Michael Palin Audiobooks

Sir Michael Palin, born in 1943, is an English actor, comedian, writer and television presenter – and, improbably for a man once best known for the Dead Parrot sketch, one of Britain’s most trusted travellers. A member of Monty Python, he appeared in many of the group’s most famous sketches and co-wrote and starred in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, later winning the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Fish Called Wanda.

Since 1980 he has built a second career as a travel documentarian and writer, with journeys taking in the North and South Poles, the Sahara, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe, Brazil and, in 2018, North Korea. He served as president of the Royal Geographical Society from 2009 to 2012, received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted in 2019.

Palin reading Palin is one of the quiet pleasures of travel audio: the observational instincts of a comedian, the patience of a genuine traveller. Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days and Michael Palin: Full Circle capture the classic journeys, with New Europe and Brazil extending the map. But do not overlook the historian in him – Erebus: The Story of a Ship follows a single vessel’s story with real narrative grip, and Great-Uncle Harry is his most personal work, drawn from his own family’s past. Gentle company, sharp eyes: that is the Palin formula, and it wears superbly over long listens.