Monty Python's Flying Circus: Hidden Treasures

by Adrian Besley

This is the story of Monty Python, one the most popular and influential forces in modern comedy—and of their TV show—told in words and images. This celebratory book includes 22 removable facsimiles of rare memorabilia from their official archives, including hand-scribbled scripts, cue sheets, character lists, posters, and animation artwork. Written with active input from the Pythons themselves, the book recounts the adventures of all six members and their TV show, from early days in the Cambridge Footlights through early appearances on the BBC, global stardom, the inevitable fights, and their triumphant reunions.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Comedy, Biography, History

96 pages, Hardcover

Published March 28, 2017

About the author

Adrian Besley is a freelance writer and former copywriter for the BBC. He is the author of many non-fiction titles, including EXO: K-Pop Superstars, Blackpink: K-Pop's No.1 Girl Group and the forthcoming Billie Eilish: From e-girl to icon, as well as 5 Seconds of Summer Confidential and a series of top-selling YouTube books, including YouTube World Records.

Reviews

[Joe Davoust · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty book with lots of extras but no real substance, as a coffee table book really should be. The pullouts were cool little facsimiles of scripts, posters, press releases and show programs. They were all interesting to peruse but only slightly entertaining. There are links in the book through QR code’s to YouTube videos but all of them said unavailable, at least to me. Maybe because the rights are different in the US versus the UK? I did enjoy the book but it led me to find and rewatch many of the sketches on the "telly" and that ended up being much more enjoyable.

[ReadaBook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brought back great memories of this hilarious comedy group. I can recall watching the Flying Circus on PBS every Sunday night, sitting alone in the family room, thinking how funny, risque, different and sometimes not very understandable it was. Loved every moment. The extras in the book -- various memorabilia -- were fun to look at too. If you're a Python fan, you're sure to enjoy this!

[Martín Torres Negri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thing that its not only words and long phrases. It´s got lots of stuff coming out of the book. Pictures can be found all along the book making it really easy to progress and rate it here in goodreads once you´re done. For me its a 4 and not a 5 just because it would have been great to have some pages with black & white drawings to paint with whatever colour I wanted.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly! Just plain silly.

[Michael D Jedlowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good. Some new takes on the Pythons.

[Melissa Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fun to go through, some info I didn't know about the group, some never-before published sketch scripts and things that had been cut. If you're a Python Fan, it's a fun read.