World of academia welcomes ex-Python
HIS far-flung adventures around the world have been the subject of many television programmes and books.
And yesterday Michael Palin told how his love for travel started in Scotland.
The Monty Python star was collecting an honorary degree at the University of St Andrews when he explained why the country holds such a special place in his heart.
He said: ‘Scotland has been a lifelong inspiration to me as a traveller. The Scots are great travellers, explorers and adventurers – from David Livingstone to Robert Louis Stevenson to James Clark Ross.
‘Quite why so many Scots were obsessed with getting away from Scotland is a question for another day.’
Palin, 74, was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in recognition of his ‘major contribution to the public understanding of contemporary geographical issues and his notable service to the development in UK secondary and tertiary education’.
He becomes the third Python to be honoured by Scotland’s oldest university after former rector John Cleese was recognised with an honorary degree in 1971 and Terry Jones was honoured in 2013.
Yesterday’s ceremony was in the Younger Hall where Palin recalls singing The Lumberjack Song in 1971 ‘to help John’s rectorship look legit’. But yesterday, he said, ‘was very different and very special. It is quite a high point in my educational life.’