I never thought I would share a destiny with Leon Trotsky. Even though we are both Jewish (he was born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein) there is not much we have in common. The one thing we share is that we have both been airbrushed out of History. After Lev broke with Stalin, Stalin had his publicity … Continue reading Monty Python’s Airbrush
I’ve just been watching The Last Impresario on Imagine (BBC1), a film about Michael White, the theatre and film producer. Michael was the exec producer ofMonty Python and the Holy Grail, and he invested 50% of the budget. I liked Michael very much, and we worked well together. We eventually went on to do other … Continue reading Michael White and The Holy Grail
I quote extensively from my journals in The 7th Python. I started a journal in 2001 after writing The Spiritual Teachings of Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations were basically his journal entries, and Professor Pierre Hadot had written in Philosophy As A Way of Life about how the ancients used journals to support their philosophy. … Continue reading My Journals in The 7th Python
In my post on Why I Wrote The 7th Python (Part 2) I commented: “But I could also see a disturbing pattern in the behaviour of the Pythons during this 7 year struggle. During this entire period, not one Python rang or emailed me wanting to discuss the problem. I was forced to deal only … Continue reading Michael Palin and the Pythons Defer to Their Lawyers
Eric Idle hates me. The reason is not difficult to find. I sued him and the other Pythons for trying to reduce my royalties from Spamalot and the Judge decided in my favour. After the trial he called me a loser, an idiot and a twat. This is very odd, since I should really hate … Continue reading (Eric) Idle Musings
I have a new book coming out soon. It tells the story of my epic 7 year battle with the Monty Python group to restore my share of the merchandising profits of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which I produced in 1974. In 2005, after Spamalot started to bring in considerable income, … Continue reading The 7th Python
This is the back cover copy for the new book: Lights, Camera, Lawyers If you want to know what a tooth and claw legal battle is like If you want to discover something revealing about Monty Python. and see their darker side If you want to know how to make a movie without giving the financiers … Continue reading The 7th Python – blurb
Who is the 7th Python? Certainly not me. Neil Innes or Carol Cleveland are the only two deserving of the name. Of course given how brutally Eric Idle treated Neil Innes over the Rutles’ aborted relaunch, being a 7th Python seems to be a poisoned chalice (or Grail). In his Witness Statement during the trial … Continue reading The 107th Python
The 7th Python is sub-titled A Twat’s Tale. The reason is because sore loser Eric Idle, when interviewed by Ben Williams of Time Out about the reason behind the 02 reunion said, ‘We were meeting last August in gloomy circumstances because we had just been sued by this twat.’ Later on the gracious Idle told … Continue reading A Twat’s Tale
