I’ve always been a hoarder and at last it’s paid off. The British Library now have a whole stack of my old notebooks, scribbled sketches and ideas that never made it. I knew that I’d never sort them all myself, so a library seemed the only place for them to be looked after.

Clearing the shelves was a mammoth task, but my youngest grandson rolled up his sleeves and helped out.

Watch the BBC News report ‘Inside Michael Palin’s Monty Python diaries‘.

Read The Guardian’s article ‘Michael Palin donates 22 years’ worth of notebooks to British Library‘.