It was a hot summer’s day in 1970. Paignton beach was packed with holidaymakers, many of them from the Black Country. And Scott of the Antarctic, covered in fur, turns up with a sledge pulled by a motley crew of mongrels badly disguised as huskies.
It was surreal scenes like this which made Monty Python’s Flying Circus the number one groundbreaking comedy of the early 1970s.
Last week it was revealed that the bizarre comedy featured in a list of 33 symbols of the British identity, as voted for by the general public.
And last month it was revealed that, for the first time in more than 30 years, Python stars Eric Idle - a former pupil of the Royal Wolverhampton School - and John Cleese will be reunited for the third Shrek film, where Idle will voice the new role of Merlin the magician, while Cleese will reprise his role as King Harold.
In its heyday, millions tuned in every week to see Idle, Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam act out a variety of bizarre scenarios, including the man who was adamant he needed a fish licence for his pet halibut, or the official from the Ministry of Silly Walks. It was a show which divided opinions - huge numbers found the enforced stupidity hilarious, while others thought it too stupid to laugh at.
Former Express & Star photographer Graham Gough was on set during the filming of some of the early Python sketches in Devon, and recalls how holidaymakers watched in amazement. One scene, called Scott of the Sahara, saw Michael Palin and Carol Cleveland - the only regular female in the show - appear on the beach, apparently on an expedition.
“Michael Palin and Carol Cleveland got mixed in with all the holidaymakers, with a load of dogs of all shapes and sizes. It was all done deliberately, with the holidaymakers on the beach at the same time,” he says.
Graham says the surprise entertainment went down well with the people on the beach. “They wondered what was going on, seeing all these people dressing up with all these dogs and a sledge,” he says. “I think they were just enjoying it, it didn’t seem to stop people going on the beach.”
In another scene, the Monty Python crew joined members of Paignton Rugby Club for a bizarre game of rugby dressed in civic regalia. The sketch, supposedly between Derby Council XV and the All Blacks, saw Terry Jones dressed up as the mayor, Carol Cleveland as the mayoress, with other members of the Python team playing rugby in flowing robes and chains.
Graham recalls Michael Palin as being the friendliest of the cast. “He was always laughing and having fun,” says the photographer, who lives in Kinver. “John Cleese was a little more remote. He was all right, he was quite friendly, but he wasn’t funny like Michael Palin.”
Flying Circus was characterised by a series of apparently unrelated sketches, which seemed to flow from one to another without any natural ending. Cleese was best remembered as the constantly-complaining consumer, while Chapman played various strait-laced characters who were prone to outbursts of manic behaviour.
***image3***Palin was usually portrayed as a working class northerner, while Eric Idle specialised in the suggestive, slightly smutty characters.
Python ran until 1973, but the final series was minus Cleese who, while filming in Paignton, got the idea for his next project, Fawlty Towers. The team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel, which at the time was run by Beatrice Sinclair and her husband Donald.
Cleese said it was Mr Sinclair’s eccentric behaviour which gave him the idea of a comedy set in an hotel. “He was the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met,” said Cleese.
During their stay, Mr Sinclair, who died in 1981, is said to have mistaken Idle’s suitcase for a bomb, and told off Terry Gilliam for not straightening his cutlery on the plate after he had eaten. But Mrs Sinclair said the comedy totally misrepresented her husband, and described Cleese as a “complete and utter fool”.
It has even been claimed that many guests at the Gleneagles at the time were actually disappointed their stay did not include any Fawlty-style mayhem. Today, the Gleneagles is regarded as something of a tourist attraction.
Whatever the reality of their experience, it cannot be disputed that the Python crew’s short stay in Devon more than left its mark on British comedy.
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