Photo: The National Churches Trust from London / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Michael Palin might be my favorite Python, precisely because he was the gentle one — the warmth inside an anarchic machine. His second act as a travel broadcaster is, to me, one of television's great reinventions: he traded absurdist sketches for genuine curiosity about the world, and somehow both careers feel like the same generous spirit at work. The diaries reveal a third Palin, a meticulous observer of his own era. Knighted, garlanded with BAFTA honors, yet apparently incapable of pomposity — that combination is vanishingly rare. He proves you can be very funny, very famous, and still fundamentally decent.
Overview
Sir Michael Edward Palin ( PAY-lin; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. Palin started in television working on programmes including the Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report, and Do Not Adjust Your Set.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Michael Palin
- Name (Japanese)
- マイケル・ペイリン
- Reading
- まいける・ぺいりん
- Born
- May 5, 1943 (age 83)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Taurus / Goat
- Origin
- Ranmoor, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / comedian / screenwriter / diarist / singer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Brasenose College
Awards & achievements
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- 2013 Patron’s Medal
- 1989 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- 2013 BAFTA Fellowship
- James Joyce Awards
- 2001 European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2019 Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Ness Award
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Comedian — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.