Erebus

'For most of my lifetime, half of my own continent had been chilled by a Cold War and concealed behind an Iron Curtain. Now there was the prospect of being able to travel through once-forbidden lands; of making a voyage of discovery on my very own doorstep . . .'<BR><BR>In New Europe, Michael Palin embarks on a very different kind of adventure: a journey around the Europe he has never known. Along the way he meets Romanian lumberjacks, celebrates the summer solstice in Latvia and takes in some traditional olive oil wrestling in Turkey. This is an unmissable odyssey through twenty different countries from one of our most beloved travel writers.

A rollercoaster ride driven by the Palin hallmarks of humour, curiosity and a sense of adventure. <BR><BR>Michael Palin was not the BBC's first choice for the travel series AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, but after its success, the public naturally wanted more. Palin, however, had other plans. There was his film AMERICAN FRIENDS, a role in Alan Bleasdale's award-winning drama GBH, the staging of his West End play THE WEEKEND, a first novel, HEMINGWAY'S CHAIR, and a lead role in FIERCE CREATURES. <BR><BR>This third volume of Michael's diaries delves further into his richly varied career, including the two further travel series he recorded for the BBC in the 1990s - POLE TO POLE and FULL CIRCLE - and the bestselling books he wrote to accompany their release. <BR><BR>The story of these ten years lived in different directions yields up riches on every page.

AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW--------The extraordinary new book from the bestselling author, a richly illustrated travel adventure across the island nation.Illustrated throughout with colour photographs taken on the trip, and brimming with wry humour and fascinating insights, this is a vivid and varied portrait of a complex country.---------Michael Palin's latest adventure sees him exploring one of the most fascinatingly complex and contradictory regions on earth: the Philippines. It's a popular tourist destination, but also a place of extreme poverty for many. It's a nation where religious beliefs are strongly held and divorce is illegal, but where political unrest and violence regularly mar everyday life. And, of course, it's a country still dominated by the legacy of the Marcos family, not least the infamous husband and wife team of Ferdinand and Imelda, whose 21-year rule was dominated by scandal and allegations of corruption.In the course of Michael's epic journey he gets to see the Philippines archipelago in all its beauty, variety and many paradoxes. At one moment he's exploring the rubbish dump topped with houses that is Manila's Smokey Mountain; the next he is wandering along the idyllic sandy beaches of Cadlao Island. He watches prisoners on remand stage a dance spectacular, wanders the ruins of a town destroyed in a five-month battle between Jihadists and government forces, and, in the waters off one of the Philippines' most far-flung possessions, witnesses a nail-biting stand-off with a Chinese coastguard vessel. He meets some of the warmest and friendliest people he has ever encountered. And at the very end, he finds himself as close to the Marcos family as it's possible to get - in a meeting that he never thought possible.Infused throughout with Michael's characteristic warmth and humour, this richly illustrated journal of his trip will prove essential reading for the keen traveller and the armchair enthusiast alike._______Praise for Michael Palin:'I cannot remember the last time I read a book so immediately absorbing and affecting.' Bill Bryson, bestselling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything'Stirring' Daily Telegraph'Everybody's talking about it . . . A brilliant book.' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2'Tremendous' Guardian'I absolutely loved it: I had to read it at one sitting.' Lorraine Kelly, ITV Lorraine'Magisterial' The Times'[a] winning mix of genuine interest, good-humoured charm and that deceptively steely nose for humbug' Wanderlust' [An] absorbing and beautifully illustrated day-by-day account' Daily Mirror

AVAILABLE TO PREORDER NOW: MICHAEL PALIN IN THE PHILIPPINES - COMING OCTOBER 2026.---------The extraordinary book from the bestselling author, a richly illustrated travel adventure across the African nation.Illustrated throughout with colour photographs taken on the trip, and brimming with wry humour and fascinating insights, this is a vivid and varied portrait of a complex country.---------With his eightieth birthday looming, it crossed Michael Palin's mind that now might be the time to hang up his boots, to lounge about at home, to take things easy. Then the opportunity to visit Africa's most populous nation arose. A few weeks later, he was at Lagos airport, camera crew in town.In the journal he kept during his trip he gives a vivid account of the towns and cities he visited, the landscapes he travelled through, and the people he met: from vibrant but chaotic Lagos, to seemingly deserted streets of Nigeria's hyper-modern capital, Abuja, to the polluted oil fields of the Niger Delta. Michael Palin is welcomed as an honoured guest by a powerful emir and harangued by a passerby in Benin City. He hears the testimony of a kidnap victim of the terrorist group Boko Haram and experiences the collective spiritual ecstasy of one of Nigeria's mega churches.And throughout his trip, he experiences at first hand the contradictions of a country that has so much natural wealth and human talent and yet simultaneously grapples with corruption, religious strife and deep inequality._______Praise for Michael Palin:'I cannot remember the last time I read a book so immediately absorbing and affecting.' Bill Bryson, bestselling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything'Stirring' Daily Telegraph'Everybody's talking about it . . . A brilliant book.' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2'Tremendous' Guardian'I absolutely loved it: I had to read it at one sitting.' Lorraine Kelly, ITV Lorraine'Magisterial' The Times'[a] winning mix of genuine interest, good-humoured charm and that deceptively steely nose for humbug' Wanderlust' [An] absorbing and beautifully illustrated day-by-day account' Daily Mirror

'A social history of Britain spanning four decades, told with unflagging empathy and wit ' Jonathan Coe, Observer<BR><BR>THE FOURTH VOLUME OF MICHAEL PALIN'S BESTSELLING DIARIES<BR><BR>There and Back is a new window into the world of Michael Palin, following him as he comes and goes through the filming of four blockbuster travel documentaries and begins to publish his personal diaries for the very first time. <BR><BR>From TV success to writer's block, Python reunions to lunches with Alan Bennett, the sadness of losing his good friend George Harrison to the joys of welcoming his first grandchild, these diaries document a decade of highs, lows and everything in between - all with the warmth, humour and heart for which Michael is renowned.

The second volume of diaries from one of Britain's best-loved national treasures. <BR><BR>After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, The Pythons made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful MONTY PYTHON'S MEANING OF LIFE. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael Palin's life, culminating in the smash hit A FISH CALLED WANDA (for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), and the first of his celebrated television journeys for the BBC. He co-produced, wrote and played the lead in THE MISSIONARY opposite Maggie Smith, who also appeared with him in A PRIVATE FUNCTION, written by Alan Bennett. <BR><BR>Such was Michael's fame in the US that he was enticed into once again hosting Saturday Night Live (with his mother making a highly successful surprise guest appearance). Over the course of these diaries he films several more journeys for television and becomes chairman of the pressure group Transport 2000. His family remains a constant as his and Helen's children enter their teens.

THE FOURTH VOLUME OF MICHAEL PALIN'S BESTSELLING DIARIES<BR><BR>A new millennium, and a new chapter for Michael Palin unfolds. With a Hemingway travel project testing his confidence, doubts creeping in about his abilities as a writer, the death of his great friend George Harrison and the last of his children leaving home, the dawn of the twenty-first century sees Michael at his most reflective yet. ¿<BR><BR>Over the next ten years, we watch through Michael's eyes as the world reels from¿the successive shocks of September 11, the 7/7 bombings and the global financial crash. With the warmth and gentle empathy that have endeared him to millions of fans over the decades, Michael documents the day-to-day detail of living in a world buffeted by such powerful winds of change.¿<BR><BR>And amidst this turbulence, one thing remains constant: Michael's irrepressible curiosity and thirst for adventure. These diaries follow his life as he comes and goes through the filming of four blockbuster travel documentaries - Hemingway Adventure, Sahara, Himalaya and New Europe - and reaches the peak of his fame as a beloved TV traveller. And five years on from the last of his children flying the nest, Michael embarks on his greatest adventure yet: becoming a besotted grandfather.¿<BR><BR>There and Back is a new window into the world of Michael Palin, one that reveals more than ever the strength and succour he draws from those ever-present supporting structures in his life: his family, his friendships and, of course, the Pythons.

'The pace of this kind of travel has not much changed since Fogg set out in 1872. Trains may be a little faster, but there are certainly no high-speed rail links yet across India, China or the USA. Passenger services have practically disappeared from the world's shipping lanes ... Recourse to air travel, even as a convenient means of escape, was not allowed.'<BR><BR>Following the route taken by Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club to circumnavigate the world. The rules were simple, but nothing else about the trip was straightforward...<BR><BR>From a tour of Venice on a rubbish barge to ship spotting at the Suez Canal and the bicycle rush hour and snake snacks in China, this is an unparalleled tribute to man's ability to make life difficult for himself.

THE FOURTH VOLUME OF MICHAEL PALIN'S BESTSELLING DIARIES<BR><BR>A new millennium, and a new chapter for Michael Palin unfolds. With a Hemingway travel project testing his confidence, doubts creeping in about his abilities as a writer, the death of his great friend George Harrison and the last of his children leaving home, the dawn of the twenty-first century sees Michael at his most reflective yet. ¿<BR><BR>Over the next ten years, we watch through Michael's eyes as the world reels from¿the successive shocks of September 11, the 7/7 bombings and the global financial crash. With the warmth and gentle empathy that have endeared him to millions of fans over the decades, Michael documents the day-to-day detail of living in a world buffeted by such powerful winds of change.¿<BR><BR>Amidst this turbulence, one thing remains constant: Michael's irrepressible curiosity and thirst for adventure. These diaries follow his life as he comes and goes through the filming of four blockbuster travel documentaries - Hemingway Adventure, Sahara, Himalaya and New Europe - and reaches the peak of his fame as a beloved TV traveller. And five years on from the last of his children flying the nest, Michael embarks on his greatest adventure yet: becoming a besotted grandfather.¿<BR><BR>There and Back is a new window into the world of Michael Palin, one that reveals more than ever the strength and succour he draws from those constant supporting structures in his life: his family, his friendships and, of course, the Pythons.