The Uptown Theatre in Chicago is reputed to be the largest movie palace in the United States.

A movie palace (or picture palace in the UK) is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.

There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed under the label movie palace. First, the classical style movie palace, with its eclectic and luxurious period-revival architecture; second, the atmospheric theatre which has an auditorium ceiling that resembles an open sky as its defining feature and finally, the Art Deco theaters that became popular in the 1930s.

History[link]

Grand vaudeville theatres began to show motion pictures in the early 20th century, but the development of the feature film led to the development of dedicated movie theatres. The Mark Strand Theater in New York City, opened in 1913 by Mitchell Mark at the cost of one-million dollars, is usually cited as the first movie palace of the United States, and its success in drawing the upper middle class to the movies spurred others to follow suit.

Many movie palace architects, like studio heads, were often first generation Americans, notably the Romanian-born John Eberson and Scottish Thomas W. Lamb. Other pioneers include the Chicago firm of Rapp and Rapp, which designed the Chicago, the Uptown, and the Oriental Theatres; the impresario S.L. "Roxy" Rothafel, originator of the deluxe presentation of films with themed stage shows; and Sid Grauman, who built the first movie palace on the West Coast, Los Angeles' Million Dollar Theater, in 1918.

As their name implies, movie palaces, like other products of the age, were advertised to "make the average citizen feel like royalty." While inscribed with democratic sayings and patriotic imagery, they consciously referenced the grandeur of aristocratic Europe and were often decorated in European fashion.^[1]

Eberson specialized in the subgenre of "atmospheric" theatres. His first, of the five hundred in his career, was the 1923 Majestic in Houston, Texas. The atmospherics usually conveyed the impression of sitting in an outdoor courtyard, surrounded by highly ornamented asymmetrical facades and exotic flora and fauna, underneath a dark blue canopy; when the lights went out, a specially designed projector, the Brenograph, was used to project clouds, and special celestial effects on the ceiling.

Lamb's style was initially based on the more traditional, "hardtop" form patterned on opera houses, but was no less ornate. His theaters evolved from relatively restrained neo-classic designs in the 1910s to those with elaborate baroque and Asian motifs in the late 1920s.

The movie palace's signature look was one of extravagant ornamentation. The theaters were often designed with an eclectic exoticism where a variety of referenced visual styles collided wildly with one another. French Baroque, High Gothic, Moroccan, Mediterranean, Spanish Gothic, Hindu, Babylonian, Aztec, Mayan, Orientalist, Italian Renaissance, and (after the discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922) Egyptian Revival, were all variously mixed and matched. This wealth of ornament was not merely for aesthetic effect. It was meant to create a fantasy environment to attract moviegoers and involved a type of social engineering, distraction, and traffic management, meant to work on human bodies and minds in a specific way. Today, most of the surviving movie palaces operate as regular theaters, showcasing concerts, plays and operas.

Image gallery[link]

• 

  Palace Theatre, Louisville

• 

  Chicago's Gateway Theatre's Solidarity Tower in Jefferson Park is a replica of the Royal Castle in Warsaw

• 

  The landmark Chicago Theatre

• 

  Interior and balcony of the Paramount Theatre in Seattle

• Broadhist2c.jpg

  Broadway Theatre, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

• 

  Loew's 175th St Theatre (now United Palace Theater), New York

• 

  Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California

• 

  Palace Theatre, Cleveland Ohio

• RialtoSquareJoliet.jpg

  Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, Illinois

• 

  Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto, Ontario

List of movie palaces[link]

This is a list of selected movie palaces, with location and year of construction.

• Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, Alabama, 1927
• Alameda Theatre, Alameda, California 1932
• Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara, California, 1931
• Alex Theatre, Glendale, California, 1925
• Aztec On The River Theatre, San Antonio, Texas, 1926
• Bama Theatre, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1938
• Biograph Theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1914
• Broadway Theatre, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 1920
• Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1928
• Byrd Theatre, Richmond, Virginia, 1928
• California Theatre, San Jose, California, 1927
• Capitol Cinema, Ottawa, Ontario, 1920
• Capitol Theatre, Rome, New York, 1928
• Capitol Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1921
• Carolina Theatre, Durham, North Carolina, 1926
• Carpenter Theater, Richmond, Virginia, 1928
• Castro Theatre, San Francisco, California, 1922
• Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 1921
• Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1926
• Coronado Theatre, Rockford, Illinois, 1927
• Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, California, 1927
• Circle Theatre, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916
• Crest Theatre, Sacramento, California, 1912
• Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, Toronto, Ontario, 1913
• Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles, California 1922
• El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, California 1926
• Embassy Theatre (Fort Wayne), Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1928
• Englert Theatre, Iowa City, Iowa 1912
• Fargo Theatre, Fargo, North Dakota 1926
• Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, Florida, 1927
• Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, 1929, the only surviving movie palace in Atlanta, Ga.
• Fox Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, 1928
• Fox Theatre, San Diego, California, 1929, now Copley Symphony Hall
• Fox Theatre, San Francisco, California,
• Fox Theatre, St. Louis, Missouri, 1929
• Gateway Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 1930
• Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, California, 1926
• Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1922
• Indiana Theatre (Indianapolis, Indiana), 1933
• Ironwood Theatre, Ironwood, Michigan, 1928
• Jefferson Theatre, Beaumont, Texas 1927
• Jefferson Theater, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1912
• Lafayette Theatre, Suffern, New York, 1924
• Landmark Theatre, Richmond, Virginia, 1926
• Landmark Theatre, 1928 (formerly Loew’s State Theatre), Syracuse, New York
• Lensic Theater, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1931
• Loew's 175th Street Theater, New York City, New York, 1930
• Loew's Grand Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, 1920s
• Loew's Jersey Theatre, Jersey City, New Jersey, 1929
• Loew's Kings Theatre, Brooklyn, New York, 1929
• Loew's Paradise Theatre, The Bronx, New York, 1929
• Loew's Penn Theatre, (now Heinz Hall), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1927
• Loew's State Palace Theatre, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1926
• Loew's Tara Cinema, Atlanta, Ga., 1968, now a multiplex; renamed the Lefont Tara years later, and now the Regal Tara
• Loew's Valencia Theatre, Queens, New York, 1929
• Los Angeles Theatre, Los Angeles, California
• Lorenzo Theatre, San Lorenzo, California, currently in restoration by the Lorenzo Theatre Foundation.
• Mainstreet Theater, Kansas City, Missouri, 1921 (formerly the Empire and the RKO Missouri)
• Martin's Cinerama, Atlanta, Georgia, 1962 (formerly the Tower Theatre, later renamed the Atlanta Theatre and later still, the Columbia Theatre; from 1962 onward, however, no matter what the name, it always retained its ultra-curved screen. Later stopped its movie operations and became the new home of the Academy Theatre, the oldest live professional theatre company in Georgia.)
• Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1928
• Michigan Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, 1926
• Ohio Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, 1928
• Ohio Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio, 1921
• Olympia Theatre, Miami, Florida, 1926
• Ouimetoscope, Montreal, Quebec, 1906
• Oriental Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 1926
• Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1927
• Orpheum Theatre, Sioux City, Iowa, 1927
• Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1927
• Orpheum Theatre, Wichita, Kansas, 1922
• Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, Illinois, 1928
• Palace Theatre, Albany, New York, 1931
• Palace Theatre, Marion, Ohio, 1928
• Palace Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio, 1922
• Palace Theatre, Lorain, Ohio 1928
• Palace Theatre, Louisville, Kentucky, 1928
• Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, 1927
• Paramount Theatre, Austin, Minnesota, 1929
• Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1928
• Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California, 1931
• Paramount Theatre, Portland, Oregon, 1928, (now the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall)
• Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington 1927
• Paramount Theatre, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1926, (now the Golders Green Hippodrome Concert Hall)
• Peery's Egyptian Theatre, Ogden, Utah, 1924
• Polk Theatre, Lakeland, Florida, 1928
• Pomona Fox Theater, Pomona, California, 1931
• Quo Vadis Entertainment Center, Westland, Michigan, 1966
• Redford Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, 1928
• The Rex, Berkhamsted, England, 1938
• Rialto Square Theatre, Joliet, Illinois, 1926
• The Ritz Theatre, Tiffin, Ohio, 1928
• Rockingham Theatre, Reidsville, North Carolina, 1929
• The Roxie, San Francisco, California, 1909
• Roxy Theatre, New York, New York, 1927
• Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, Ga, built 1926, renamed the Roxy in 1938^[2]
• Riviera Theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1918
• Saenger Theatre, Mobile, Alabama, 1927
• Saenger Theatre, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1927
• Saenger Theatre, Pensacola, Florida, 1925
• Senator Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland, 1939
• Shea's Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, New York
• Stanley Theater (now an Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses), Jersey City, New Jersey, New Jersey, 1928
• Stanley Theater, (now Benedum Center), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1928
• Stanley Theatre, Utica, New York, 1928
• Stanley Theatre (now Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage), Vancouver, British Columbia, 1930
• State Theater, Cleveland, Ohio, 1921
• State Theatre Center for the Arts, Uniontown, Pennsylvania 1922
• Tampa Theatre, Tampa, Florida, 1926
• Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1928
• United Artists Theatre, Los Angeles, 1927; now known as Dr. Gene Scott's Los Angeles University Cathedral
• Universal Palace Theater, Florida, 2009
• Uptown Theater, Washington, D.C., 1933
• Uptown Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, 1925
• Uptown Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, 1920
• Warner Grand Theatre, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, 1931
• Warner Theater, Powers Auditorium, Youngstown, Ohio, 1930
• Warner Theatre, Erie, Pennsylvania, 1931
• Warner Theatre, (now Powers Auditorium), Youngstown, Ohio, 1931
• Warnors Theatre, Fresno, California, 1928
• Warren Theatres, Wichita, Kansas, 1996
• Washoe Theater, Anaconda, Montana, 1931
• Weinberg Center, Frederick, Maryland, 1926 (formerly the Tivoli Theatre)
• Wilshire Theater, Beverly Hills, California, 1930
• Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California, 1930

See also[link]

• List of fictional theatres
• Timothy L. Pflueger
• A. J. Balaban

References[link]

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ http://cinematreasures.org/theater/10331/

External links[link]

• Cinema Treasures
• Theatre Historical Society of America

Michael Palin
Palin in Trento, Italy in 2005
Born	Michael Edward Palin (1943-05-05) 5 May 1943 (age 69) Broomhill, Sheffield, England
Occupation	Actor, writer, television presenter, comedian
Years active	1965–present
Known for	Monty Python and Travel documentaries
Spouse	Helen Gibbins (married 1966 – present)
Children	3
Website
Palin's Travels

Michael Edward Palin, CBE, PRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as the Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic," "Dead Parrot," "The Lumberjack Song," "The Spanish Inquisition," and "The Fish-Slapping Dance."

Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.^[1] In a 2005 poll to find The Comedians' Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.^[2]

After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas and, most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television.^[3] Palin is currently the president of the Royal Geographical Society. ^[4]

Early life and career[link]

Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, the second child and only son of Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey) and Edward Moreton Palin.^[5][6] His father was a Shrewsbury School and Cambridge-educated engineer working for a steel firm. His maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lockhart Ovey, DSO, was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1927.^[7] He started his education at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, and later Shrewsbury School. His sister Angela was nine years older than he was. Despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1987.^[8]

When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of A Christmas Carol. At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue and read a Shakespeare play to his mother while playing all the parts.^[9] After his school days in 1962 he went on to read modern history at Brasenose College, Oxford. With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at a university Christmas party.^[10] Terry Jones, also a student in Oxford, saw that performance and began writing together with Hewison and Palin.^[9] In the same year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-Operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-Op drama festival.^[11] He also performed in the Oxford Revue with Jones.

In 1966 he married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's play East of Ipswich.^[12] The couple have three children and a grandchild. His youngest child, Rachel (b.1975) is a BBC TV director, whose work includes Masterchef: The Professionals, shown on BBC2 throughout October and November 2010.^[13][14] While still a baby, his son William briefly appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film". His nephew is the theatre designer Jeremy Herbert.^{[citation needed]}.

After finishing university in 1965 Palin became a presenter on a comedy pop show called Now! for the television contractor Television Wales and the West.^[15] At the same time Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, for assistance in writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages.^[16] Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various BBC programmes, such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Billy Cotton Bandshow, and The Illustrated Weekly Hudd.^[17] They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called Diversions. They were also in the team of writers working for The Frost Report, whose other members included Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Monty Python members Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, The Frost Report was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, Terry Gilliam, was at that time an American citizen) worked together. During the run of The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring John Bird: The Late Show and A series of Bird's. For A series of Bird's the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving.^[18]

Following The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, and the successful children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and David Jason. The show also featured musical numbers by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, including future Monty Python musical collaborator Neil Innes. The animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set were made by Terry Gilliam, who joined the cast on Cleese's recommendation and began working with the Palin/Jones team for the first time. Eager to work with Palin^[19] sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in How to Irritate People together with Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The Palin/Jones team were reunited for The Complete and Utter History of Britain.

During this period Cleese contacted Palin about doing the show that would ultimately become Monty Python's Flying Circus. On the strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality. At the same time the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had led Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam to be offered their own series and, while it was still in production, Palin agreed to Cleese's proposal and brought along Idle, Jones and Gilliam. Thus the formation of the Monty Python troupe has been referred to as a result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.^[20]

[edit] Monty Python

In Monty Python, Palin played various roles, which ranged from manic enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song, or Herbert Anchovy, host of the game show "Blackmail") to unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor, Cheese Shop proprietor, or Postal Clerk). As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese. He also played timid, socially inept characters such as Arthur Putey, the man who sits idly by as a marriage counsellor (Eric Idle) makes love to his wife (Carol Cleveland), and Mr. Anchovy, a chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer. He also appeared as the "It's" man at the beginning of most episodes.

Palin frequently co-wrote sketches with Terry Jones, including "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam". Palin also initiated the "Spanish Inquisition sketch", which included the catchphrase "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

Other work[link]

After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. They had earlier collaborated on the play Secrets from the BBC series Black and Blue in 1973. He starred as Dennis the Peasant in Terry Gilliam's 1977 film Jabberwocky. Palin also appeared in All You Need Is Cash (1978) as Eric Manchester (based on Derek Taylor), the press agent for the Rutles.

In 1980, Palin co-wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film.

In 1982, Palin wrote and starred in The Missionary, co-starring Maggie Smith. In it, he plays the Reverend Charles Fortescue, who is recalled from Africa to aid prostitutes.

In 1984, he reunited with Terry Gilliam to appear in Brazil. He appeared in the comedy film A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.^[1] Cleese reunited the main cast almost a decade later to make Fierce Creatures.

After filming for Fierce Creatures finished, Palin went on a travel journey for a BBC documentary and, returning a year later, found that the end of Fierce Creatures had failed at test screenings and had to be reshot.

Apart from Fierce Creatures, Palin's last film role was a small part in The Wind in the Willows, a film directed by and starring Terry Jones. Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face. Palin was in the cast of You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy as a subplot novelist, but his role was eventually cut entirely.^[21]

He also assisted Campaign for Better Transport and others with campaigns on sustainable transport, particularly those relating to urban areas, and has been president of the campaign since 1986.^[22]

Palin has also appeared in serious drama. In 1991 Palin worked as producer and actor in the film American Friends based upon a real event in the life of his great grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford.^[23] In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in Alan Bleasdale's Channel 4 drama series G.B.H..

Palin also had a small cameo role in Australian soap opera Home and Away. He played an English surfer with a fear of sharks, who interrupts a conversation between two main characters to ask whether there were any sharks in the sea. This was filmed while he was in Australia for the Full Circle series, with a segment about the filming of the role featuring in the series.

Michael Palin, Nightingale House, November 2010

Television documentaries[link]

Travel[link]

Palin's first travel documentary was part of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World, in which, humorously reminiscing about his childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled throughout the UK by train, from London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh and Inverness. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him.

In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In a quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great grandmother – Brita Gallagher – who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the Great Famine (1845–1849), bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line.

Starting in 1989, Palin appeared as presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after the veteran TV globetrotter Alan Whicker and journalist Miles Kington turned down presenting the first of these, Around the World in 80 Days, that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows.^[24] These programmes have been broadcast around the world in syndication, and were also sold on VHS tape and later on DVD:

• Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (Travel 1988; Programme release 1989): travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous Jules Verne story without using aircraft.
• Pole to Pole (Travel 1991; Programme release 1992): travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa.
• Full Circle with Michael Palin (Travel 1996/97; Programme release 1997): in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean anti-clockwise; a journey of almost 50,000 miles (80,000 km) starting on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait and taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
• Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999): retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway through the United States, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
• Sahara with Michael Palin (Travel 2001/02; Programme release 2002): in which he trekked around and through the world's largest desert.
• Himalaya with Michael Palin (Travel 2003/04; Programme release 2004): in which he travels through the Himalaya region.
• Michael Palin's New Europe (Travel 2006/07; Programme release 2007): in which he travels through Central and Eastern Europe.

Following each trip, Palin wrote a book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, Around the World in 80 Days, contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.)

All seven of these books were also made available as audio books, and all of them are read by Palin himself. Around the World in 80 Days and Hemingway Adventure are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions, although the unabridged versions can be very difficult to find.^{[citation needed]}

For four of the trips a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of the landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads.

Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon termed the "Palin effect": areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions – for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in Peru after Palin visited Machu Picchu.^[25] In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer, Palin named Peru's Pongo de Mainique (canyon below the Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world".^[26]

He is currently working on a new TV travel series and book about Brazil which is expected to be broadcast in four parts in late 2012.^[27]

Art and history[link]

In recent years, Palin has written and presented occasional documentary programmes on artists that interest him. The first, on Scottish painter Anne Redpath, was Palin on Redpath in 1997. In The Bright Side of Life (2000), Palin continued on a Scottish theme, looking at the work of the Scottish Colourists. Two further programmes followed on European painters; Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse (2004) and Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi (2005), about the French artist Henri Matisse and Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi respectively. The DVD Michael Palin on Art contains all these documentaries except for the Matisse programme.

In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after the war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium for the programme, called the Last Day of World War One, produced for the BBC's Timewatch series.^[28]

Activism[link]

In July 2010, Palin sent a message of support for the Dongria Kondh tribe of India, who are resisting a mine on their land by the company Vedanta Resources. Palin said, "I’ve been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in the villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in".^[29]

On 2 January 2011 Palin became the first person to sign the UK-based Campaign for Better Transport's Fair Fares Now campaign.

Recognition[link]

Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge.

Each member of Monty Python has an asteroid named after him. Palin's is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.^[30]

In honour of his achievements as a traveller, especially rail travel, Palin has two British trains named after him. In 2002, Virgin Trains' new £5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221130 was named "Michael Palin" – it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys.^[31] Also, National Express East Anglia named a British Rail Class 153 (unit number 153335) after him. In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society in Dublin.

Palin was instrumental in setting up the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in 1993.^[32]

In recognition of his services to the promotion of geography, Palin was awarded the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March 2009, along with a Fellowship to the Society.^[33]

In June 2009 Palin was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.^[34]

Because of his self-described "amenable, conciliatory character" Michael Palin has been referred to as unofficially "Britain's Nicest Man."^[35]

Bibliography[link]

Travel books[link]

• Around the World in 80 Days (1989) ISBN 0-563-20826-0
• Pole to Pole (1992) ISBN 0-563-37065-3
• Full Circle (1997) ISBN 0-563-37121-8
• Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999) ISBN 0-297-82528-3
• Sahara (2002) ISBN 0-297-84303-6
• Himalaya (2004) ISBN 0-297-84371-0
• New Europe (2007) ISBN 0-297-84449-0

All his travel books can be read at no charge, complete and unabridged, on his website.

Autobiography (contributor)[link]

• The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003) ISBN 0-7528-5293-0

Diaries[link]

• Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years. 2006. ISBN 0-297-84436-9
• Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood – The Film Years. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2009. ISBN 978-0-297-84440-2

Fiction[link]

• Hemingway's chair (1995) ISBN 0-7493-1930-5
• Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls w/Terry Jones, illus Martin Honeysett, Frank Bellamy et al. (1974) ISBN 0-413-32740-X
• Dr Fegg's Encyclopaedia of all world knowledge (1984) (expanded reprint of the above, with Terry Jones and Martin Honeysett) ISBN 0-87226-005-4

Children's books[link]

• Small Harry and the Toothache Pills (1982) ISBN 0-416-23690-1
• Limerics or The Limerick Book (1985) ISBN 0-09-161540-2
• Cyril and the House of Commons (1986) ISBN 1-85145-078-5
• Cyril and the Dinner Party (1986) ISBN 1-85145-069-6
• The Mirrorstone with Alan Lee and Richard Seymour (1986) ISBN 0-224-02408-6

Plays[link]

• The Weekend (1994) ISBN 0-413-68940-9

Selected filmography[link]

Television[link]

• Now! (October 1965 – middle 1966)
• The Ken Dodd Show
• Billy Cotton Bandshow
• The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
• The Frost Report. (10 March 1966 – 29 June 1967)
• The Late Show (15 October 1966 – 1 April 1967)
• A Series of Bird's (1967) (3 October 1967 – 21 November 1967 screenwriter (guest stars)
• Twice a Fortnight (21 October 1967 – 23 December 1967)
• Do Not Adjust Your Set (26 December 1967 – 14 May 1969)
• Broaden Your Mind (1968)
• How to Irritate People (1968)
• Marty (TV series) (1968)
• The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969)
• Monty Python's Flying Circus (5 October 1969 – 5 December 1974)
• Saturday Night Live (Hosted 27 January 1979) with Musical Guests The Doobie Brothers
• Ripping Yarns (1976–1979)
• Great Railway Journeys of the World, episode title "Confessions of a Trainspotter" (1980)
• East of Ipswich (1987) writer
• Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
• GBH (1991)
• Pole to Pole (1992)
• Great Railway Journeys, episode title "Derry to Kerry" (1994)
• The Wind in the Willows (1995)
• The Willows in Winter (1996)
• Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997)
• Palin On Redpath (1997)
• Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999)
• Michael Palin On... The Colourists (2000)
• Sahara with Michael Palin (2002)
• Life on Air (2002)
• Himalaya with Michael Palin (2004)
• Michael Palin's New Europe (2007)
• Around the World in 20 Years (30 December 2008)

Awards[link]

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films[link]

• 1982 Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Writing for Time Bandits (shared with Terry Gilliam)

Evening Standard British Film Awards[link]

• 1986 Won – "Peter Sellers Award for Comedy"

Writers' Guild of Great Britain[link]

• 1991 Won – Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for "Film – Screenplay" for American Friends (shared with Tristram Powell)

DVD Exclusive Awards[link]

• 2001 Nominated – "Video Premiere Award for Best Audio Commentary" for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (shared with John Cleese and Eric Idle)

British Comedy Awards[link]

• 2002 Won – British Comedy Award for "Lifetime Achievement"

BAFTA Awards[link]

• 1984 Nominated – BAFTA Award for "Best Original Song" (the award was discontinued after the 1985 ceremonies) for Every Sperm is Sacred from The Meaning of Life (shared with André Jacquemin, Dave Howman and Terry Jones)

• 1989 Won – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Fish Called Wanda (as Ken Pile)

• 1992 Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for G.B.H.

• 2005 Won – BAFTA Special Award

• 2009 Won – BAFTA Special Award as part of the Monty Python team for outstanding contribution to film and television^[36]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Novick, Jeremy (2001), Life of Michael: an Illustrated Biography of Michael Palin Headline Publishing (a division of Hodder Headline) ISBN 0-7472-3529-5
• Ross, Robert (1997). Monty Python Encyclopedia B.T. Batsford Ltd, London ISBN 1-57500-036-9
• Wilmut, Roger (1980). From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980 Eyre Methuen Ltd ISBN 0-413-50770-X
• Jones, Mark (2010), The Famous Charisma Discography The Record Press/Bristol Folk Publications ISBN 978-0-9563531-1-5 – discography of Monty Python's record label, includes foreword by Michael Palin

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michael Palin

• Michael Palin – BBC Guide to Comedy
• Michael Palin – Comedy Zone
• Palin's Travels – official website for the travel series
• Michael Palin at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Palin at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Michael Palin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children
• Michael Palin: A Life in Pictures – BAFTA event at Ely Cathedral