Monty Python

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) were a British surreal comedy group who created the sketch comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus, that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four seasons. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and a stage musical. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.

Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Flying Circus was conceived, written, and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons had creative control which allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America, it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.

List of minor planets: 13001–14000

The Bishop (Monty Python)

The Bishop is a Monty Python sketch from season 2, episode 17 of Monty Python's Flying Circus (titled "The Buzz Aldrin Show"). "The Bishop" is a parody of The Saint, a British crime-drama series of the 1960s starring Roger Moore as Simon Templar, enemy of gangland.

"The Bishop" stars Terry Jones as a crime-fighting bishop attempting to stop several comical murders of various Anglican clergymen (played by John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle), always arriving a moment too late to be of assistance. Palin also appears as a character called "Devious", whom the Bishop directs 'Don't move!' at the very beginning and ends of the sketch. Much of the humour from this sketch derives from its frequent repetition. The bishop smacks his crook onto Devious' desk and tells him not to move, leading into the opening credits. This is then repeated at the end of the sketch when the Bishop comes in to rescue the priest being fleeced by Devious, and again later in the programme when - after an extended tirade by an inexplicably nude Graham Chapman on a chat show - John Cleese's interviewer addresses an off-screen 'Bishop', again launching the crook slam scene and the opening/closing credits. This is then interrupted by a caption and voiceover apologising for the frequent repetition in the programme. This is then interrupted by a repeat caption and voiceover apologising for the frequent repetition in the programme.

John Tomkins

John Patrick Tomkins is an American who was convicted of sending several threatening letters and bomb-like devices to financial firms in the Midwestern United States under the pseudonym The Bishop. A machinist and lifelong resident of Dubuque, Iowa, he is now serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison.

Beginning

Beginning in 2005, threatening letters were sent to various financial institutions, demanding that certain stock prices be raised to $6.66 (the Biblical "Number of the Beast"). The letters were signed by "The Bishop". The return addresses on the letters were from various cities in the Midwest. The sender set deadlines for the stock prices to be changed, and threatened to take action if the deadlines were not met. The companies to whom the letters were sent had no way of manipulating stock prices, and the deadlines passed with no action from the firms "The Bishop" contacted.

Bombs

In January 2007, The Bishop mailed two pipe bombs; one to American Century Investments in Kansas City, and the other to Janus Capital Group in Denver which was in turn accidentally forwarded to a subsidiary investment firm located in the downtown Chicago area known as The Loop. The bombs had vital parts missing, and are believed to have been meant as warnings. A typed letter accompanied each device, suggesting that if certain demands were not met more letter bombs would follow.

The Bishop (novel)

The Bishop is a 1970 novel by Scottish writer Bruce Marshall.

Plot summary

This novel is a sort of 'inside look" at the workings of a fictional Roman Catholic Bishop's headquarters in the United Kingdom.

The central characters are Bishop Bede Jenkins; Father Spyers, a young, recently ordained priest who serves as the Bishop's secretary; Monsignor Basil Powell, the Vicar General, who was once a Major in the Grenadier Guards; and Monsignor Finbar O'Flaherty, the administrator of the pro-Cathedral.

The story opens as Father Spyers opens a new encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which prohibits Catholics the use of chemical birth control methods (physical methods had long been banned). The process of implementing perhaps the most controversial papal bull released during the Church's second millennium supplies most of the activities of the story. Marshall introduces us to the discussions and arguments within the Catholic community during this time. The Bishop finds himself embroiled in fights with his superiors over his methods of implementing the decree. Father Spyers spends time in the hospital after being struck down by an angry husband.