Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980 to 1988

This second volume of Michael Palin's enthralling diaries covers the 1980s, when the ties that bound the Pythons loosened as they forged their separate careers. They played their final performance together in the legendary Monty Python's Meaning of Life in 1983, following a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Writing and acting in films and television would take up much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda in which he played the hapless, stuttering Ken (and for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor) and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC. The decade - and this volume - ends with the hugely successful Around the World in 80 Days, which sees the start of a new career. Compelling, and as much a biography of the entertainment world in the 80s, this is a book not to be missed by Palin fans.