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Michael Edward Palin (born May 5, 1943 in
Sheffield, Yorkshire) is a British
comedian and television presenter. He is famous
for being a member of the Monty Python's Monty
Python's Flying Circus|Flying Circus team in which
he generally played roles that called for manic
enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of the
Lumberjack Song), or unflappable calmness (such as
the Dead Parrot vendor or Cheese Shop
sketch|Cheese Shop proprietor).  As the latter, he
was often the perfect foil to the rising ire of
characters portrayed by John Cleese.

Michael Palin was educated at Birkdale preparatory
school and Shrewsbury School|Shrewsbury School. He
went on to read History at Brasenose College,
Oxford | Brasenose College at The University of
Oxford.

After Monty Python, Palin subsequently
collaborated with Python writing partner Terry
Jones on the television comedy series Ripping
Yarns.  He also appeared in All You Need Is Cash
as the lawyer and press agent for The Rutles.

In later years, Palin rejoined Cleese for the
movies A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures
and played an information retrieval specialist in
fellow Python Terry Gilliam's Brazil
(movie)|Brazil. He has assisted Transport 2000 and
others with campaigns on transport policy issues,
particularly those relating to urban areas. In
1984 Palin played the straight role of Gilbert
Chivers in the comic drama A Private Function.

Palin's first travel documentary was part of the
1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys
of the World, in which, reminiscing about his
childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled
throughout the UK by train, from London to Kyle of
Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Edinburgh and
Inverness.  A second journey for the same series
of Michael's went through Northern Ireland and
Ireland titled "Derry to Kerry".  More recently,
he has presented several series of travel
programmes on television;

* Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days
(1989), travelling as closely as possible the path
described in the famous Jules Verne story of the
same name without using aircraft.
* Pole to Pole (1992), travelling from the North
Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as
possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as
much land as possible - i.e., through Europe and
Africa
* Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997), in which
he circumnavigated the lands around the
Pacific|Pacific Ocean counter-clockwise, starting
on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999),
retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway
through the United States, Europe, Africa and the
Caribbean
* Sahara (television series)|Sahara (2002), in
which he trekked through the world's
Sahara|largest desert.
*Himalaya (mini-series)|Himalaya (2004), in which
he travels through the Himalaya|Himalaya region

Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a
phenomenon termed the "Palin effect", in which
areas of the world visited by Michael Palin
suddenly become popular tourist attractions
— for example, the significant increase in
the number of British tourists interested in
holidaying in the Sahara Desert|Sahara region in
2003.

In 2005, he presented Michael Palin and the
Mystery of Hammershoi, about the Denmark|Danish
artist Vilhelm Hammershøi, whose work he
collects.

Palin has also appeared as a 'straight' actor in
serious drama, most notably in the 1991 serial
G.B.H. (TV drama)|G.B.H., broadcast on the Channel
4 network in the UK.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he
was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by
fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

==Further Reading==

Further information about Michael Palin can be
found in the following book:

*From Fringe to Flying Circus - 'Celebrating a
Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980' - Roger
Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.

== External links ==


*
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/talent/p/palin_m
ichael.shtml Michael Palin - BBC Guide to Comedy
* http://www.palinstravels.co.uk/ Palin's Travels
- official website for the travel series
* imdb name|id=0001589|name=Michael Palin
* http://www.stammeringcentre.org/MPC/home.html
Michael Palin Center for stammerer sufferers