Éric de Montgolfier (born August 11, 1946 in Lyon) is a famous French prosecutor (procureur de la République).

When head prosecutor in Valenciennes, he became famous for prosecuting the businessman-cum-politician Bernard Tapie for rigging the match between his football club Olympique de Marseille and the local club Valenciennes FC. Tapie was sentenced to prison in 1995 for complicity of corruption and subornation of witnesses.

In 2003, as head prosecutor of Nice, he returned to public notice with allegations that the local judiciary had deliberately derailed Justice by miscarrying procedures, letting prescription lapse, or losing files, in "sensitive" cases; he also indicated that some members of the judiciary had unhealthy contacts in Masonic lodges with local personalities, including those they had to prosecute.

Montgolfier also opened a criminal investigation targeting rock star Johnny Halliday for allegedly raping an employee of a yacht rented by Halliday. He had also hinted at possible investigations concerning corruption in the city of Nice's administration.

Bernard Tapie (French pronunciation: [bɛʁnaːʁ tapi]) (born 26 January 1943 in Paris) is a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Ministre de la Ville (Minister of City Affairs) in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy, a businessman specializing in recovery for bankrupted companies, among which Adidas is the most famous (he owned Adidas from 1990 to 1993); and owner of sports teams (his cycling team won the Tour de France twice and his football club the French championship 5 times in a row, and the Champions League in 1993).

On September 30, 2011 it was disclosed Tapie had agreed to buy Full Tilt Poker and its assets despite its legal troubles in the United States and the revocation of its gambling license. That deal fell through in April 2012.

La Vie Claire, one of Tapie's former businesses, is a chain of health product stores. It sponsored one of the strongest cycling teams of all time called La Vie Claire. It was founded after the 1983 season when multiple Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault broke from the Renault-Elf team that also featured another Tour winner in Laurent Fignon after a falling-out with team manager, Cyrille Guimard. Following Hinault to the new team was Greg LeMond, who would go on to win three Tours himself. Both Hinault and LeMond would win Tours with the La Vie Claire team.

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) was a British surreal comedy group who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. 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 as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.

The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by 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' creative control 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.