50 Fun Facts About Monty Python

How many members made up Monty Python?

Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin; a frequent actress is often called the seventh Python.

Monty Python's Flying Circus aired on the BBC between which years?

There were 45 episodes over four series, plus two made for German television.

Which two Pythons met at Oxford University?

Chapman, Cleese and Idle were at Cambridge; Gilliam is American.

Where did Terry Gilliam first meet John Cleese, during a Footlights tour?

Cleese was touring with the revue Cambridge Circus, and Gilliam later ran one of his photo strips in Help! magazine.

Which BBC satirical show is credited with first bringing the British Pythons together?

It ran from 1966 to 1967 with David Frost.

Which ITV children's show featured Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin before Python?

Cleese and Chapman admired it, and Thames offered the four their own late-night show.

Which radio programme do the Pythons regard as their biggest influence?

Cleese called Peter Sellers the greatest voice man of all time.

Which of these was one of the rejected names for the series?

Others included The Toad Elevating Moment and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot; several became episode titles.

Whose 'circus' did BBC staff call the six Pythons wandering the building, giving the title its last word?

Took was the comedy adviser who brought them to the BBC; head of comedy Michael Mills insisted the word stay in the title.

'Monty' was reportedly a mocking tribute to whom?

It was one member's idea, according to the group's 1998 Aspen interview.

The Python theme is a march by which composer?

The Liberty Bell was published in 1893, so Gilliam could use it without paying royalties.

Which Python created the animations, including the giant foot?

He lifted images from famous artworks and Victorian engravings and worked with camera, scissors and airbrush.

Which Python usually wrote alone rather than in a pair?

Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair, Jones and Palin as another.

Which recurring Chapman character marched into sketches to stop them for being 'far too silly'?

The 16-ton weight and Gilliam's knight with a rubber chicken did a similar job.

Which Python played the 'It's' man in Robinson Crusoe rags at the start of episodes?

Cleese, in a dinner suit, provided the famous linking line.

Which member left Flying Circus after the third series?

He said only two of his and Chapman's third-series sketches, Dennis Moore and Cheese Shop, were truly original.

Which actress was known as the unofficial 'Seventh Python'?

Women were generally played by the men in drag unless the part had to be sexually attractive.

Which Python specialised in playing 'ratbag' working-class housewives?

Idle played the more feminine women; Cleese did drag most sparingly.

In the Dead Parrot sketch, what species is the parrot?

Parrots are not native to Norway; the customer is Mr Praline.

Who plays the pet-shop owner, opposite Mr Praline, in the Dead Parrot sketch?

The two have performed it countless times since its 1969 debut.

To which Lancashire town is Mr Praline sent for a refund, only to be told it is Ipswich?

The shopkeeper claims Ipswich is a palindrome of it; Praline points out that would be Notlob.

Which Python plays Cardinal Ximénez, leader of the Spanish Inquisition?

Jones is Cardinal Biggles and Gilliam is Cardinal Fang.

What kitchen item does Cardinal Biggles produce when the Inquisition calls for its instrument of torture?

He then pretends to turn a lever, to no effect at all.

The Ministry of Silly Walks satirises what?

Cleese cited the physical comedy of Max Wall as an influence.

Which Dutch town opened a 'silly walks' road crossing in 2018?

The show was hugely popular in the Netherlands.

The Spam sketch is set in a café in which London suburb?

The Green Midget Cafe's menu features Spam in nearly every dish; the sketch gave email spam its name.

Which internet term derives from a Python sketch?

The waitress recites a menu in which nearly every dish contains it.

Which US public television station first aired Flying Circus in 1974, sparking its American popularity?

Programming director Ron Devillier took the plunge in the summer of 1974.

What was the Pythons' first film, released in 1971?

It re-shot sketches from the first two series for a cinema audience.

Which two Pythons directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Neither had directed a film before; Jones directed the next two Python films alone.

Who plays King Arthur in Holy Grail?

He also took the lead as Brian Cohen in Life of Brian.

What does Arthur's squire Patsy use to mimic the sound of horses' hooves?

Arthur then debates whether coconuts could be found in a temperate climate.

Which rock bands helped finance Holy Grail?

No studio would fund it, and with UK income tax at up to 90% the bands saw a good write-off; Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson chipped in too.

Which Scottish fortress stood in for most of the strongholds seen in Holy Grail?

It was shot from different angles, with hanging miniatures filling in.

What weapon do the knights use to destroy the Rabbit of Caerbannog?

Brother Maynard supplies it; the explosion alerts the police investigating a historian's murder.

What question defeats the bridgekeeper at the Bridge of Death?

Arthur asks whether he means an African or European swallow.

How does Holy Grail end?

Lancelot has already been arrested for the murder of the modern-day historian.

Which former Beatle set up HandMade Films to finance Life of Brian?

EMI's Bernard Delfont pulled out days before shooting over the subject matter.

Where was Life of Brian filmed?

The Monastir sets had been built for Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth.

Which two countries banned Life of Brian outright on release?

Eleven British councils banned it too, and Italy's ban lasted over a decade.

What is the name of the revolutionary group Brian joins?

Reg's speech asks what the Romans have ever done for us; the rival Judean People's Front are 'splitters'.

What is the name of Pontius Pilate's friend whose name reduces the guards to giggles?

His wife is Incontinentia Buttocks.

Which prize did The Meaning of Life win at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival?

It was screened alongside the short The Crimson Permanent Assurance.

Which grotesquely obese Meaning of Life diner explodes after one last wafer-thin mint?

Jones played him; the film is by far the troupe's darkest.

The Python who played King Arthur and Brian died on 4 October 1989 of what?

It was throat cancer that had spread; Cleese's eulogy recycled every euphemism from the Dead Parrot sketch.

Before comedy, the Python who played Brian Cohen qualified in which profession?

He trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital and even served as on-set doctor on Life of Brian.

Which Python was born in Minneapolis?

He became a British citizen in 1968 and renounced his US citizenship in 2006.

The Fawlty Towers star's family surname was originally what?

His father changed it on enlisting in the First World War, finding it embarrassing.

Spamalot won how many Tony Awards in 2005, including Best Musical?

It had 14 nominations; Mike Nichols and Sara Ramirez, as the Lady of the Lake, took the other two.

How quickly did the first night of the 2014 O2 reunion, Monty Python Live (Mostly), sell out?

Nine more dates were added; the last was shown in cinemas worldwide.