Our Monty Python memories... and 11 things you never knew about the Pythons

PUBLISHED: 18:55 30 January 2020

Judy Rimmer

 

Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Michael Palin from Monty Python Picture: PA.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus changed comedy forever. Following the recent sad loss of Terry Jones and “seventh Python” Neil Innes, we’re looking back at the team’s 50-plus years of comic genius.

Whicker Island: Members of the Monty Python team,, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones, filming the famous sketch at Winterton in 1970. Picture: ARCHANT LIBRARY

So what's your greatest Monty Python moment? There were so many great sketches and classic lines that it's almost impossible to choose.

Many people have been reminiscing about their all-time favourite episodes and films, as tributes pour in after the death of Monty Python legend Terry Jones, described by Sir Michael Palin as "one of the funniest writer-performers of his generation".

Terry Jones's death at 77, after suffering from a rare form of dementia, came just a few weeks after the sad loss of another comedy great, long-time Suffolk resident Neil Innes, aged 75, sometimes known as the "seventh Python".

Neil Innes, who lived in Debenham for many years, worked with the Python team as well as creating the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band and Beatles spoof The Rutles.

Terry Jones (right) and Michael Palin Picture: Ian West/PA Wire

The overwhelming public reaction to both deaths shows just how much public affection there is for the Pythons and the whole anarchic style of comedy they introduced.

Always colourful and often controversial, the show is loved around the world and has some strong links with East Anglia.

Sir Michael Palin has had lifelong links with Southwold, since meeting his future wife, Helen, on holiday in the town as a teenager in 1959.

The team also filmed several sketches for Monty Python's Flying Circus around Norfolk.

Tributes have been paid to Neil Innes Picture: ARCHANT

In 1971 several of the linking scenes used in And Now for Something Completely Different were filmed in Norwich near the castle, and Elm Hill was used for the Beethoven sketch.

The sketch entitled The Idiot in Society (also known as The Village Idiot) in episode 20 was filmed at Heydon, where John Cleese, dressed in a smock, sat on the church wall and then fell off backwards into the churchyard.

And the Whicker Island sketch, in which all the inhabitants of a tropical island were Alan Whicker clones, was filmed at Winterton.

Soundman Philip Chubb, from Wymondham, travelled the world working on the Python films.

Michael Palin (right) with production staff at the filming of Monty Python's 'Queen's Own Kamikaze Highlanders' sketch at Norwich Castle on November 10, 1971. Picture: ARCHANT LIBRARY

And of course, Ipswich famously gets a mention in the Dead Parrot sketch!

Our favourites - from the Argument Clinic to the Cheese Shop

A few intrepid souls have been trying to choose their all-time favourite Python moments.

Simon Weir writes: "There's something majestic, sad, silly and strangely uplifting about the final scene of the Life of Brian.

Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life Starring John Cleese © Universal Studios

"The principal character is, after all, dying - one of dozens of people crucified. He gets visited by the suicide squad (er, who commit suicide rather than rescue him - very silly); by his lover Judith and his mother, Terry Jones (both sad); his revolutionary colleagues and, the Spartacus parody, as everyone claims to Brian... which sees Eric Idle being released by mistake.

"And finally, topping it all off, is the strangely uplifting song: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Neil Innes reputedly did the whistling."

 https://www.eadt.co.uk/what-s-on/monty-python-memories-and-11-things-you-never-knew-about-them-1-6491137