The lights dimmed; a lone lectin stood in the centre of the stage in an expectant spotlight pool waiting for its VIP speaker to join it, whilst a large white screen hung suspended from the ceiling poised to project photos of ‘Around the World in 80 Ways”. The VIP could only be one of Sheffield’s best-loved sons and Monty Python extraordinaire Michael Palin. My agent and I had landed seats on Row A of the City Hall on 23rd November, courtesy of the lovely people at Whirlow Hall Farm Trust, after a swap in return for some charity work at their fantastic family fair on Sunday 29 November. This valuable project, which introduces children and young people to the concept of farming and increases their knowledge of rural life, had landed the King of Comedy Michael Palin for free to celebrate its 30th anniversary. He came on to thunderous applause in a very packed out City Hall – despite the £30 per head cost of ticket (all to a good cause) – and declared himself glad to be back in his ‘home city’ .
It has been 20 years since Michael Palin first presented ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. Already a household due to Monty Python, back then, to see Michael Palin out of his usual element made novel viewing and it’s funny now to think how he has become just as famous now for inspiring and educating people with the great wonders of the world and the beauty of traveling. As many Python fans will know, it is also a nice, round 40 years since the Python troupe that became a phenomenon was founded.
For his talk, Michael didn’t take lazy route of a chronological trawl through his travels but instead he grouped his experiences together in humorous themes. He started, where else, but…
* Beginnings
Michael spoke of his nerves and apprehension before each journey: would they make it all the way? Would everyone’s health hold out? And his shock that no matter where he went that people recognized him from his Monty Python days - “In the Satellite age your never alone!”
* Unexpected Sights
For this section, he produced an array of photos showing bizarre sights from Dutch women on bikes playing trumpets in Japan (a celebration of good trading between the Dutch and the Japanese) to Olive oil wrestling in Turkey when you can put your hand down your opponent’s pants, and grab a good hold, as long as it at the back of them!
*How We Get About
Dubbing himself a train-nerd, Michael’s favourite mode of transport is trains as you “really get a sense of the diversity of people in any country.” The lack of Health and Safety regulations in India led to unusual freedoms and uplifting experiences, like watching the stars in the evening sky, whilst standing in the open door way of a moving train. No ticket collector to tell you off on route. More than that, if you were feeling particularly brave of heart or short of money, you could take a free ride by resting on top of the train. The indigenous population were amazed to hear that we in England don’t do the same with Michael explaining that it had something to do with the amount of head-decapitating tunnels along English train routes that were the key reason. No mention of our bad weather then! It was Michael’s passion for trains that first brought him to the attention of the producer who had plans for a travel programme by this contemplative traveller’s choice of transport. Speaking to Michael of planned journeys across exotic locations such as Africa and Indian, Michael immediately agreed; only to discover that his particular programme would be from London to Crewe. It entered into the spirit of things though, postively believing, that is the people that make the trip. Little did he know that the next few series would lead to far-flung and more adventurous places that would include the Himalayas, the Sahara and Russia (at that stage still the Soviet Union but only be a few days).
*The importance of sport
No matter which country he went to, Sport was of paramount and is something that Michael recognizes as being at heart of Sheffield. As he jokingly says: ‘We love our pot holing’. He reminisced of days spent on Hag Hill playing football with his old PE teacher and pupils and described how the pitches were virtually vertical and the joys of spending hours fetching the ball from the bottom of the road, rather than playing footie. It was possible to go undiscovered for ages by the unwitting PE teacher if you were lucky enough to be sent for the errant ball. Oh those were the days…now a search party would be sent out within 15 minutes.
*The importance of humour
Michael considers humour the universal language, especially when knowing the native language evades you. It’s important to be willing to make a fool of yourself and enter into the spirit of things. A friendly fool is someone understood around the world. Michael recalled not speaking Bulgarian but being dressed up as a Bachian fertility god with a bushy crown of oak leaves at which everyone laughed before getting down to what Bachians do best – enough said – at which point Michael and his crew took off for the evening.
*Be prepared to do things you’ve never done before
Such as White water rafting! Michael recalled falling out of the boat after being fooled into diving into the rockiest part of the waterfall by his boat colleagues having a laugh. Not quite the joke they intended, as Michael cracked a rib that plagued him the rest of the journey and he found himself shouting “you b*st*rd” just before his head went under for the second time and he wondered if he would live to tell the tale. Good to know he is just like the rest of us in a time of crisis, , re-surfaced before he went down for another but with a much more polished accent!
*The sheer Beauty of it all
The obvious joy of travel for Michael derives from his love of the natural world and he sure had some amazing photos to show from the Himalayas to the Sahara Desert.
*The people you meet
The most important part of his travels is meeting new people such as, street sellers running after him and a lady selling smelly Yak Skin bags. He bought one but found its prickly hairs and smell too strong to be able to use it for long.
*Endings “Sad times”
Michael travels in a team of six that include his camera man, Nigel who has been with him for the whole 20 years and has won 2 BAFTAS plus his sound man John Pritchard.
He realized that at the end of one journey he’d shared 874 meals with the camera man, “more than I have with my wife” chirped Michael.
He rounded off the evening with some readings from his recent book and one’s he has produced with fellow Python Terry. Not least a unique set of instructions for some Parlour Games; like pass the Bengal Tiger, starting with ‘Get your mother or aunt to wrap up a Bengal tiger – which ever relative you will least miss the most’ and his own version of Enid Blyton – The Famous Five go Pillaging’
Overall, he mused his comical Monty Python memoirs with an in depth description of his travels from toilets to the Diamedes. He has an endearing charisma that makes you want to sit and listen to him for hours – and believe me I’m not one for sitting still! The women love him and the men want to be him.
What turned out to be a “delightful” (as Michael would say) evening was all in aid of Whirlow Hall Farm who encourage Kids to play, stay and learn about nature and animals – the importance of which Michael clearly displayed.
