Forty years ago, an unheralded new BBC comedy show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, slipped into a Sunday night slot previously reserved for televised prayer services on British television.
The revised scheduling alone should have alerted audiences to the fact that some serious social changes might be underway. Presented with a line-up of sketches that featured the Spanish inquisition, a dead parrot and the Upper Class Twit of the Year Competition, the viewers, or most of them, fell about laughing while generally avoiding the troublesome question of what it all meant.
When first-generation Python fans gather now, greying, and, perhaps, less convinced of life's unfailing ability to amuse, the talk is of how the programme "stood comedy on its head" or "changed the rules".
In the sense that no show before it would have thought to send Mrs Premise and Mrs Conclusion, two pinafore-wearing provincial housewives, to Paris to ask Jean-Paul Sartre to settle an argument they had started in a launderette about the nature of existence, this was probably true. "Ooooh, don't ask him," Mme Sartre warns the ladies on arrival: "He's in one of his bleeding moods; the bourgeoisie this, the bourgeoisie that."
The five surviving Pythons tend to see their legacy differently. Not just differently from the fans, but differently from each other. Today, they have reached an age and position in life where they have become not unlike the people they used to make fun of.
John Cleese is 70, and currently touring European concert halls to pay for his latest divorce; Michael Palin, 66, is the president of Britain's Royal Geographical Society; Terry Jones, 67, writes scholarly books about the Middle Ages; Eric Idle, 66, produces musicals while Terry Gilliam, 68, is still trying to make a Hollywood movie about his literary hero, Don Quixote. The sixth Python, Graham Chapman, died in 1989.
They were middle-class boys, brought up in places like Weston-super-Mare and Melton Mowbray, the rigorously-educated sons of Rotarians, and mothers who went to coffee mornings and who never imagined that the social petrifaction of post-war England, with its reassuring conceits and certainties, would ultimately provide their children with a weapons-grade source of satire.
"The culture at that time was stuffy," says Cleese. "It was like wrestling with a sponge. I remember going to see Beyond the Fringe in 1962, and hearing screams of laughter. They were screams of liberation."
Hard-core Python fans are prone to give the impression that the show came out of nowhere - an act of miraculous deliverance from the cosy sitcoms, Whitehall farces and "put-your-teeth-in-granny" radio comedies of the early 1960s. As though, one day, you were watching Thora Hird and Freddie Frinton in Meet the Wife, and the next you had Pablo Picasso completing an oil painting while riding a bicycle along the B2127 between Ewhurst and Dorking
It wasn't quite like that. Monty Python's ebullient anarchism grew out of the fissures in the social landscape that were already allowing a new kind of comedy. It was radical, unfettered by notions of deference, and political in allusion if not content.
The touchpaper was arguably lit a decade earlier by the playwright John Osborne, with the opening of Look Back in Anger, but comedy was quick to recognise the new opportunities, and Beyond the Fringe, a razor-sharp, authority-mocking stage revue mostly written by Peter Cook, took up the challenge, as did That Was The Week That Was, a groundbreaking TV satire programme starring David Frost. Both were immensely influential on the future Pythons.
The coming together had begun at university. Cleese, Chapman and Idle were Cambridge men; Palin and Jones had been at Oxford. Only Gilliam, a laid-back American who had moved to Britain to work as an animator, hailed from outside the class mould.
Some years later, in A Fish Called Wanda, Cleese's character was given to plead: "Do you have any idea what it's like being English? Being so correct all the time, so stifled by this dread of doing the wrong thing. We are all terrified of embarrassment. That's why we are all - dead!" It was exactly this sense of repression that gave the Flying Circus its lift-off.
The individual Pythons had written and performed for their university drama groups. Intoxicated by the whiff of escape from the professions their parents had mapped out for them, they had moved to London, and found work on the burgeoning new radio and television comedy programmes that were already pushing at the limits of the possible.
The Frost Report, on which they all worked together, was an instant success. But Frost was a man of boundless vanity whose name, in enormous letters, would dominate the show's credits while those of the writers flashed past. It was time to launch the next stage of the revolution.
The BBC agreed, at the urging of star producer Barry Took, to give the proto-Pythons a show of their own. Terry Jones recalls: "When we went in all the executives asked: 'Well, what's the show going to be about?', and we said, 'Well, we don't know'. 'Well, who's it going to be aimed at?' 'Well, we don't really know'. 'Is it going to have music in it?' 'Well, we don't really know.' 'Well, what's it going to be called?' 'We don't really know,' and then they said: 'Well, we can only give you a budget for 13 shows'."
The first episode was screened late on a Sunday night, and opened with a long-distance shot of a ragged, wild-haired man staggering from the sea. Collapsing on the shore he gasped one word: "It's-", followed by the voice-over "Monty Python's Flying Circus". For the next half hour a previously-unimaginable torrent of surrealist absurdity poured forth - Mozart presenting a television documentary about famous people's deaths, the funniest joke in the world that no one can hear and live, an interview with composer Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson.
The BBC was baffled. "Every now and then," recalls Palin, "they would take us off, and run The Horse of the Year Show instead. But it meant that we could plod away unnoticed. Plotting more outrageous things. After about two or three shows, it was clear there was a cult developing. There were people who liked it because so many other people didn't."
Looking back, it is possible to spot, beneath the patina of madness, some of the ways in which the Pythons changed comedy. They did away with the idea that a sketch needed a beginning or an ending. Often Python sketches didn't end at all, but were terminated by Chapman, dressed as an army colonel, declaring that things were getting "far too silly". Other ways of concluding sketches were to have a 16-tonne weight fall on one of the characters or for Cleese to interrupt proceedings with: "And now for something completely different."
They mixed animation with live action, put heterosexual male actors into women's clothes, established the idea that a troupe of performers rather than a single star can carry a comedy show, and, with sketches such as the "summarise Proust" competition, reconciled the infantile with the highbrow.
The question always asked of elderly comedy shows is: would it still be funny now? In the case of Monty Python a more pertinent one might be: Would it still be allowed?
There's no doubting the show's pre-political correctness era credentials. The rules at the University of Woolloomooloo, where the entire Department of Philosophy faculty is made up of brawny Australians called Bruce, run as follows: "Rule 1: No poofters. Rule 2: No member of the faculty is to mistreat the Abos in any way whatsoever (if there's anyone watching). Rule 3: No poofters." Then there's the Silly Olympics, where a core joke is the inability of the deaf competitors to hear the starting gun.
Less amusing is the real life story of the strained relations between the Pythons. Three years ago, Palin published his diaries of The Python Years, blowing apart, in the process, the fond notion that the show had been created by lovably like-minded pranksters. Around the team, it was revealed, swirled an often poisonous atmosphere of jealousy, resentment, egomania and intrigue - much of it centring on Cleese's dominant role - that in effect ended the collaboration.
While the 40th anniversary sees the surviving members joining up in New York to discuss the show's history, none of them is interested in working together again.
And that legacy? "The one thing we all agreed on," says Jones, "was to be totally unpredictable, and never repeat ourselves. We wanted to be unquantifiable. That we are now an adjective in the Oxford English Dictionary means that we failed utterly."
THE BIO
Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13
Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife
What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents.
Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.
Bio
Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
How to keep control of your emotions
If your investment decisions are being dictated by emotions such as fear, greed, hope, frustration and boredom, it is time for a rethink, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, says.
Greed
Greedy investors trade beyond their means, open more positions than usual or hold on to positions too long to chase an even greater gain. “All too often, they incur a heavy loss and may even wipe out the profit already made.
Tip: Ignore the short-term hype, noise and froth and invest for the long-term plan, based on sound fundamentals.
Fear
The risk of making a loss can cloud decision-making. “This can cause you to close out a position too early, or miss out on a profit by being too afraid to open a trade,” he says.
Tip: Start with a plan, and stick to it. For added security, consider placing stops to reduce any losses and limits to lock in profits.
Hope
While all traders need hope to start trading, excessive optimism can backfire. Too many traders hold on to a losing trade because they believe that it will reverse its trend and become profitable.
Tip: Set realistic goals. Be happy with what you have earned, rather than frustrated by what you could have earned.
Frustration
Traders can get annoyed when the markets have behaved in unexpected ways and generates losses or fails to deliver anticipated gains.
Tip: Accept in advance that asset price movements are completely unpredictable and you will suffer losses at some point. These can be managed, say, by attaching stops and limits to your trades.
Boredom
Too many investors buy and sell because they want something to do. They are trading as entertainment, rather than in the hope of making money. As well as making bad decisions, the extra dealing charges eat into returns.
Tip: Open an online demo account and get your thrills without risking real money.
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 1 (Carroll 82')
Leicester City 2 (Maddison 55', Tielemans 72')
Man of the match James Maddison (Leicester)
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final
Esperance de Tunis 0
Al Ain 3 (Ahmed 02’, El Shahat 17’, Al Ahbabi 60’)
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Duminy's Test career in numbers
Tests 46; Runs 2,103; Best 166; Average 32.85; 100s 6; 50s 8; Wickets 42; Best 4-47
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
Fatherland
Kele Okereke
(BMG)
Sri Lanka Test squad:
Dimuth Karunaratne (stand-in captain), Niroshan Dickwella (vice captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Dhananjaya de Silva, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohamed Shiraz, Lakshan Sandakan and Lasith Embuldeniya.
LAST 16 DRAW
Borussia Dortmund v PSG
Real Madrid v Manchester City
Atalanta v Valencia
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool
Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Lyon v Juventus
Tottenham v Leipzig
Napoli v Barcelona
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Fixtures:
Thursday:
Hatta v Al Jazira, 4.55pm
Al Wasl v Dibba, 7.45pm
Friday:
Al Dhafra v Al Nasr, 5.05pm
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai v Al Wahda, 7.45pm
Saturday:
Ajman v Emirates, 4.55pm
Al Ain v Sharjah, 7.45pm
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Fresh faces in UAE side
Khalifa Mubarak (24) An accomplished centre-back, the Al Nasr defender’s progress has been hampered in the past by injury. With not many options in central defence, he would bolster what can be a problem area.
Ali Salmeen (22) Has been superb at the heart of Al Wasl’s midfield these past two seasons, with the Dubai club flourishing under manager Rodolfo Arrubarrena. Would add workrate and composure to the centre of the park.
Mohammed Jamal (23) Enjoyed a stellar 2016/17 Arabian Gulf League campaign, proving integral to Al Jazira as the capital club sealed the championship for only a second time. A tenacious and disciplined central midfielder.
Khalfan Mubarak (22) One of the most exciting players in the UAE, the Al Jazira playmaker has been likened in style to Omar Abdulrahman. Has minimal international experience already, but there should be much more to come.
Jassim Yaqoub (20) Another incredibly exciting prospect, the Al Nasr winger is becoming a regular contributor at club level. Pacey, direct and with an eye for goal, he would provide the team’s attack an extra dimension.
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yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
The Transfiguration
Director: Michael O’Shea
Starring: Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine
Three stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last 16, first leg
Liverpool v Bayern Munich, midnight, Wednesday, BeIN Sports
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 2 Manchester United 1
Huddersfield: Mooy (28'), Depoitre (33')
Manchester United: Rashford (78')
Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town)
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Opening Rugby Championship fixtures: Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
Company%20Profile
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