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Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years
 
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Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (Hardcover)

by Michael Palin (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
RRP: £20.00
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Frequently Bought Together

Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years + Halfway To Hollywood: Diaries 1980 to 1988: The Film Years + Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years 1969-1979
Total RRP: £49.99
Price For All Three: £28.99

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 696 pages
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (3 Oct 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0297844369
  • ISBN-13: 978-0297844365
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 6.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 48,742 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Review

'This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin's expansiveness.' (David Baddiel THE TIMES )

'Palin's style is so fluid, and his sincerity so palpable, that it is often easy to underestimate just how talented he is as a comedian, a broadcaster and a writer..... they are just too good and his is too modest.' (Ruth Cowen THE SUNDAY EXPRESS )

'a real delight to read;' (SAGA MAGAZINE )

'his showbiz observations are so absorbing..... Palin is an elegant and engaging writer.' (William Cook THE GUARDIAN )

'Palin's steady eye, contemplative bent and instinct for honest appraisal make him the perfect chronicler of a frequently insane period which saw the 'Monty Python' team become the most celebrated comedians in the world.' (John O'Connell TIME OUT )

'a slow burn, revealing its pleasures only gradually, and allowing readers the warm glow of hindsight denied its writer...... this book will be the perfect present.' (Marcus Berkmann THE SPECTATOR )

'the charting of the haphazard and often perilous ascent of the Python phenomenon up the greasy pole of fame makes for delightful and often extraordinarily funny reading.... An entertaining and at times deeply moving read. With nearly two decades of recent dairies still untapped, we may confidently sit back and wait for more.' (Michael Simkins THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )

'a wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python.' (William Cook THE INDEPENDENT )

'our favourite TV explorer shows us the workings of an unstoppable machine.' (DAILY EXPRESS )

'a riveting commentary to a remarkably creative decade.' (ACADEMY )

SAGA MAGAZINE

'a real delight to read;'
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Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years
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Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years 4.0 out of 5 stars (25)
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Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years 1969-1979
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Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years 1969-1979 3.9 out of 5 stars (12)
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not at all silly, 25 Oct 2006
Perhaps the oddest thing about a book written by one of the foremost comedians of a generation is the lack of humour in it. But then, this was never designed to be a funny book. Rather it is the story, the journey, of how one of a group of six men became comedy icons, men who set a comedic standard that 30 years later is still to be transcended.

Comedy, we learn, is HARD WORK, not simply dashing off a sketch with a dead parrot in it and then settling back next to the pool, drinking Chateau de Chasselas and waiting for the bank to send a wheelbarrow full of money around. Rather, this book is about how the Pythons variously loved and hated each other, their doubts and egos, how they fought (and mostly, thankfully, won) their fights against censorship.

This is a diary, not a biography or a hagiography, and so we can take it as honest when Palin relates how, ten years after Python first came upon us, he still drives a Mini and how during a meal Eric Idle `reveals that three of the Pythons are broke` (although John Cleese has a `dirty Rolls`).

If you are looking for belly laughs, get a CD of Python. If you want to know about the egos and the alchoholism, the pain and the pleasure, buy this book. The book won`t make you laugh, but you may learn more about what makes Palin laugh. And what it cost him.

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45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, 6 Oct 2006
This book is wonderfully vivid and engrossing - unlike so many post-Python retrospectives, which can often seem either lifeless or over-eager to grind certain axes, this takes you back to when it all happened, and also provides all kinds of delightful and insightful anecdotes about Palin, his colleagues and his comedy.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A gentle, pleasant read, 20 Dec 2006
By A. BUTTERWORTH (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The 600 pages were apparently edited from about five times as much original material. I think the amount chosen for inclusion should perhaps have been reduced by about half again as there are many accounts of "Python" meetings and other business meetings. That said, the diaries make a gentle and pleasant read for anyone who was around during the Python years and has an interest in the making of Monty Python and other projects in which Palin was involved. There are some insights into the personalities of the Pythons and the stresses and conflicts which emerged in the years following their initial success. The book becomes more interesting as the years pass and some well-known non-Pythons like George Harrison become part of the story though the analysis of characters and current events never attains any depth. Palin comes across as a thoughtful, likeable man, who clearly makes a great deal of money during these years but for whom money is not the primary motivation. To sum up, the book is an enjoyable bed-time read, though not a book to return to once read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Took Me Ages but I Did It!
This is a long, long, long book. Took ten years to create and took me approximately seven months to read. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Emma Peel

5.0 out of 5 stars I Can't Wait To Read About the Next 10 Years
Michael Palin writes as he speaks, without pretension, and with a great deal of humor. These are his diaries - not initially meant for publication and thus full of honest, blunt... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Graceann Macleod

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, inspiring read!
Palin's diaries take in everything from Python meetings, filming, touring, and interesting analyses of the political climate of the time. Read more
Published 21 months ago by S. Fuller

5.0 out of 5 stars When can we have volume two?
This thick volume is a delight from page 1. We already feel we know MP through his air of general bemusement in his travels, but there is so much more to him than this... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Annabel Gaskell

3.0 out of 5 stars Palin to significance
I'm about two thirds through this now and will finish it. After the Thatcher: the Downing Street Years (half way through; untouched for 5 years). Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2008 by tallpete33

4.0 out of 5 stars What Michael did first
A well-written, occasionally funny collection of ten years of Michael Palin's diary of his first life as a member of the Monty Python team. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2007 by Zazoutoo

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!
I found these diaries fascinating. Watching as Palin developed as an artist, a family man, a businessman and friend was a real pleasure. Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2007 by P. Sterin

4.0 out of 5 stars Where's the sauce
I've always been a fan of Michael Palin and have been reading this book with interest. But where are the scandles, dishing the dirt? Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2007 by J. Laban-mitchell

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull As Dishwater
Why publish these? They are incredibly dull, read with little or no enthusiasm. Palin comes across as rather shallow, which I'm sure he's not. For diehard fans only I'd say.
Published on 31 July 2007 by patoban

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not sensational
With the exception of a number of entries written during a Barbados writing excusion for the Python team on Life of Brian, these diaries were never (according to Palin) intended... Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2007 by quippe

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