Travelling to Work: Diaries 1988-1998 by Michael Palin (Weidenfeld, £25)
He is nice, there’s no getting away from it, not even for him. In these diaries Michael Palin often wearies of being told how nice he is by reviewers of his hugely popular travel programmes. Oy vey, you think, that I should have such problems!
In 1989 he finds himself being told by Nancy Banks-Smith in the Guardian that he has preserved into middle-age “the bright-eyed charm of a baby chipmunk”. In the Independent he is just the “terminally nice Michael Palin”. In 1991 he grumbles about an article by Mark Lawson: “Most of it is about my being nice. It’s like an actress being only known for the size of her tits.” Nice!
It’s his USP as a TV star and the primary appeal of these diaries, too. Halfway through shooting Around the World in 80 Days, the first of the series that turned him into such an adored national figure, he reflects: “My contribution, I think, will not be precision, analysis and revelation but honesty, directness, openness and enthusiasm.” That describes his writing just as well.
These diaries record an astonishingly successful career. Pole to Pole and Full Circle follow on from Around the World, with all the bestselling books that accompanied them. In 1997 he notes: “One thing is clear after Full Circle — that I could make travel programmes like this until I die. I’ve carved out a piece of the market that is now unquestionably my own, as much as Monty Python was to the six of us who made it.”
Yet he never becomes objectionable; he always keeps that saving touch of everyman, if not quite Mr Pooter, a nobody. Given the fact that so much of the book is taken up with earnest descriptions of thespy business, the travails of acting, writing and putting on films and plays, these diaries are remarkably good company, always dependable, never upsetting: safely enjoyable, page after page. And that’s quite a triumph of tone.
He preserves this equanimity for the big events in both his private and public life. He describes the illness and death of his mother so well, for example: “I go upstairs alone. The little body is crouched round like the Tollund Man, but her strong face remains beautiful, though sallow now and silent. I bend and kiss her and thank her for giving me life.”
Obviously, he loves the limelight. He not only goes to the ends of the Earth, he goes enthusiastically to the opening of envelopes as well. He attends ceaseless awards ceremonies. He never misses a Hatchards books party. He goes to Birmingham “to give the keynote speech at the Women’s Institute Biennial Conference”. He goes to “draw the raffle and present prizes at Asprey’s Christmas Party”, even.
But then he’s assiduous in supporting good causes (transport, stammering), too. He mentions supporting 12 charities in less than a week and says ruefully: “To care and be rich — well, you’re staring into the headlights.”
And he handles the fact that he has become one of the most recognisable faces in the land with such aplomb. July 8, 1991: “Go to car wash on the way home. One of the cleaners recognises me as I’m trapped inside while the car’s being covered in suds from many hands. ‘Monty Python...’ he points and screams exultantly to his colleagues... ‘it’s the man from Monty Python!’ Now, at last, I know what it’s like to be a goldfish.”
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Doing the Wogan show to publicise Pole to Pole, he records: “I’m first guest on. On the desk in front of him, Terry has a series of cards. On top of the one I can see is printed in large letters ‘South Pole — Anti-Climax?’”
Sometimes he’s even a touch acerbic. Meeting Charles and Diana at a Prince’s Trust gala at the Palladium in 1989, he’s quite complimentary — “Charles is very good indeed at this sort of thing... her skin quite beautiful”— but then adds: “Though it has to be said that both of them could be impersonators.”
Up and down the land, Travelling to Work is going to be gratefully received this Christmas. Nice!
Go to standard.co.uk/booksdirect to buy this book for £20, or phone 0843 060 0029, free UK p&p
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