In 1988 travel programmes on TV changed when Michael Palin, best known for being part of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was chosen by the BBC for a quest. His relaxed style, which concentrated on the place where he was travelling rather than centring himself, was a change from the way things used to be done. He has an innate curiosity about people and places combined with sympathy and kindness in the way that he approaches them. I remember it well and enjoyed every programme at the time and many of the subsequent series too. The eighth book in my Advent calendar, opened this morning, is Michael Palin’s record of that quest and the making of the programme. In Around the World in Eighty Days he details the adventure as he and his TV crew aimed to circumnavigate the world in the required time without using aircraft.
I am pretty certain that at one time I owned this book but a quick look on my shelves shows that if I ever did possess it I no longer have it. I shall enjoy reliving the quest and this paperback edition includes plenty of photos. Michael Palin is an accomplished author. His writing style, like his presentation style, is deceptively laid back but actually very professional. I have recently read and very much enjoyed his biography Great-Uncle Harry (see here for review) and previously I reviewed his history of the ship Erebus (see here).
This paperback edition of the book is in very good condition and is a reprint from 2008. It will be interesting to see how the world has changed in the last 35 years or so. I look forward to reading this.
Anne Is Reading 
I, too, remember the TV series and the book. Both were great fun.
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