MICHAEL PALIN
Halfway to Hollywood
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
NZ$60.00 RRP

Michael Palin has a legion of fans and I am happy to count myself among them.

In his second volume of entertaining diaries he covers the 1980s, when the ties that bound the Pythons loosened as they forged their separate careers. They played their final performance together in the legendary Monty Python’s Meaning of Life in 1983, following a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

Writing and acting in films and television then took up much of Michael’s life, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda in which he played the hapless, stuttering Ken (and for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC.

Such was Michael’s fame in the US that he was enticed into once again hosting the enormously popular show Saturday Night Live. Michael filmed several more journeys for TV and became chairman of the pressure group Transport 2000. The decade – and this volume – ends with the hugely successful Around the World in 80 Days, which sees the start of a new career.

Compelling, and as much a biography of the entertainment world in the 80s, this is a book not to be missed by Palin fans. Be warned though, the book is a massive tome running to 622 pages - best keep it for the holidays!

I had the great joy of spending a few hours with Michael Palin during one of his NZ visits and I rate him as one of the world's truly decent men - sincere, generous, talented and humble. And much more besides.

The publishers have kindly agreed to letting me use a couple of the many interesting photographs that appear in the book.
Pic left shows Palin with Maggie Smith in 1984 while the shot right shows Palin with Alan Bennett, also in 1984.