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Terry H shows no signs of anything other than totally enjoying himself. Isabel worries on, but could be giving a perfect performance – I’m just not sure until we see it. She’s a much more jolly, funny person than her somewhat anxious exterior might indicate – and is gratifyingly happy to be doing this during the day alongside Dear Daddy in the West End – the play and cast of which she can’t stand.

Wednesday, November 3rd

Evening meal in Chelsea with Iradj B2 and Frank and Franny Reiss.3 Iradj has been selected (by the Shah himself) to start a publishing industry in Iran. No books are made or printed there as yet, so Iradj (and Time-Life whom he works for) would be starting literally from scratch.

I would think it a dangerous job – how much freedom will he have to publish what he wants? But Iradj is a pragmatist, he’ll end up on his feet. One of his problems is an illiteracy rate of 50%, but he maintains there’s a functional illiteracy rate of 75% (people who can read nothing more than simple signs, instructions, etc).

He hadn’t changed from the slightly patronising, but totally engaging, aristocratic Persian layabout he was when I shared a room with him in Germany for ten weeks in the summer of’63. I feel Iradj is one of those people who is now as old as he will ever get. Also one of those people who will keep recurring at odd intervals and in odd places throughout one’s life.

Monday, November 8th

Half a year and a few days after we last played Python Live at City Center in New York, the Pythons re-assemble at 22 Park Square East for the first day of a two-month writing period on our new film. A fine, sunny day, a good day to take resolutions and make plans.

John suggests straightaway that at some point during this writing period we all go abroad to the sun for a week or ten days (to ‘really break the back of the film’). This is shelved. As Terry J says, ‘Let’s all see if we like each other at the end of the day.’ But we make plans for the next year – writing until Christmas, re-writing throughout March and filming delayed until September/October 1977. There follows some good chat and exchange of ideas about the story and how to treat it. JC now thinks the film should be called ‘Monty Python’s Life of Christ’.

At lunchtime, TG leaves to complete filming of the Jabberwocky monster in Pembroke. We all go off to Auntie’s restaurant. A bottle of champagne (that’s all) among us to celebrate the reunion. They all want to know about Jabberwocky. The worse news the better, I sense! John’s passed his driving test and now has a car of his own – ‘A very old Rolls-Royce,’ he tells me, unable to stifle a trace of embarrassment.

Wednesday, November 10th

Writing with Terry – some hopeful starts, but nothing great as yet, the most promising being a piece Terry has begun about the Three Wise Men, confused over which star they’re following and being constantly mistaken for the wrong sort of astrologers and having to tell people about their star sign. In the classic Python mould of the humour of frustration; irritation at constantly being diverted by trivia.

Friday, November 12th

Python meeting at Park Square East at ten. All there except TG. Anne sits in (having asked if we didn’t mind). All rather institutional. It falls to Palin to start the ball rolling and read the first new, all-Python material since we wrote the Holy Grail.

Enough good material from everybody to suggest things haven’t changed. In fact, in John and Graham’s case, I think they’ve improved. They wrote the stoning section and an ex-leper and psychopath section – both of which were back on their best form. Very funny.

Anne supplies lunch – prawns and smoked salmon and no booze, except for GC who seems to find a G and T from somewhere. He is on fine form and really elated by his writing week with John. By contrast, I feel our week has not produced strong material. I’m suffering from slight, post-filming loss of energy. Terry J is too preoccupied with domestic and philanthropic problems.

Sunday, November 14th