Michael Palin is not a nice man at all. He’s an ill-tempered lout who sits in bed all day eating fudge. When he can be bothered to make the effort he writes novels, does television documentaries, goes on one-man theatre tours, publishes diaries, writes screenplays, does a bit of acting, makes radio appearances, records narration for the Clangers, drinks strong coffee and works for Monty Python. But that’s about all.
He shares a birthday with Karl Marx, though Karl Marx is a lot older.
His shoe size is brown and his favourite number is 8.
Favourite Music : Brass Band, Reggae, Ska, Country, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Orchestral and Jazz.
Favourite Food : Oysters, strawberries, bacon, steak pie, smoked mackerel, prawns, salmon, cured herring, crab, goat’s cheese, treacle tart, kedgeree, beetroot, endives, fettucine, rack of lamb, burgers, fruitcake, liver, blackberries, hazelnuts, vanilla ice-cream, rosti potatoes and spam. Oh and camel.
Favourite Authors: John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Virginia Woolf, Richard Ford, Gabriel García Márquez.
For reasons of space we’ve had to bring Michael Palin’s list of preferences to a close. His choices, so clearly motivated by indecision and the need to be liked, will appear in a little more orderly shape over the weeks and months ahead . (He’s already 72 so we don’t promise years)