LIFE ON MARS

I have been reading Michael Palin's Diaries ( see below) and they are a fascinating account of the years from the beginnings of Monty Python ( 1969) to the election of Margaret Thatcher ( 1979) . For most of this period I was at school or university - meanwhile Palin and pals were becoming megastars both here and across the Atlantic.
These days he's largely renowned as that nice man who does the travel documentaries but the Diaries remind one just how anarchic and anti-Establishment Monty Pythion was perceived to be at the time. Interspersed with the personal moments are references to the politics of the time. Palin, as you would expect from such a thoroughly decent chap, is ( or at least was then) a solid Labour supporter and a political animal . He notes things like the 1975 Referendum on the Common Market, the three-day week in 1974, Labour's libertarian stance on homosexuality and abortion, and other radical issues of the day, including the famous gig for Amnesty International in 1975. The book is a thoroughly entertaining snapshot of the time - even if it does make me feel terribly old......