Michael Palin - Biography

Rate: There's one thing for Michael. He certainly knows how to rack up the airmiles!

Michael had his first taste of acting at the age of five in a school performance of A Christmas Carol, if you're remotely interested. You want to hear about his travels? Oh alright then.

The first travel documentary that Michael starred in was Great Railway Journeys of the World, which was part of a BBC series in 1980. He travelled across the UK via train which, if it's anything like today, was likely to have been an absolute nightmare where he paid ridiculous prices and was squashed up against the window alongside several other sweaty people.

Delia Smith mentions various ingredients on her programmes and they go on to sell out. Michael has somewhat of a similar effect when he travels to certain areas of the globe. One such example is when Michael travelled to Peru and raved to us all back home about how great it was. Shortly after, tourist numbers had gone up.

Apart from the travels, Michael is famous for his role in the comedy Monty Python. He played various roles on the show and, alongside his five fellow co-stars, went on to change the face of comedy as we knew it. They've since influenced comedians around the globe and still have a cult following.

They might not even know it but each member of Month Python has an asteroid named after him. Michael's has the catchy name of 9621 Michaelpalin.