Michael Palin

[kernelbogey]

I am rather bemused by the avalanche of Michael Palin memorabilia on BBCtv.

I have just watched a film A Life on Screen about his career which I found interesting, and learned about some of his roles in films I knew nothing of.

I have also dipped into the series iin which he reminisces about the various travel programmes he made; these running concurretly with re-runs of some of said travel programmes.

I wonder how this has all come about. I never watched his travel programmes (Eighty Days Around the World et al) when they came out, but watching them now I don't see anything remarkable about them - although plenty of admirers have been assembled to praise them, and him, in these programmes. While agreeable in a general way, the programmes seem to me rife with a kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude.

[Leinster Lass]

I am rather bemused by the avalanche of Michael Palin memorabilia on BBCtv.

I have just watched a film A Life on Screen about his career which I found interesting, and learned about some of his roles in films I knew nothing of.

I have also dipped into the series iin which he reminisces about the various travel programmes he made; these running concurretly with re-runs of some of said travel programmes.

I wonder how this has all come about. I never watched his travel programmes (Eighty Days Around the World et al) when they came out, but watching them now I don't see anything remarkable about them - although plenty of admirers have been assembled to praise them, and him, in these programmes. While agreeable in a general way, the programmes seem to me rife with a kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude.

May I spring to the defence of peerless Bicycle Repair Man? About 18 months ago I was presented with a DVD box set of Michael Palin's travelogues and, having watched all of all of them, can honestly say that 'patronisining' (or even 'patronising' ) is the last word that came to mind. The regularity with which he has been prepared to run the risk of being humiliated or ridiculed, or of at least making a fool of himself in public, admittedly in the name of entertainment has, I believe, served to point out that the more 'sophisticated' denizens of the world's more 'advanced' countries are not always as clever as they like to think they are. There's a consistent strain of self-mockery running through every series, and it's not Michael and the 'foreigners' (an arguably patronisining word) that come across as 'funny' in the sense in which I think you're using it, it's us!
(He must have a very understanding wife - or perhaps he set off Around The World in response to some comment about 'getting under my feet'....)

[oddoneout]

He is a popular figure and there is a considerable body of work to show. In these difficult times a retrospective/repeat season is a no-brainer for TV I would think - a combination of an existing fanbase(Monty Python plus many women) with escapist viewing. I understand your comment about patronising attitude but I don't think that was his mindset at the time, I think it is the result of genuine bemusement on occasion coupled with his rather self-deprecating style. We view things differently now and sometimes see attitudes where they possibly weren't intended - different filters applied.
As a slight aside I borrowed two of his books as part of my lockdown library haul. One was in effect a diary compilation which I didn't find sufficiently engaging to persist with, but the other, "Erebus: the story of a ship" I thoroughly recommend for both the excellent writing and the subject matter(no need to be interested in matters maritime) which was at times jaw dropping to this reader.

[Leinster Lass]

He is a popular figure and there is a considerable body of work to show. In these difficult times a retrospective/repeat season is a no-brainer for TV I would think - a combination of an existing fanbase(Monty Python plus many women) with escapist viewing. I understand your comment about patronising attitude but I don't think that was his mindset at the time, I think it is the result of genuine bemusement on occasion coupled with his rather self-deprecating style. We view things differently now and sometimes see attitudes where they possibly weren't intended - different filters applied.
As a slight aside I borrowed two of his books as part of my lockdown library haul. One was in effect a diary compilation which I didn't find sufficiently engaging to persist with, but the other, "Erebus: the story of a ship" I thoroughly recommend for both the excellent writing and the subject matter(no need to be interested in matters maritime) which was at times jaw dropping to this reader.

Like trailers, retrospective 'clip shows' can give a misleading impression!
I've read 'Erebus' and join you in recommending it.

[kernelbogey]

May I spring to the defence of peerless Bicycle Repair Man? About 18 months ago I was presented with a DVD box set of Michael Palin's travelogues and, having watched all of all of them, can honestly say that 'patronisining' (or even 'patronising' ) is the last word that came to mind. The regularity with which he has been prepared to run the risk of being humiliated or ridiculed, or of at least making a fool of himself in public, admittedly in the name of entertainment has, I believe, served to point out that the more 'sophisticated' denizens of the world's more 'advanced' countries are not always as clever as they like to think they are. There's a consistent strain of self-mockery running through every series, and it's not Michael and the 'foreigners' (an arguably patronisining word) that come across as 'funny' in the sense in which I think you're using it, it's us!
(He must have a very understanding wife - or perhaps he set off Around The World in response to some comment about 'getting under my feet'....)

I will admit to being slightly provocative in my choice of words - though possibly not including patronisining - in order to smoke out Palin fans. I had not, as I said, watched the programmes on release. So perhaps my 'naive' viewing of them in a later era, when values have changed, has brought out for me the kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude. The origins of Python in Shrewsbury School have meant for me that - much as I have loved the show and its subsequent heritage - it is somewhat rooted in an English Public School style of humour - and I find this in Palin's travel films. (They have a quaint historical feel now, and no doubt there was an element of pioneering in these programmes that has become lost in the plethora of television programmes where a presenter, ostensibly venturing intrepidly alone, is of course pursued by a film crew of at least six!)

[Leinster Lass]

I will admit to being slightly provocative in my choice of words - though possibly not including patronisining - in order to smoke out Palin fans. I had not, as I said, watched the programmes on release. So perhaps my 'naive' viewing of them in a later era, when values have changed, has brought out for me the kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude. The origins of Python in Shrewsbury School have meant for me that - much as I have loved the show and its subsequent heritage - it is somewhat rooted in an English Public School style of humour - and I find this in Palin's travel films. (They have a quaint historical feel now, and no doubt there was an element of pioneering in these programmes that has become lost in the plethora of television programmes where a presenter, ostensibly venturing intrepidly alone, is of course pursued by a film crew of at least six!)

Do you not think that he consciously created a public school ethos in order to gently criticize the unwarranted superiority implied in the British view of the world? As for 'Passepartout' - well, MP never let the viewer forget that his programmes were not one-man shows.

[Bella Kemp]

I am rather bemused by the avalanche of Michael Palin memorabilia on BBCtv.

I have just watched a film A Life on Screen about his career which I found interesting, and learned about some of his roles in films I knew nothing of.

I have also dipped into the series iin which he reminisces about the various travel programmes he made; these running concurretly with re-runs of some of said travel programmes.

I wonder how this has all come about. I never watched his travel programmes (Eighty Days Around the World et al) when they came out, but watching them now I don't see anything remarkable about them - although plenty of admirers have been assembled to praise them, and him, in these programmes. While agreeable in a general way, the programmes seem to me rife with a kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude.

While agreeable in a general way, the programmes seem to me rife with a kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude.[/QUOTE]

I think by presenting himself as rather a dim Brit abroad he was constantly sending-up the whole idea of Empire and British superiority.

[Serial_Apologist]

I think by presenting himself as rather a dim Brit abroad he was constantly sending-up the whole idea of Empire and British superiority.

Yes indeed - a clever bit of Palintology.

[Leinster Lass]

While agreeable in a general way, the programmes seem to me rife with a kind of patronisining British humour about funny foreigners, ever so slightly tinged with a sardonic neo-imperial attititude.

I think by presenting himself as rather a dim Brit abroad he was constantly sending-up the whole idea of Empire and British superiority.[/QUOTE]

I think you're absolutely right - a subtler version of some of the characters in 'Ripping Yarns'.
I'm intrigued to learn that I've been 'smoked out', seeing as I've never pretended not to be a fan of Mr Palin.

[kernelbogey]

I think by presenting himself as rather a dim Brit abroad he was constantly sending-up the whole idea of Empire and British superiority

Thanks - an interpretation that had not occurred to me. There is a lot in the comments above that highights the changes in social outlook that have developed since these films were made. And I confess that my comments were based on limited viewing of the reruns, without benefit of having viewed them when they first appeared.

[Dave2002]

We have been to some of the places in Michael Palin's films, and perhaps unlike MP also lived in some of them. Nevertheless we have been privileged and fortunate.

I think the notion that MP is a dim wit abroad could be shaken by doing a search for "MP net worth". I don't begrudge him his good fortune and good luck, but like many others who appear on television he is not representative of many of the viewers.

[Leinster Lass]

We have been to some of the places in Michael Palin's films, and perhaps unlike MP also lived in some of them. Nevertheless we have been privileged and fortunate.

I think the notion that MP is a dim wit abroad could be shaken by doing a search for "MP net worth". I don't begrudge him his good fortune and good luck, but like many others who appear on television he is not representative of many of the viewers.

... and that's not a good thing because ....?

[Padraig]

... and that's not a good thing because ....?

. . . as they say, 'That's a very good question'.

Dave?

[oddoneout]

I don't see that net worth has much to do with it, unless whoever is presenting is constantly claiming to be just like 'ordinary people'. MP did his share of uncomfortable journeys and experiences and didn't always I think have 5 star accommodation to run back to every night. Many more people now will have visited the places he went to, they are not as unusual as they once were and that in itself alters how one views the films now I think - the unfamiliar has become less so.There is also a more widespread awareness of the impact of visitors and their behaviour on both people and environment in other countries, and that foreign parts and peoples shouldn't be seen as entertainment. My memories of viewing the various series are of someone who was genuinely interested in(if sometimes bemused or discomfited by) the people he encountered, and often built up a good rapport.