MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING SECRETS
The silly walk that drove John Cleese mad, the sketch Elvis recited word for word and the jokes too (nudge, nudge) rude for TV... With unique access to the surviving Pythons and their hidden archive, a brilliant new book reveals the inside stories behind
When author Adrian Besley was granted access to an unmarked room at a high-security storage facility in King’s Cross, London, containing the boxes, files and tapes of the Monty Python archive, it was like being given the keys to comedy nirvana. Here lay half a century’s worth of unrivalled comic history, courtesy of Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman and John Cleese, including material from the television shows, films and live performances, as well as the Pythons’ solo projects.
Gilliam’s daughter Holly had begun the task of classifying everything and Besley was let loose to rummage in the folders, finding hand-annotated scripts, rare photographs, posters, programmes, original animation artwork and even scripts with the group’s working title of Bunn, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot.
The resulting compendium, which draws on unique interviews and recordings with the team, reveals the secrets behind their famous routines and features previously unpublished scripts, including the Wee-Wee WineTasting sketch (‘Is it a Pouilly-Fumé? No it’s wee-wee’), deemed too offensive by the BBC in 1971. Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Hidden Treasures by Adrian Besley is published by Carlton Books on March 9, priced €35, www.carltonbooks.co.uk