Michael Palin donates Monty Python's archive to British Library

Actor hands over over the 'doodles, notes and scribbles' that created the cult comedy

Michael Palin
(Image credit: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)

Michael Palin has made his own unique contribution to the cultural riches housed at the British Library, donating more than 50 notebooks "containing original drafts, fledging ideas and personal reflections relating to his Monty Python writing", reports the BBC.

It is a collection that dates back to 1965, four years before the cult comedy first aired. As well as the writer and actor's personal diaries from the period, which are more extensive than his published memoirs, the documents also reveal the pay rates the Python team received from the BBC - Palin got 12 guineas, while co-star Graham Chapman was only paid ten.

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