Travelling to Work: Diaries 1988-1998

A rollercoaster ride driven by the Palin hallmarks of humour, curiosity and a sense of adventure.

Michael Palin was not the BBC’s first choice for the travel series AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, but after its success, the public naturally wanted more. Palin, however, had other plans. There was his film AMERICAN FRIENDS, a role in Alan Bleasdale’s award-winning drama GBH, the staging of his West End play THE WEEKEND, a first novel, HEMINGWAY’S CHAIR, and a lead role in FIERCE CREATURES.

This third volume of Michael’s diaries delves further into his richly varied career, including the two further travel series he recorded for the BBC in the 1990s - POLE TO POLE and FULL CIRCLE - and the bestselling books he wrote to accompany their release.

The story of these ten years lived in different directions yields up riches on every page.

Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin. He has also made several much-acclaimed travel documentaries, his journeys taking him to the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. His books include accounts of his journeys, two novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth), three volumes of diaries and Erebus, the Story of a Ship. From 2009 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Geographical Society. He received a BAFTA fellowship in 2013, and a knighthood in the 2019 New Year Honours list. He lives in London.