Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980 to 1988

Format:	Hardback 680 pages

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Synopsis

The second volume of Michael Palin's diaries covers the 1980s, a decade in which the ties that bound the Pythons loosened as they forged their separate careers. After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, they made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful Monty Python's Meaning of Life. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played the hapless, stuttering Ken (for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC. He wrote much of the dialogue and acted in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits and acted in his next film, Brazil. He co-produced, wrote and played the lead in The Missionary opposite Maggie Smith, who also appeared with him in A Private Function, written by Alan Bennett. For television he wrote East of Ipswich, inspired by his links with Suffolk. Such was his fame in the US, he was enticed into once again hosting the enormously popular show Saturday Night Live, in one edition of which his mother makes a highly successful surprise guest appearance. He filmed several journeys for television and became chairman of the pressure group, Transport 2000. His family remains a constant as his and Helen's children enter their teens.

Book details

Published
17/09/2009

Publisher
Weidenfeld & Nicolson

ISBN
9780297844402

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'Palin reminds me of Samuel Johnson: driven, intellectually formidable, and spurred on by self-reproach and the wholly irrational idea that he's not really getting on with it... Palin is a seriously good writer. These diaries are full of fine phrases and sharp little sketches of scenes' -- Sam Leith DAILY MAIL 'Halfway to Hollywood is at its best when it moves from Palin's professional life to personal revelation' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'There are some fabulous and very funny snippets about Alan Bennett and Maggie Smith... the behind-the-scenes antics of the Pythons and their wider circle make great reading' THE OBSERVER 'Reading Palin's words is like putting your slippers on, clutching a cup of cocoa and settling down for a late night chat with an old friend... for anyone who enjoys with work of a competent, erudite and amusing diarist.' MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS 'This is the Michael Palin with whom the public has fallen in love. A man whose ordinary likeability makes us feel we know him, and that he is incapable of nastiness or an outburst of bad temper.' THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'it's clear why Cleese later nominated Palin as his luxury item on Desert Island Discs because... he makes such unfailingly good company... this is the agreeably written story of how a former Python laid the foundation stone by which he would reinvent himself as a public institution: the People's Palin.' THE GUARDIAN

About the author

Michael Palin

Michael Palin established his reputation with MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS and RIPPING YARNS. His work also includes several films with Monty Python, as well as THE MISSIONARY, A PRIVATE FUNCTION, an award-winning performance as the hapless Ken in A FISH CALLED WANDA and, more recently, AMERICAN FRIENDS and FIERCE CREATURES His television credits include two films for the BBC's Great Railway Journeys, the plays EAST OF IPSWICH and NUMBER 27, and Alan Bleasdale's GBH. The books he wrote to accompany his TV travels have all been bestsellers, as was the first volume of his diaries.