Michael Palin, 80, vows to continue to work after wife's death
Watch: Michael Palin, 80, vows to continue to work after wife's death
What did you miss?
Michael Palin says he cannot live in the past following the death of his wife Helen in 2023.
In May last year, Palin announced his wife had died aged 80, calling her "the bedrock of my life". Now the 80-year-old adventurous presenter — who returns to screens on Tuesday in his new travel documentary Michael Palin in Nigeria — vowed to "get on" as he continues to throw himself into work.
Palin knew his wife for 60 years and Tuesday marked what would have been their 58th wedding anniversary together. During an appearance on ITV's Lorraine, Palin said he wants to continue with work for as long as he can — from doing documentaries and travelling the world, to writing travel books.
What, how and why?
Host Lorraine Kelly said he would always have the "amazing memories" with his wife. She said: "And it still feels that she is with you. And work is great isn't it? To be able to go on your travels, I know you are writing a book. You're doing your diaries."
Palin stressed the importance of continuing to work following his wife's death. He said: "That's really important, you can’t live in the past. You can’t say everything has stopped now. I'm just going to live in the past.
"You've got to get on. I’m lucky I do get some work and get to go round the world, [and] be paid for it which is terrific. I want to continue to do that, if I can. Because it puts me in touch with human life. It also gives me physical and mental energy which is really important for your morale."
Kelly had acknowledged it was an important day for the star saying: "Today is a special day. It would have been your anniversary today."
Palin agreed saying: "It would. It would have been my 58th. Yeah, yeah."
The TV host said 58 years would have been "astonishing" and she said it must have been "hard" for the presenter after Helen's death. She said: "It's nearly been a year. It must be hard, especially this trip as you go home and she's not there." She added: "Do you still find yourself talking to her?"
Palin revealed he still talks to his wife to give himself reassurance and he revealed what he missed most about her. He said: "Yes, absolutely in a lot of ways of reassurance. You’re terribly good at telling me what I should do, and things I should do, she was a good judge, she knew what I liked, she knew when I was happy working, other than getting into something that wasn’t right."
He added: "I do miss that. I miss the jokes that we used to have together. It’s our anniversary, 58th, every anniversary we would do anything with increasing incredulity. 50, 52 we've done everything, 54 forget it. That humour I do miss a lot."
Palin went on: "I knew Helen for 60 years. And no one else in my life I've known for such a long time. You build up so many experiences, so many beautiful experiences. But you don't need to make a big thing of it."
Palin and David Attenborough's friendship
Palin also discussed his friendship with David Attenborough. The TV host wanted to know whether they were pals or rivals. He concluded: "I'd say we've been pals over the years. I got to know David, he was there at BBC when we first did Monty Python."
Palin revealed he always has good fun with Attenborough as he spoke fondly of his friend. He said: "He’s got a great sense of humour, David. We have a lot of laughs when we meet up. I once impersonated him in a Python sketch."
He further explained: "I was going through the jungle, we were playing on idea when getting very sweaty. Gradually getting large patches. The guy would create the patches under the arms and he would push too hard and gallons of water would come down my trousers. We had a great laugh. That was incontinence on a grand scale."
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This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/michael-palin-documentary-work-wife-death-102125802.html
