MICHAEL PALIN - HALFWAY TO HOLLYWOOD: DIARIES 1980-88
Published by Weidenfeld and NicolsonA couple of years ago Michael Palin's first volume of diaries covering the years 1969-79 were a major success and this second volume 1980-88 picks up in the same easy going style.
Palin is one of the most well known faces in the world, making his name with the legendary Monty Python's Flying Circus Comedy Troupe and onto movies and then travelling the globe for a massively popular series of BBC documentaries. By the 1980's Palin was at the height of his popularity as a comedy performer acting in movies such as Time Bandits, Brazil, The Missionary (which he also wrote) and A Private Function as well as another Python movie in the shape of The Meaning of Life. By the closing of 1988 he was embarking on a whole new chapter of his life, leaving London for his momentous trip Around the World in 80 Days.
The key thing about Palin is that he clearly is a thoroughly nice bloke and that shines through in every one of his diary entries, exemplified by his staying on for a whole extra year as president of a Public Transport group simply because he find it difficult to tell them definitely no. He packs a huge amount into his days - if he is not writing or acting he is mixing with the great and good and attending award ceremonies or first nights of plays.
His family also play a huge part in his life (even if his wife Helen ends up as little more than a badminton playing cypher for much of the decade) and the diary hits a genuinely sorrowful note in the late 80's when Palin's sister who had struggled with depression all her life commits suicide.
Diaries of famous people can be notoriously hit and miss but Palin's nicely confessional tone draws you in and keeps you interested even if he is just going to the chiropodist (something he does quite a lot!). Michael realises he is middle aged during the course of the decade and that combined with the death of his sister as well as the moving of his aged mother into a more managable house lends quite a Proustian air of melancholy to proceedings.
Very enjoyable and definitely leaves you looking forward to volume three - The Globetrotting Years!
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