Sir Michael Palin to discuss latest collection of diaries on UK tour

Sir Michael Palin will embark on a UK tour this autumn to discuss his latest collection of diaries.

In the fourth volume of his diaries, and the first to be published for 10 years, the Monty Python star revisits the years 1999 to 2009.

Titled There And Back, it covers the “most productive” decade of his life, against the backdrop of 9/11, the 7/7 terror attacks in London, the financial crisis and the Iraq War.

National Television Awards 2020 – Arrivals – London
Actor and presenter Sir Michael Palin (Isabel Infantes/PA)

The 13-date tour will begin in Norwich on September 15 and will travel to cities across the UK before finishing at London’s Cadogan Hall on October 15.

Sir Michael will reflect on middle age, the four new travel series he made, and the wide variety of documentaries, as well as the growth of his family and the responsibilities that come his way.

The diary reflects “his constant struggle against routine and repetition, and his irresistible and often nerve-shredding attraction to new challenges.

“Some work, some don’t, but by the end of this volume he’s reached the retirement age of 65.”

Sir Michael said: “In There And Back – The Diary Tour 2024, I’ll bring to life the fourth collection of my diaries and the first to be released for 10 years.

“Lots of fun as I go through the Noughties, and some dark times too. I constantly surprise myself with the sheer amount I took on.”

Last year, Sir Michael announced that his wife of 57 years, Helen Gibbins, had died after suffering from chronic pain and kidney failure.

The couple met when he was still a teenager and Sir Michael described her as “the bedrock of my life”.