In the original dustsheet. Grey cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

Following his highly successful television series and book, the indefatigable Michael Palin brings his incredible story to audio, recapturing all the excitement of his original expedition. Complete with visas, running shoes, an inflatable globe and sound advice from Alan Whicker, he set off to circumnavigate the world using only forms of transport available to the fictional Phileas Fogg. His journey was phenomenal, his deadline was 80 days. The rest, as they say, is history.

Review: I loved revisiting the 1989 television series via Michael Palin’s (audio)book. I really enjoyed his descriptions of the various stages of the journey, the people he met – particularly the way he formed a rapport with the crews of the ships on which he travelled. I found his descriptions of a couple of places along his route which I had also visited (Hong Kong and Glenwood Springs, Colorado) both accurate and evocative, which helped to add authenticity to the rest of the narrative. The personal, friendly tone of the book made it easy going and enjoyable – and the touches of slightly Pythonesque humour were an added bonus. I found the accounts of some of the meals interesting when Michael felt it necessary to explain foodstuffs with which many people in Britain would now be familiar, a clear indication of the greater prevalence of travel and the wider variety of ethnic food outlets in Britain. For those not familiar with the television series, the emphasis of the book is on the journey. An 80 day circumnavigation of the world by air would be tailored to your choice of places to visit, and would allow meaningful stopovers in carefully chosen countries but without the option of air travel (since this was not open to Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”, the inspiration for the series) and with very few passenger ferries, much of Michael’s itinerary was determined by the availability of space on merchant shipping vessels. His travel by land and sea occupied the majority of the days available to him, meaning that his only real opportunities to explore the places in which he found himself were during delays and difficulties with the schedule. So this is a book about a journey, the highs and lows of making it, camaraderie, how to combat boredom on a container ship, the generosity of the people who helped Michael and the film crew to proceed from place to place etc. What it is not is a travelogue providing detailed information about all the countries through which he travelled.

Sir Michael Edward Palin (born 5 May 1943[) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

Palin started in television working on programmes including the Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report, and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin joined Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969–1974) alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman. He acted in some of the most famous Python sketches, including “Argument Clinic”, “Dead Parrot sketch”, “The Lumberjack Song”, “The Spanish Inquisition”, “Bicycle Repair Man” and “The Fish-Slapping Dance”. Palin continued to work with Jones away from Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns.

Palin co-wrote and starred in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983). For his performance in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Other notable films include Jabberwocky (1977), Time Bandits (1981), The Missionary (1982), A Private Function (1984), Brazil (1985), Fierce Creatures (1997), and The Death of Stalin (2017).

Since 1980, Palin has made numerous television travel documentaries, and is a widely recognised writer and presenter. He has acted as a travel writer and travel documentarian in programmes broadcast on the BBC. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe, and Brazil; in 2018, he visited North Korea, documenting his visit to the isolated country in a series broadcast on Channel 5. From 2009 to 2012 he was President of the Royal Geographical Society.