Bicycle Repair Man’s superhero origin story took place on the first ever day of filming for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, with cameras starting to roll on Tuesday 8 July 1969!
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is big news at the moment, as the tastefully titled Monty Python Live (Mostly) run of shows continues at London’s o2 arena.
But it also turns out that today (Tuesday 8 July 2014) sees cause for further Monty Python-related celebration: It’s 45 years to the day since the very first day’s filming began on Monty Python’s Flying Circus (although at that stage they were still using the working title Bunn Wackett Buzzard Stubble and Boot).
I came across this delightful wee fact only yesterday, as I started reading Michael Palin’s The Python Years: Diaries 1969-1979. It seemed an almost unnerving coincidence that page 1 of this excellent tome should kick off 45 years ago this week – and one worth blogging about. Quoth Palin, on Tuesday 8 July 1969:
“Today Bunn Wackett Buzzard Stubble and Boot came into being, with about five minutes on film shot around Ham House. It was exhilarating to wake up to the first day’s filming on a new show. […] by 6.00 we had quite a chunk of ‘Queen Victoria and Her Gardener’ and ‘Bicycle Repairman’ done.”
That latter sketch is a definite Python favourite for me.
If you love Python, what’s your favourite thing by them?
It’s…
- Michael Palin ~ The Python Years: Diaries 1969-1979.
- Monty Python’s Flying Circus ~ The Complete Boxset.
IMAGES
- Main image via Monty Python on Instagram. I make no claim whatsoever to the copyright for this image and will remove it immediately if required.
- Foot courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
- Python plaque via Wikimedia Commons.
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