Michael Palin: A Man for Many Roles Quiz

Answer: Sheffield

His parents were Edward Moreton Palin and Mary Rachel Lockhart. Edward was an engineer. The family had also a daughter, Angela, who was older than Michael.
He attended Birkdale School, where he made his acting debut at the age of five.

Answer: Modern History

Michael Palin finished university in 1965, getting a 2:1 degree in modern history. While in Oxford, he teamed up with Robert Hewison, and together they started writing and performing comedic material. Terry Jones joined the team the following year.

Answer: Three

The couple had one daughter, Rachel, and two sons William and Thomas. Thomas runs a climbing shop; Rachel is a producer and director. William is a director of conservation at the Old Royal Naval College.

Answer: West Wales

The show was aimed at teenagers. At the same time Palin and Terry Jones, later a member of Monty Python, were script writers for most of the shows televised by the BBC at the time. The station lost its franchise in 1967 to the Harlech Consortium.

Answer: "Do Not Adjust Your Set"

The writing team included Terry Jones and Eric Idle. All three took part in the show as actors, together with people like David Jason and Denise Coffey. The band, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, was also regular performers on the show. In 1968 Michael Palin scripted and acted in a second series of the show and was also the co-writer of "The Complete and Utter History of Britain" that was screened on London Weekend Television.

Answer: Ximenez

Ximenez is the leader of the Inquisition, Terry Jones plays his assistant Cardinal Biggles and Terry Gilliam is Cardinal Fang. Ximenez's opening line is always "NO-body expects the Spanish Inquisition!". After that Ximenez starts listing the methods used by the Inquisition, such as fear, surprise, and fanatical devotion to the Pope.

Answer: A Fish Called Wanda

Ken Pile is a stuttering animal loving, assistant to the gangster, George Thomason, who is planning a jewel robbery. Employing the help of a couple from America, they carry out the robbery. George stashes the stolen jewelry in a deposit box and hides the key in Ken's fish tank. Ken gets extremely upset when his fish tank is destroyed by the Americans, and tries to extract revenge.
For his role as Ken, Michael Palin won the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award.
In "Fierce Creatures" Palin plays the character Adrian 'Bugsy' Malone.

Answer: Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin

In this 7-part series Michael Palin is trying to emulate Verne's hero Phileas Fogg by circumnavigating the Earth in 80 days. He used all kind of transport available, except planes. For example, he used a ferry to cross the English Channel, used a train to cross the Alps, went to Venice by coach and then reached Alexandria in Egypt. The series was a great success and Palin wrote a book about his adventures.

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

Michael Palin's "Hemingway's Chair" is about an assistant postmaster that simply adores Hemingway. He studies anything Hemingway until his life is disturbed by the appointment of a new postmaster. Instead of accepting the situation, he decides to fight just like his hero Hemingway would have done. "Hemingway's Chair" was first published in 1995.

Other fiction books by Palin include "Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls" and "Dr Fegg's Encyclopaedia of All World Knowledge".

Answer: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

CBE is the highest ranking Order of the British Empire award. In the same year he was given the Butlins Billy Award 1999/2000 for "Most Fun TV Travel Presenter", which he won for a second time the following year. In 2013 he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship, and in 2019 Michael Palin was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for services to travel, culture, and geography.