Michael Palin Goes to Church

Michael Palin writes in his diary, Sunday February 28, 1971:

I had been feeling guilty for some weeks that I had made no effort to follow up my decision to have William [his son] christened at St. Martin’s, the local church standing amongst the rubble of the Gospel Oak rebuilding scheme.

And today I took the snap decision to go. I was literally summoned by the bells. It was a strange feeling going into a church I did not know for a service that I did not really believe in, but once inside I couldn’t help a feeling of warmth and security. Outside there were wars and road accidents and murders, striptease clubs and battered babies and frayed tempers and unhappy marriages and people contemplating suicide and bad jokes and The Golden Shot [a British television game show between 1967 and 1975], but once in St. Martin’s there was peace. Surely people go to church not to involve themselves in the world’s problems but to escape from them. And surprisingly also, here in the middle of devastated Kentish Town, was a large unusually designed stone building, with polished pews and shining brass and a vicar and faithful people gathered. Though rationally I would find it difficult to justify my participation, I nevertheless was glad I went. In a funny way, I was really moved by the faith of the fifteen old ladies, four men, a choir (black and white) who were there with me. But seeing the vicar afterwards I felt a fraud.

Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006, 55-56.

My review of this book can be found at Reviewing Books and Movies.

Geoff Pound

Image: St Martin’s Gospel Oak. The web site says that, “the church has recently been restored. Come and see.”

Monty Python: Judging By (Second Hand) Experience

Michael Palin records his notes of a Monty Python business and writing session (November 23 1979) at the home of John Cleese:

“A very angry, abusive letter to The Times from a man called Allott in Finchley, who clearly doesn’t like The Life of Brian, but admits he hasn’t seen it.”

“It is proposed to send a Python reply to The Times, saying, ‘We haven’t seen Mr. Allott, but we don’t like him’”.

Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006, 599.

This book is reviewed at Reviewing Books and Movies.

Image: The MPFC team.

Michael Palin Considering God

This reflection is from the actor, Michael Palin, when he was starring in The Life of Brian which had just been launched in England and was being criticized by conservative groups and labeled blasphemous. He was preparing for an interview that evening with Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark on BBC2's Friday Night Saturday Morning Show. Michael wrote:

“As I work in the afternoon on committing to paper some of my morning thoughts, I find myself just about to close on the knotty question of whether or not I believe in God. In fact I am about to type, ‘I do not believe in God’, when the sky goes black as ink, there is a thunderclap and a huge crash of thunder of epic proportions. I never do complete the sentence.”

Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006, 594. A review of this book can be found at Reviewing Books and Movies.

Image: “When the sky goes black as ink, there is a thunderclap and a huge crash of thunder of epic proportions.” Rolling thunderstorm (Cumulonimbus arcus) photographed on July 17, 2004 in Enschede, The Netherlands. Photo by John Kerstholt.

Communication: Get a Good Start

Reflecting on his stage performance the previous day, actor, Michael Palin, pens this entry in his diary for April 2, 1979:

“If it starts well, then there is great laughter all through, but if something goes wrong at the beginning (God knows why) it can go in silence.”

Source: Michael Palin, Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (London: Weidenfield & Nicholson, 2006), 544.

Image: Michael Palin as Dennis in ‘Jabberwocky’.