4 h. ago Michael Palin says wife’s NHS care was ‘awful’ during heartbreaking final months

SIR Michael Palin has branded his wife’s NHS treament in her final months “awful”. The Monty Python star lost Helen Gibbons, 80, to pneumonia and kidney failure in 2023. He said: “She went into hospital with pneumonia about two months before she died and the hospital experience was pretty awful, I have to say. “They...

Sport

8 d. ago Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future – an astonishing look at how tech is changing disabled people’s lives

Prepare to have your perspective shattered by the comedian’s visits to our US tech overlords. The upcoming advancements for those with disabilities are life-changingWashing machines liberated women to get soul-crushing jobs that ate up their free time. Social media gave the world one revolution – before it destabilised democracies everywhere else. Now AI is here, and its main job seems to be replacing screenwriters. It’s easy to fall into techno-pessimism, but new documentary Seeing into the Future (Sunday 23 November, 8pm, BBC Two) has a different angle. For disabled people, tech has already brought about life-changing advancements. And we haven’t seen anything yet.It is presented by comedian and Strictly winner Chris McCausland, who is blind. Some of the most casually astonishing scenes occur early on, showing how he uses his phone – essentially, an eye with a mouth. “What T-shirt is this?” he asks, holding up a garment. “A grey T-shirt with a graphic logo of Deftones,” his p...

Politics

1 week ago The Frida Kahlo scandal: Fridamania could reach new heights today – but where are her ‘missing’ masterpieces?

An auction in New York today is almost certain to make the celebrated artist a record-breaker. But, overshadowing what could be a $60m sale, are questions about works that have allegedly disappearedThis may well be Frida Kahlo’s biggest year yet. There’s the recent opening of a museum in Mexico City celebrating her life and work. There’s the Art Institute in Chicago exhibiting her work for the first time. And then, in Shenzhen, there’s the show that marked her Chinese debut. All this “Fridamania” tucks in between last year’s big screen documentary Frida and next year’s exhibitions in London and the US.What’s more, to cap it all, a Sotheby’s auction in New York today is almost certain to make Kahlo a record-breaker. Her 1940 painting The Dream (The Bed) is forecast to fetch between $40-$60m, which would dwarf the previous record for a female artist, set in 2014 by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1, which sold for $44.4m. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago ICA to screen Independent documentary amid unprecedented cuts to global HIV/AIDs response

To mark World AIDS Day, the Institute for Contemporary Arts will screen our film tackling the collapse of USAID funding

Politics

1 week ago Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones by Robert Ross review – portrait of a Python

An affectionate biography of the polymath includes details of never-produced gems such as Monty Python’s Third World WarTerry Jones was a Python, a historian, a bestselling children’s author and a very naughty boy. He loved to play women in drag, started a magazine about countryside ecology (Vole), founded his own real-ale brewery and was even once a columnist for this newspaper, beginning one piece in 2011 like this: “In the 14th century there were two pandemics. One was the Black Death, the other was the commercialisation of warfare.” He even used to write jokes for Cliff Richard.It would be tempting in view of all this to call him a renaissance man, except that Jones rather despised the highfalutin Renaissance, preferring the earthiness of medieval times: his first published book was a scholarly reinterpretation of Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, arguing that the hero’s fighting and pillaging was being presented satirically by the poet as something deplorable. Later he raided the Norse ...

Politics

2 w. ago John Cleese Packs It In review – former Python goes on the road in sickness and in health

Such is his grumpiness, it isn’t clear why the 85-year-old wanted to make the film – though ‘I need the money’ is a running gagThe long and fabled history of Monty Python has now reached its footnotes and afterthoughts era. After years of interpersonal disputes, multiple forays into the culture war and one very expensive divorce, 85-year-old John Cleese goes solo with a thin 80-minute travelogue, undertaking a European mini-tour while enduring a roll call of ailments (partial deafness, bone spurs, vertigo) which appears at least as substantive as his onstage material. Explaining his motivation, Cleese is not untypically blunt: a wheezy “I need the money” is the closest this film locates to a running gag.What are we offered in return? Near-relentless gripes and grievances that mesh with Cleese’s recent media profile, ranging from the endless repacking to being filmed at all hours. (Perhaps understandable, given director Andy Curd’s often unflattering angles.) Also lambasted: audience...

Politics

2 w. ago John Cleese says he's 'glad he suffered a nervous breakdown' after third divorce from Alyce Faye Eichelberger as he opens up on battle with depression

The entertainer, 86, recalled his split in 2008 that sent him into three months of depression while speaking in scenes from his forthcoming documentary.

Events

2 w. ago John Cleese ‘glad’ he experienced a nervous breakdown: ‘It gave me a realistic grasp of what was important in life’

‘It was very unpleasant waking up in the morning, because you feel very, very depressed for the first couple of hours,’ says the comedy legend

Politics

2 w. ago John Cleese opens up on suicidal thoughts and says he is 'glad'

The Monty Python star says 'It was very unpleasant waking up in the morning'

Events

2 w. ago John Cleese says nervous breakdown gave him a ‘grasp on what is important’

In his new documentary Cleese discusses a nervous breakdown he had following his third divorce.

Politics

2 w. ago CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews The Eubanks: Like Father, Like Son: An hour of hero

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: With a rematch between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn looming, it seems biased to screen a documentary lauding one of the fighters and his father

Politics

3 w. ago John Cleese issues poignant tribute to late Fawlty Towers co

"The only sad thing about it was they're almost all dead. I got a little depressed at one point"

Politics

3 w. ago Monty Python reunion! Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin support John Cleese at his new documentary screening in London

John Cleese was was reunited with his Monty Python co-stars Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam at the London screen of his new documentary on Wednesday.

Politics

3 w. ago Monty Python reunion! Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin support John Cleese at his new documentary screening in London

Monty Python reunion! Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin support John Cleese at his new documentary screening in London - but Eric Idle is still absent following dispute over finances  Daily Mail

Politics

4 w. ago Film material from Monty Python’s Terry Jones donated to BFI National Archive

The collection includes Jones’ personal 16mm copies of the Monty Python feature films.

Politics