Michael Palin Books In Order

Palin Diaries Books In Publication Order

  1. Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (2006)
  2. Halfway To Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988 (2009)
  3. Travelling to Work: Diaries 1988–1998 (2014)

The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus Books In Publication Order

  1. Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Just The Words – Volumes 1 & 2 (1987)
  2. Just the Words -Promotional (1987)
  3. The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus: All the Words: Volume 1 (1989)
  4. The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus: All the Words, Vol. 2 (1989)
  5. Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Just the Words (1989)
  6. Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Just the Words: Volume 2 (1989)
  7. The Fairly Incomplete and Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book (1994)
  8. The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Hemingway’s Chair (1995)
  2. The Truth (2012)

Picture Books In Publication Order

  1. Small Harry And The Toothache Pills (1982)
  2. The Mirrorstone (With: Alan Lee) (1986)
  3. Cyril and the Dinner Party (With: Caroline Holden) (1986)
  4. Cyril and the House of Commons (1988)

Plays In Publication Order

  1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Screenplay (With: Graham Chapman,Terry Jones,John Cleese,Eric Idle,Terry Gilliam) (1977)
  2. The Life of Brian: Screenplay (With: Graham Chapman,Terry Jones,John Cleese,Eric Idle,Terry Gilliam) (1979)
  3. Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (With: Graham Chapman,Terry Jones,John Cleese,Eric Idle,Terry Gilliam) (1983)
  4. The Missionary (1983)
  5. The Weekend (1994)

Collections In Publication Order

  1. Ripping Yarns (With: Terry Jones) (1978)
  2. More Ripping Yarns (With: Terry Jones) (1980)
  3. The Complete “Ripping Yarns” (With: Terry Jones) (1990)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. Dr. Fegg’s Encyclopeadia of All World Knowledge: Formerly The Nasty Book (1976)
  2. Bert Fegg’s Nasty Book For Boys And Girls (1976)
  3. Limericks (1985)
  4. Around the World in 80 Days: Companion to the PBS Series (1990)
  5. Pole to Pole (1992)
  6. Full Circle: One Man’s Journey by Air, Train, Boat and Occasionally Very Sore Feet Around the 20.000 Miles of the Pacific Rim (1997)
  7. Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure (1999)
  8. Michael Palin Travels The World (1999)
  9. Sahara (2002)
  10. Himalaya (2004)
  11. New Europe (2007)
  12. Brazil (2012)
  13. Monty Python at Work (2014)
  14. A Sackful of Limericks (2016)
  15. Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time (2018)
  16. North Korea Journal (2019)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. Dear NHS (2020)

Palin Diaries Book Covers

The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Picture Book Covers

Plays Book Covers

Collections Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Michael Palin Books Overview

Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years

Michael Palin has kept a diary since newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter for The Two Ronnies, David Frost, etc. Monty Python was just around the corner.
This volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys Jones and Gilliam and Eric Idle came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin’s story. Here is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, which grows as he buys the house next door and then a second at the bottom of the garden; here, too, is his solo effort as an actor, in Three Men in a Boat, his writing endeavours often in partnership with Terry Jones that produces Ripping Yarns and even a pantomime.
Meanwhile Monty Python refuses to go away: the hugely successful movies that follow the TV his account of the making of both The Holy Grail and the Life of Brian movies are page turners, the at times extraordinary goings on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team, the fight to prevent an American TV network from bleeping out the best jokes on U.S. transmission, and much more all this makes for funny and riveting reading. The birth and childhood of his three children, his father s growing disability, learning to cope as a young man with celebrity, his friendship with George Harrison, and all the trials of a peripatetic life are also essential ingredients of these diaries. A perceptive and funny chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.

Michael Palin is not just one of Britain s foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night…
then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary.
John Cleese This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin s expansiveness.
David Baddiel, The Times

A real delight to read.
Saga Magazine UK

His showbiz observations are so absorbing…
. Palin is an elegant and engaging writer.
William Cook, The Guardian UK

A wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python.
The Independent UK

Our favourite TV explorer shows us the workings of an unstoppable machine.
Daily Express UK

A riveting commentary to a remarkably creative decade.
Academy UK

Halfway To Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988

Michael Palin is not just one of Britain’s foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night…
then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary. John Cleese For Palin it has been one hell of a ride, but he seems to have maintained equilibrium all along the way…
. In sum, it s tempting to call him a Renaissance Man. But that, as any Pythonite would be quick to tell you, would be silly. Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World Michael Palin has kept a diary since he was newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter, and Monty Python was just around the corner. This volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys Jones and Gilliam and Eric Idle came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin s story. Here too is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, his solo effort as an actor, and his writing endeavours often in partnership with Terry Jones that produce Ripping Yarns and even a pantomime. Meanwhile, Monty Python refuses to go away: his account of the making of both The Holy Grail and the Life of Brian movies are page turners, and the sometimes extraordinary goings on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team makes for funny and riveting reading. A perceptive and witty chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period. C harming and at times revelatory…
A voice of relative sanity in the eye of a comedic storm, Palin paints so vivid a picture that the reader becomes a Python by proxy. The New York Times Book Review It is terrifically good: funny, astute, and wonderfully written…
. The Boston Globe This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin s expansiveness. David Baddiel, The Times A real delight to read. Saga Magazine UK His showbiz observations are so absorbing…
. Palin is an elegant and engaging writer. William Cook, The Guardian UK A wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python. The Independent UK Our favourite TV explorer shows us the workings of an unstoppable machine. Daily Express UK A riveting commentary to a remarkably creative decade. Academy UK

Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Just The Words – Volumes 1 & 2

This is the complete director’s shooting script of the film of the same name, produced in facsimile from Terry Jones’ copy, plus Terry Gilliam’s storyboard drawings, correspondence concerning the naughty bits, the accounts for the film and other material.

The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus: All the Words: Volume 1

Perhaps the ultimate in TV comedy madness and absurdity, this cult series, which began in 1969, was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones. Its innovative and ground breaking comedy inspired many of today’s writers and performers. Its sketches, songs, and catchphrases are legendary, and this ‘best of’ disc features: the dead parrot, the Ministry of Silly Walks, The Lumberjack Song, And Now for Something Completely Different, and many more. Presented on 1 CD, starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus: All the Words, Vol. 2

Forty five classic episodes of the most entertaining writing to have gone into television anywhere. The minister of silly walks, the dead parrot, banter in a cheese shop here is every silly, satirical skit, every snide insult, every saucy aside.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Just the Words

Perhaps the ultimate in TV comedy madness and absurdity, this cult series, which began in 1969, was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones. Its innovative and ground breaking comedy inspired many of today’s writers and performers. Its sketches, songs, and catchphrases are legendary, and this ‘best of’ disc features: the dead parrot, the Ministry of Silly Walks, The Lumberjack Song, And Now for Something Completely Different, and many more. Presented on 1 CD, starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

The Fairly Incomplete and Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book

From ‘The Lumberjack Song’ to ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,’ the Songbook collects the cream of the Python team’s musical output, from the four TV series and the various feature films. Includes the original songs from The Holy Grail, basis for the musical Spamalot. Arranged with music for the piano and accompanied by Terry Gilliam’s incomparable cartoons.

The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons

Over thirty years ago, a group of five Englishmen and one wayward American, re wrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python’s Flying Circus, an unheralded, previously unseen and practically unprogrammed half hour of sketches, hilarities, inanities and animations first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact on the world has been felt ever since. From its humble beginnings as late night entertainment on a British TV channel that went off the air before midnight, it blossomed into arguably the most influential movement in modern comedy. They found the Holy Grail, they detailed the life of the Savior also ran Brian, and when we were lost, they explained The Meaning of Life. Now, those purveyors of dead parrots and silly walks are going to tell us something more: Their story. In their own, intimate, never before heard words. The Pythons by The Pythons is the definitive word on all things Pythonesque the only word invented by a modern comedian which is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. 30 years of insight, hindsight, and bad sight now told for the first time. Stuff they’re never remembered before alongside stories they’d forgotten to say, coupled with things they couldn’t say then and even more things they can’t pronounce now with a healthy dollop of things they would never have said in the first place if any others had been in the room at the time. The Pythons by The Pythons is a unique look at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age, lavishly illustrated with 1000 photographs and illustrations, many culled from the teams’ own personal collections, many seen here for the first time. A tome, a tombstone, the definitive word on all things Python, as told by all things Python do you want Spam with that?

Hemingway’s Chair

Martin Sproale is an assistant postmaster obsessed with Ernest Hemingway. Martin lives in a small English village, where he studies his hero and putters about harmlessly until an ambitious outsider, Nick Marshall, is appointed postmaster instead of Martin. Slick and self assured, Nick steals Martin’s girlfriend and decides to modernize the friendly local office by firing dedicated but elderly employees and privatizing the business. Suddenly, gentle Martin is faced with a choice: meedly accept defeat as he always has, or fight for what he believes in, as his hero, Hemingway, would. Filled with Michael Palin’s trademark wit and good humor, this novel is for anyone who has ever dreamed of triumphing over the technocrats and backstabbers of the world. Hilarious, touching, and ultimately inspirational, Hemingway’s Chair will make readers stand up and cheer.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Screenplay (With: Graham Chapman,Terry Jones,John Cleese,Eric Idle,Terry Gilliam)

The first feature film by the Monty Python team is a mock heroic tale set in mediaeval Britain. This screenplay edition contains just the script and is supplemented by 8 pages of b&w stills from the film.

Dr. Fegg’s Encyclopeadia of All World Knowledge: Formerly The Nasty Book

An illustrated compendium of humorous facts such as the recipe for oxygen tart and an explanation of how man evolved from small rocks.

Limericks

An illustrated collection of Limericks by the well known English actor and screen writer.

Around the World in 80 Days: Companion to the PBS Series

In ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ we join Michael Palin on the first of his great adventures. Following in the footsteps of the fictional Phileas Fogg, he makes real the journey which author Jules Verne imagined more than a century earlier. From the opulence of the ‘Orient Express’ to the lurching progress of an Egyptian camel, from the hot and lively streets of Madras to the lofty heights of a hot air balloon over Colorado, there is never a dull moment in this hilarious account of a journey full of surprises. ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ is essential reading for every would be traveller. Writing in his characteristically engaging and witty style, Palin paints a vivid picture of the people and places around him, reinforcing his reputation as one of the world’s favourite travel writers. ‘His easy going charm and passion for discovery are captivating.’ ‘The Daily Express’. ‘Palin recounts the journey charmingly in daily diary entries. Beautifully illustrated, the book shows the programme’s virtues, such as Palin’s enthusiasim and naturalness.’ ‘The Observer’.

Pole to Pole

‘The cracked and fissured ice pack offers no comfortable reassurance no glimmer of any reward to the traveller who has made his way to the top of the world. The Arctic Ocean, known to the Victorians as the Sea of Ancient Ice, stares balefully back as we descend towards it, reflecting nothing but the question: Why?’ Michael Palin’s adventure begins when he is enrolled in the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society…
Travelling by train, truck, raft, Ski Doo, barge, balloon and bicycle, Michael Palin experiences every extreme the world has to offer. Braving the cold grip of the Arctic Circle, and the swirling snowstorms of Spitsbergen, Palin has to cope with friendly locals, occasional gunfire and his own unruly digestive system before he can finally stand in Scott’s shoes at the South Pole, in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Full Circle: One Man’s Journey by Air, Train, Boat and Occasionally Very Sore Feet Around the 20.000 Miles of the Pacific Rim

Full Circle could be subtitled Palin’s Book of Wonders. As he and his television crew undertake what may be the first ever circumnavigation of the Pacific Rim, they prove that there is an awful lot of the world Palin hasn’t seen. In this, the third and most ambitious of Michael Palin’s adventures, he travels for almost a year through the eighteen countries that border the world’s largest ocean. Volcanoes mark Palin’s journey like stepping stones. He climbs one which has freshly erupted and is still smoking. He is forced to negotiate mountains and plunging gorges, cross glaciers and dodge icebergs. He follows great rivers like the Yangtze and the Amazon to some of the most remote places on earth, and he confronts the notorious Cape Horn and the windswept beaches of western Alaska. The people Palin meets provide a constant supply of surprises, pleasures and lessons in life. He visits a Gulag camp in Siberia with one of its few remaining survivors, talks to head hunters in Borneo, eats maggots in Mexico and rustles camels in the deserts of Australia. He’s stood up on a date in Adelaide, taken short on the banks of the Amazon, allowed to land a plane at Seattle and sing with the Pacific Fleet choir in Vladivostok. Full Circle is the record of a journey of several lifetimes and of the often colourful, sometimes disgusting, frequently hair raising, once or twice hysterical but almost always beautiful world that stretches around the Pacific Ocean.

Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure

When Michael Palin was researching for his novel Hemingway’s Chair his interest was stimulated by Hemingway s appetite for travel and Papa s evocations of the places he knew. Hemingway remains a compelling figure, and Palin s goal was to revisit Hemingway s world. This book includes the American West wide lawns and narrow minds , Idaho, Michigan fly fishing, hunting , Europe in the First World where Hemingway was wounded serving in the Ambulance Brigade, Cuba where Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, Paris in the Roaring Twenties and Spain during the Spanish Civil War, Sun Valley and Key West where the Hemingway lookalike competition is an annual event.

Michael Palin Travels The World

In ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ we join Michael Palin on the first of his great adventures. Following in the footsteps of the fictional Phileas Fogg, he makes real the journey which author Jules Verne imagined more than a century earlier. From the opulence of the ‘Orient Express’ to the lurching progress of an Egyptian camel, from the hot and lively streets of Madras to the lofty heights of a hot air balloon over Colorado, there is never a dull moment in this hilarious account of a journey full of surprises. ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ is essential reading for every would be traveller. Writing in his characteristically engaging and witty style, Palin paints a vivid picture of the people and places around him, reinforcing his reputation as one of the world’s favourite travel writers. ‘His easy going charm and passion for discovery are captivating.’ ‘The Daily Express’. ‘Palin recounts the journey charmingly in daily diary entries. Beautifully illustrated, the book shows the programme’s virtues, such as Palin’s enthusiasim and naturalness.’ ‘The Observer’.

Sahara

Michael Palin’s epic voyages have seen him circumnavigate the globe, travel from the North to the South Pole and circle the countries of the Pacific Ocean, but perhaps the greatest single challenge he has faced is his latest, a crossing of the vast and merciless Sahara Desert. As the journey unfolds, the Sahara reveals not only the emptiness of endless sand dunes, but a huge and diverse range of cultures and landscapes, and a long history of civilization, trade, commerce and conquest stretching from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the oil rich Islamic republics of today. This is Michael Palin, explorer adventurer, at his hard pressed best.

Himalaya

In this his most challenging journey, Michael Palin tackles the Himalaya, the greatest mountain range on earth, a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to south west China. Penetrated but never conquered, it remains the world’s most majestic natural barrier, a magnificent wilderness that shapes the history and politics of Asia to this day. Having risen to the challenge of seas, poles, dhows and deserts, the highest mountains in the world were a natural target for Michael Palin. In a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before, in 6 months of hard travelling Palin takes on the full length of the Himalaya including the Khyber Pass, the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush, ancient cities like Peshawar and Lahore, the mighty peaks of K2, Annapurna and Everest, the bleak and barren plateau of Tibet, the gorges of the Yangtze, the tribal lands of the Indo Burmese border and the vast Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. Facing altitudes as high as 17,500 feet as well as some of the world’s deepest gorges, Palin also passed through political flashpoints like Pakistan’s remote north west frontier, terrorist torn Kashmir and the mountains of Nagaland, only recently open to visitors. They had a brush with the Maoists while filming in Nepal and advice from the Dalai Lama before crossing into Tibet. This book, compiled from his diaries, records the pleasure and pain of an extraordinary journey. Basil Pao, the inspired photographer of SAHARA, FULL CIRCLE and POLE TO POLE, captures the sensational beauty of the finest mountain scenery in the world. This is adventure at the very highest level.

New Europe

In His Seventh Voyage of Discovery, Michael Palin Reads His Own Account of a Journey into a New Europe! Michael Palin: New Europe starts with a simple idea: that only a couple of hours from home is a half of Europe that is for him as unknown and unexplored as the plateau of Tibet or the vastness of the Sahara. Cut off for most of his life by Cold Wars and Iron Curtains, Europe’s eastern lands are now open for business and Michael sets off to discover them. After the Balkans, which experienced vicious fighting in the 1990s, Michael encounters a strong eastern influence through Bulgaria, Macedonia and into Turkey, where Europe and Asia meet. He follows the mighty Danube into Serbia and Hungary, the very heart of Europe, and on to Ukraine. Then it’s the Baltic States, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and what was formerly East Germany. Visiting twenty countries, more than in his Himalaya and Sahara journeys combined, he encounters painful memories and exuberant celebrations. Throwing himself into local life with his usual reckless curiosity, he samples pig fat with a brandy chaser, meets Romanian lumberjacks, drives the 8. 58 stopping train from Poznan to Wolsztyn, learns about mine clearing in Bosnia, treads the catwalk at a Budapest fashion show and watches Turkish gents wrestling in olive oil. It’s New Europe, but vintage Palin. Presented on 6 CDs, read by the author.

Related Authors

Leave a Comment