 2012 he was President of the Royal Geographical Society . Palin was born in Ranmoor , Sheffield , the second child and only son of Edward Moreton Palin (1900–1977) and Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey; 1903–1990). His father was a Shrewsbury and Cambridge -educated engineer working for a steel firm. His maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lockhart Ovey, DSO ,

8460-400: Was at that time an American citizen) worked together. During the run of The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring John Bird : The Late Show and A Series of Birds . For A Series of Birds the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving. Following The Frost Report

8554-627: Was named Michael Palin  – it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys. Also, National Express East Anglia named a British Rail Class 153 (unit number 153335) after him. (He is a model railway enthusiast. ) In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society in Dublin. In recognition of his services to

8648-608: Was presenting the two-part documentary Michael Palin in North Korea to be broadcast on the British television network Channel 5 . The documentary was broadcast in September 2018, in two one-hour segments on Channel 5 in the UK and in a single two-hour programme on National Geographic in the United States. It was broadcast again by Channel 5, in a single two-hour programme in December 2018. In July 2019, Palin performed

8742-464: Was still in production, Palin agreed to Cleese's proposal and brought along Idle, Jones and Gilliam. Thus the formation of the Monty Python troupe has been referred to as a result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold. Palin played various roles in Monty Python , which ranged from manic enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of " The Lumberjack Song ", or Herbert Anchovy, host of

8836-501: Was twenty years until Palin's next film role, as Soviet politician Vyacheslav Molotov in the 2017 satirical black comedy The Death of Stalin . Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face . Palin was cast in a supporting role in the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy You've Got Mail , but his role was eventually cut entirely. Palin has also appeared in serious drama. In 1991 Palin appeared in

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