Jonathan Yardley on the recently published diaries of Michael Palin

In April 1975, at the London opening of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, an acquaintance approached Michael Palin and told him, "You were great". Palin was delighted: "I'm so used to being anonymous in Python that it's nice to know someone noticed." That's Palin, all right: the Python cast member whom almost nobody noticed, at least during the 1970s when Python was still new and finding its audience. Even now, at the height of an enormously successful career as actor, and star of travel documentaries, Palin remains in the shadow of John Cleese, Eric Idle and the late Graham Chapman.