By chance he became fascinated with HMS Erebus & her fatal Arctic voyage with HMS Terror in 1845, & this excellent book is the result. When epic traveller & comedian Michael Palin completed his final live performances with the Monty Python team he naturally felt deflated. I also liked the way he places the importance of the expedition in contemporary Canadian politics, bringing the story right up to date. Palin, for me, comfortably passes a test that most celebrities fail – that of being someone you would enjoy an evening in a pub with. I also enjoyed his charming eye for the strange and humorous. He is clearly an intelligent and thoughtful man, able to offer his own insights into the story from his various travels. Palin is a gifted story-teller with a fresh and interesting style. While a book like this is sure to be enjoyed by someone like me, it has a much more general appeal. It is solidly researched with at best a couple of tiny technical errors to annoy the nautical pedant. Erabus proved to be a well written book about an important ship with a fascinating story to tell. But a family member lent me their copy, and on a subsequent holiday in France I dived in. In 2000 Palin became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television.Īs an enthusiast for the age of sail who earns his livelihood writing and lecturing about ships and the sea, my heart sank at first when I heard that an aging celebrity comedian had written a history of the Erebus. His journeys have taken him across the world, the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and most recently, Eastern Europe. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.Īfter Python, he began a new career as a travel writer. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Palin continued to work with Jones, co-writing Ripping Yarns. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "The Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam". Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin wrote most of his material with Terry Jones. Sir Michael Edward Palin, KCMG, CBE, FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. En Erebus, con un estilo fresco y riguroso, unido a una exhaustiva investigación, Palin recrea la gran época de las exploraciones del siglo XIX y presenta la aventura extraordinaria del barco que viajó dos veces al fin del mundo. Por estas páginas desfilan sus fascinantes tripulantes: el gallardo James Clark Ross, que cartografió buena parte de la Gran Barrera del Sur el atormentado John Franklin, cuya carrera acabó a bordo del Erebus Francis Crozier, el eterno segundo al mando o Joseph Hooker, un brillante naturalista de gatillo fácil. Michael Palin, estrella de los Monty Python y expresidente de la Real Sociedad Geográfica de Londres, recrea vívidamente la historia del Erebus, desde su botadura en 1826 a las épicas expediciones que lo llevaron a la gloria y, posteriormente, al desastre. Los motivos de su trágico final están rodeados de misterio. Durante la segunda, desapareció sin dejar rastro en las aguas del Ártico. La primera lo llevó más al sur de lo que cualquier humano había llegado jamás. El barco que viajó dos veces al fin del mundo El HMS Erebus emprendió dos de las expediciones navales más ambiciosas de todos los tiempos.
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