Your new show looks at three decades’ worth of your diaries. When you were going through them, were you ever embarrassed by things you’d written?



Sometimes. I was surprised by how angry I got, with things I’d seen or with people. I was also very self-critical throughout, trying to make sure what I was writing was something good, and different, and in the case of comedy, funny. Obviously very funny, if possible. So I would get a bit difficult. I look back and see a confused man.

I'd think, why are you worrying so much? But I can't operate properly without worrying about things

Each [published] volume is only 25% of what was written, so it’s been edited a lot. I would find myself thinking, Oh come on, why are you worrying so much? And yet I don’t think I can operate properly without worrying about things.

Are you still a worrier?

I am. I want things to be the best they can possibly be, and a bit unusual and a bit different. Whether it’s doing the Clangers and trying to replace the incredible Oliver Postgate, or a charity event where all I have to do is get up and talk about the charity work – I want to say something good and something no one else will say.

Talk us through a day in the life of Michael Palin – what did you do yesterday?



Well, I got up about 7.30am, then I talked to someone on the BT emergency broadband line to get the internet working again, as it’s been down a couple of weeks. Then I went out to lunch with Dan Patterson, who is a writer and does Whose Line Is It Anyway? We had lunch in Lemonia in Regent’s Park Road. I walked there and back, then later in the afternoon I went for a run over Hampstead Heath to Kenwood House, which is something I try to do twice a week. Later on, my wife was out at a meeting, so I had an evening reading in the garden.

Which was the best part of the day?



My favourite bit was sitting down at about 6.30pm to read a novel, without feeling guilty, and with a glass of Talisker. That was an hour of great pleasure. I’m reading a book called Style by Joseph Connolly. He’s an extraordinary writer: there’s not much scene-setting, he just goes straight into it.

Why would you be feeling guilty?



Because that’s what comes with being freelance. Every hour of the day I feel like I should I be making what I’ve just done better, or preparing for something I’m going to do to make it better, or writing something new – all these things are on my mind. It’s rare that I feel I’ve done everything and feel like I’ve bought some time.

Is that something you try to do a bit more now?



Yes, I do, now that I’m ageing a bit and aware that I want to pace my life a bit more slowly. I’m still driven by the possibilities out there, though, by what can be done and perhaps what should be done. No matter how many lifetime achievement awards you get, a lifetime isn’t over.

Monty Python stars bid an emotional farewell in final show – video Guardian

Have the diaries enriched the memories you have of your life, reminded you of things you’d forgotten or people you’d met?

They really have. I had a look at them in preparing this show and it’s been rather … reassuring that I’ve done a lot and enjoyed most of it. But I’ve also been reminded of the times when things haven’t worked – for instance, when we went over to the US to get Python on American television. We went to California and appeared on The Tonight Show and all that lot, and things really didn’t work out well. I loved reading about the bafflement of the people watching us – because this is what it was like before Python became this barrier-destroying force of nature. We did exactly the same sketches as we did later, but to completely blank faces.

How did you cope with that at the time?

Oh, we just used to go and have a drink and forget about it. The great thing was that we were a team then, so we all supported each other. It wasn’t as if they liked Terry Jones but they didn’t like you, they just didn’t like us, full stop.

I loved reading about the bafflement of the Americans – before Python became this barrier-destroying force of nature

Was there a time when you would have been mortified at the idea of publishing what’s in your diaries?

Yes, that may well be true. At the time, I probably thought I was living for the moment and may have felt differently the next day. I probably thought: “Oh this is just a mess, I’d best keep it under my hat.” Looking back, I realise that the mess is all part of the creative process.

What partly made me decide to publish was that people were asking me if I would write an autobiography, and I always said: “Well I’ve got these diaries,” so I thought, why not? It’s quite an unguarded light to shine on a life, it’s quite revealing; if I’d written an autobiography it would have been all smoothed out.

Had your wife read your diaries before you started digging them out?

No, and nor did my children – not because they didn’t want to, but because I would just write them and put them back in the drawer. Diaries are quite personal things, they’re not like a blog which anyone can see. Also, [my family] are there living the life around me, so they probably didn’t feel the need. When I decided to publish them about eight or nine years ago, a wonderful lady called Kath was transcribing the diaries – as they were all handwritten – and every time she sent a new section over, my wife became interested and I’d read her bits. She’s been such a long part of my life, we’d been married three years when I started the diaries, and next year it’ll be our 50th anniversary.

What I find interesting about the diaries is that they’re so subjective. One of the Pythons said that we should do a version of them where they all get to write in the margins what really happened…

• Michael Palin – The Thirty Years Tour begins on 24 September in Gateshead and continues until 30 October. Palin’s book Travelling to Work: Diaries 1988-98 is out now.

