It was 2007 when one, John Cleese, set his Pythonesque sights on the traditional reading of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. In John’s own words from the podcast of thoughts, observations and musings, this is his attempt to alleviate the planet from holiday stress “…that finds everyone assembled around a blazing fire, where families eat […]
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Sunday, 11 March, 2012 is the day to celebrate the man who gave us life, the universe and everything. The Apollo Hammersmith in London (Planet Earth) is the place to be for the birthday party of all birthday parties. Greats from the world of science, comedy and music will come together for an evening of entertainment […]
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Ever since I attended the world premiere of Monty Python and the Holy Grail back in 1974 at the Esquire Theatre in Dallas, I knew that there was so much more to The Black Knight. While the 900+ in attendance starred blankly at the coconut they were given earlier in line, I immediately turned my […]
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As we tumble headlong into Thanksgiving Thursday and the traditional day-long feast of turkey and all the trimmings, let us not forget the one food that helped put British comedy on the map a mere 42 years ago. Monty Python’s Flying Circus immortalized SPAM, the quintessential ‘mystery meat’ that now boasts its own museum in […]
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This gem comes from Shaun Usher over at Letters of Note, a Manchester site dedicated to the seeking out fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos. To the British comedy world, there is none more ‘fascinating’ that this accompanying 1974 memo graphic supplied by Sam Ward. While we knew of this story through several interviews […]
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And Now for Something Completely Different Touting his Olympic experience, former Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star, John Cleese, finds himself in the Czech Republic this week where he will become the face of the Czech Republic Olympic Team in all advertising leading up to the London 2012 games. Cleese, who says that the Czech […]
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There are only a handful of individuals that any one of us crosses paths with, either directly or indirectly, who have an impact on so many lives. John Howard Davies was one such individual. You may not know the face, unless you happen to have a DVD of the 1948 classic David Lean film, Oliver […]
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Harry Beck was a London Underground employee who, basically, decided that the physical locations of the mostly underground stations were irrelevant to travelers of the day whose main desire is to know how to get to one station from another. It was the topology of the railway mattered. His uncommissioned idea was make clearer design […]
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Somehow, I had the strange feeling as I was beginning to write this that I was starting the lyrics to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (you know, “It was 20 years ago today that Sgt Pepper taught the band to play…”). Ok, not quite, but it WAS 10 years ago today that the world (well, […]
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You may have heard, recently, that the Pythons will lend their voices to the upcoming film, A Liar’s Autobiography, an animated 3D movie based on the memoir of the late Python member, Graham Chapman, who died in 1989. Chapman’s own voice will be pulled from his original reading of his autobiography of the same name. Interestingly, […]
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