Michael Palin

  • My Account
    • Login
    • Dashboard
    • Orders
    • Addresses
    • Account Details
  • 0 items£0.00
    • your cart is currently empty
  • Home
  • North Korea Journal
  • Palin’s Posts
  • News
  • Dr. Fegg
  • My Diaries
  • Write It Down
  • Videos
  • Shop
Palin's Posts

Following The Fleet

Monday, June 19th 2017

Whoever thought writing was a sedentary activity should have been with me these past few weeks. Since my week in the Falkland Islands in March, my researches into the saga of HMS Erebus have taken me to Pembroke Dockyard in Wales, where the ship was built 190 years ago, to the Orkney Islands, the last sight of home for the ill-fated crew of Franklin’s Arctic expedition, and just last week to Hobart, Tasmania which was the base for Erebus’s most successful voyages, into the heart of the Antarctic.

Top: The men who built HMS Erebus in 1826 would have walked through these very same gates at Pembroke Dockyard. Bottom: With my guide, historian Ted Goddard, at Pembroke Dockyard Museum.

A lot of the places where my story is set are remote corners of the world, so it takes a while to get there, but one thing they have in common is an almost unpolluted atmosphere. It’s quite a shock to look up into the heavens above Port Stanley or Western Australia (where I went to a Writers Festival on my way to Hobart) and see the sheer mass of flickering, sparkling light that fills the skies. Its a sight that takes the breath away, and one we big city dwellers never get to see.

Top left: Shop that’s changed hands. Stromness, Orkney Islands. Bottom leftt: Arctic explorer John Rae lies in St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall with his gun by his side. Right: Some of the houses at Stromness are so tightly wedged together that they have to shave a bit off the bottom of the building to let people through.

The only trouble is that I know that soon I’m going to have to stop travelling and sit down and write my book. Instead of seeing stars I’ll be seeing spellcheck. Ah, well, I’ve always enjoyed the writing process. Not that it’s always as smooth as it seems.  I recently had to sort through my writings that date back more than 50 years, to try and decide which to send to the British Library archive. In the end I gave up and sent everything.

Orkney Islands. Interior of a chapel inside a Nissen Hut built and decorated by Italian prisoners in the Second World War using whatever they could find on the Islands.

So many of the best  Python ideas sprang from squiggles and doodles and crossings out, that what I was giving the British Library was bound to be a bit of a mess, but a kind of productive mess, which they would sort out. And they seemed very happy to do that. The fact that all my Python material was hand-written, and then re-written, and then chopped up and inserted into someone else’s sketch didn’t seem to worry them. And it doesn’t really worry me any more. I’m an obsessively tidy person, and yet it’s the untidiness of the Python sketches that reveals the thought processes behind them.

Late afternoon on the Huon River, in Tasmania’s Deep South. The settlement by the water is called Franklin, and they build the most beautiful woooden boats there. They give lessons in boat -building. Check out The Wooden Boat Centre.
In Hobart, capital of Tasmania, even the telephone junction boxes are works of art. Come on London, catch up!

“Don’t tidy up histery’ I wrote in my notebook, and then crossed it out and wrote it again, spelling “history” right.

Hope you all have a really great summer – and for those in the southern hemisphere, a really great winter.

Purchase a book or DVD in the shop and get it signed by Michael. Just write your name or the name you want in the Book/DVD Signing box at checkout.

Palin’s Posts

  • On The Road Again – again

  • Nights in Belfast

  • On Squatting

  • Perfect Matches

  • Things To Be Proud Of

  • Change Of Heart

  • The Bishop’s Finger

  • A Day For The Diary

  • Walk, Don’t Run

  • London Lockdown

  • Inspirational Eccentricity

  • Marking Time

  • Big Day For Erebus Fans

  • Out Of The Window

  • Pre-April Fool

  • History Doesn’t Always Repeat Itself

  • Knowing Terry

  • Nancy Lewis/Jones

  • Ticker Tapes 3

  • Fifty Years On

  • Ticker Tapes 2

  • The Ticker Tapes

  • Bournemouth and Beyond

  • Getting On A Bit

  • End Of Term Surprise

  • Down Under and Underground

  • Archives and Anniversaries

  • Erebus Sails On

  • On The Road Again

  • Calm Before The Storm

  • Busy Summer

  • The Last Lap

  • Erebus Sails on into the New Year

  • Death of Stalin Day

  • North-West Passage

  • Following The Fleet

  • Spring Into Action

  • A Weekend In Pakistan

  • Cold Start

  • Ten Days in Taiwan

  • A Yorkshireman In Paris

  • Brazil and Why the Thought of It Cheers Me Up

  • June goes out with a groan

  • May on The Way

  • Still Travelling

  • Martin Honeysett and Dr. Fegg

  • Farewell to the Thirty Years Tour

  • Warm in London

  • Eurostar to Paris

Show more...

Main Areas

  • North Korea Journal
  • Tour 2019
  • Palin’s Posts
  • News
  • Erebus News
  • Dr. Fegg’s Page
  • My Diaries
  • Write it Down
  • The Thirty Years Tour
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Shop
  • North Korea Journal

    North Korea Journal (Hardback)

    Michael Palin
    £14.99
    Hardback
  • Erebus: The Story of a Ship (Paperback)

    Erebus: The Story of a Ship (Paperback)

    Michael Palin
    £9.99
    Paperback

About Michael Palin·Biography·Contact·Credits · Terms·Privacy

Shop·Delivery·International Delivery·returns·Payment·COVID-19 Update

Palins Travels·Facebook·YouTube·Instagram

© 2012 - 2022 Prominent Palin Productions Ltd · A Strand Design Website

We recognise the importance of your online privacy. We use technology such as cookies to ensure that you have the best experience on our website, in accordance with our Privacy Policy. ACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT