Sir Michael Palin tells me why hates being depicted as 'tragic' after the loss of his wife of 57 years.
Sir Michael Palin has spent 36 years travelling the globe often finding himself in dangerous situations and at the age of 82 he has no plans to slow down despite having had heart surgery. In Michael Palin in Venezuela, currently airing on Channel 5, viewers follow the author of the book of the same name as he explores what life is like in one of South America’s most culturally rich, vibrant, but also troubled nations.
"It’s a matter of coincidence and timing,” he says of his visit to the South American country for Channel 5. “I did a lot of long journeys for the BBC, the last of which was to Brazil. After that I did a bit of acting, write a couple of books and then out of the blue Channel 5 and ITN said we think we can get you into North Korea and I, ever curious, said ‘sure.’
"We got a little team together made a programme that went down quite well and hen Channel 5 asked if there was anywhere else we’d like to go. So myself and the team decided we’d go somewhere else that was having difficulties and that was Iraq which worked well. And then we went to Nigeria. We all work very well together and we couldn’t believe our luck. We always try to go the places that people don’t go to or are frightened of going to.” And so Venezuela, once the playground for wealthy Americans and now a politically corrupt country, fitted that bill.
"The headlines on Venezuela are that it is a very dangerous place, there’s a lot of corruption and narcotics passing through – but I always think there is still a lot of human life there people have to keep going if they haven’t left the country already and that was the reason for going there.”
It is clear from the accompanying book to the series that Palin found himself torn when visiting this wonderous but dangerous country.
"You can’t help but like the people who look after you. They are Latin America, they love music, they love colour and they love food and having a good time. But by then end I felt rather sad because we were leaving them and things weren’t going to get any better for them in the short term and now Trump is picking out Venezuela as a country he is going to punish and things could blow up there fairly soon.”
From flying to a beautiful cluster of coral islands in the Caribbean Sea called Los Roques to meeting locals, Palin saw firsthand how Venezuela’s unstable political situation has impacted its tourism industry
“My overriding feeling is the size and scale of the place – enormous stretches of forest, towering huge mountains and then the Andes as well, with steep, wonderful views, everything is immense and its sheer beauty. There aren’t that many people there, only about 28 million as many have fled, and yet the country is enormous, so just the sheer space and grandeur of the landscape stays with you.
"It’s very sad because visitors would have a great time there, but tourism is difficult. Saying that, things are getting slightly better there now. The Caribbean coast is absolutely magnificent; you feel that you can’t deprive people of a place like that.”
Palin was knighted in 2019 for services to travel, culture and geography, marking his post-Python career in TV and writing. He says he was always interested in travel having been fascinated with Biggles when he was a young boy. During his time in Monty Python, he was involved in classic television and film comedies including Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Life Of Brian and The Meaning Of Life.
It was in fact one of his famous Monty Python sketches that got him out f hot water during a particularly hairy moment in Venezuela when he and his crew were detained by armed guards.
“There was an undercurrent all the time from the very first person I met that you never knew who was watching and you couldn’t really relax. But we really encountered it when we visited Sabaneta, the birth place of the late President , Hugo Chávez who led Venezuela away from being an American colony towards being a more socialist country.
They hadn’t even started filming when the police came and asked what were doing and then is escalated and they were detained for seven hours – without their passports – by armed officers from SEBIN, the country’s feared intelligence service.
“Things got quite heavy. It wasn’t just the fact that they stopped us from filming; it was the force with which we were stopped. It started with a couple of policemen, then a couple of the National Guard, and then along came men with rifles, bulletproof vests and helmets.
“They ordered us to open all our bags, and they took photos of everything. I understood why they were taking pictures of the equipment, but who wants a photo of my old underpants? In the end, the outcome was rather bizarre, because while we were waiting to hear our fate from the headquarters in Caracas, the guards had found my name on Google. They found the fish slapping dance with John Cleese, which is always a good thing to show people. Nearly everyone in the world, from North Korea to Venezuela, cracks up when they see that, and I think they though well he’s not dangerous let them go.”
But does he ever feel really scared.
"I am an optimist and I trust that my team have done their research and they really don’t want to put me or anyone else at any undue risk – although it doesn’t always work out like that. Whenever someone has a rifle is the time to worry.”
So where next? ”People always ask me that. There will be somewhere if, God willing, I am fit enough to do it. I feel fine at the moment and the team have been energised by the response to Venezuela. It’s a matter of looking at the world and seeing what country needs us in there,” he says. "I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have been able to do things in these countries that I would never be able to do here, like walking behind a waterfall in my stocking feet.”
But what do his family think of the risks the octogenerian continues to take? "My wife Helen set a very good example when it came to Around the World in 80 Days for the BBC she was going to have look after the family for at least 80 days, and we did discuss whether I should go or not. But she always said ‘I know you want to do this so off you want to go.’ I think she might have been quite impressed when I went behind that waterfall.
He met Helen while holidaying in the seaside town of Southwold, Suffolk, and later fictionalised the encounter in a 1987 TV drama for the BBC titled East Of Ipswich. Since her death in May 2023, and the loss of a few of his close male friends, including fellow Python Terry Jones, Sheffield-born Palin welcomes the distraction his work brings and enjoys being challenged.
“We had 57 years of married life together and there are all those things you share, just the two of you, the little moments. I feel I’ve got to keep on working and Helen would want me to do that. But I still live with her pragmatic spirit. My life hasn’t suddenly collapsed, and I am definitely not tragic.” And he is looking forward to coming back to Ilkley for the annual literature festival. “I’ve been Ilkley not only to the festival but I have very happy memories of filming A Private Function with Alan Bennett and I am looking forward to going back.
Michael Palin will be at Ilkley Literature Festival on Friday October 17 www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk