Lesser biographies have usually looked to the above works as starting points, often treading much the same lines, repeating the same stories (some even rewriting huge chunks of Wilmut and Hewison's original text and passing it off as first-hand research) but very few writers have actually attempted to query those stories and anecdotes or to uncover or add anything new.

There are exceptions. Kim 'Howard' Johnson's trivia-led tomes (eg: The First 200 Years (Plexus)) did at least throw forth the odd snippet of interest as a result of consulting first-hand material such as the original Flying Circus shooting scripts (although these were purely descriptive). David Morgan's Monty Python Speaks invaluably afforded the team an opportunity to build on some of the original well-worn, hand-me-down anecdotes and succeeded in painting a few more colours onto the overall canvas.

The grand prize goes perhaps to Andrew Pixley who, in the magazine TV Zone (issues 146 and 147, published late 2001) wrote an excellent two-part Flying Circus retrospective which revealed a lot of hitherto undisclosed and/or unconfirmed information about the show, along with a lengthy list of items that were recorded but cut before the broadcast edit, and cuts that were made to the episodes following this original transmission.

Throughout these pages we will of course be quoting from various second-hand sources, including those mentioned above, as well as adding a lot of our own observations, dissections and revelations.

Hopefully there will be a lot of information here which will be new to even the most maniacal Python fan.

[NOTE: Johnson also mentions other sketches present in the original script which were dropped but resurfaced in later shows, including 'Lingerie Robbery', 'Dirty Fork', 'Johann Gambolputty...Of Ulm', the 'Donkey Rides' joke, and Palin's 'Redcoat' linkman. Also a Milano V Napoli fight originally broke out at the end of the 'Italian Lesson' sketch.]

[NOTE (1): Another Series 1 sketch was reportedly re-edited in the same manner, this time to remove Frost's address - this re-editing occurred before the original transmission.]

[NOTE (2): Roger Wilmut mentions in From Fringe To Flying Circus (Methuen) an example of pre-Python Frost-baiting in the form of The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer, a film starring Peter Cook as an ambitious office clerk who works his meticulous and underhand way up to being Prime Minister - a character said to be partially based on Frost's ruthless demeanour.

Other notable examples of the Pythons biting the hand which once fed them include I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again's 'The Kevin Mousetrap Show' (09/06/68) featuring Cleese as an unctuous Frost-like chat-show host, and 'Timmy Williams Coffee Time' in Flying Circus Series 2, Show 6 (03/11/70) which starred Idle as a dazzling example of media insincerity - the studio audience seemingly recognising the Frost impression as soon as he opens his mouth. Idle also impersonated Frost on Nearly Departed, his American sitcom vehicle from 1989. Again, Frost wasn't mentioned by name and, again, the impression itself got a 'Ha ha, we see what you're up to' laugh.]

[NOTE (3): Stop Press. recent rumours and rumblings suggest that a studio tape exists in the BBC Archives for Series 1, Show 2 which features some untransmitted material. More info as and when...]

5.   Johnson notes that an earlier, and very different, version of the sketch that eventually became 'The Visitors' in Series 1, Show 9 (14/12/69) featuring a very tired host trying to cope with Mr and Mrs Equator (played on this occasion by John Cleese and Fanny Carby) was filmed for Show 6 but ultimately not used. Pixley describes the scenario as 'a couple are woken at 3:20am by another couple who have been delayed for the previous night's dinner party'. Johnson remarks that the script of the sketch is particularly funny and definitely up to standard, but also that it is rather long, so it was probably cut for timing reasons. Either that, or it just didn't sit well with the general style of Python.

6.   As the show's popularity grew the team were invited, in mid-November 1969, to record an insert for the BBC's annual Christmas Night With The Stars show. Pixley notes that the script they submitted was 'Pet Conversions'. This was, perhaps unsurprisingly, rejected for inclusion and the much safer 'Confuse-A-Cat' was shown instead. It isn't known whether the sketch was also intended for Flying Circus but later that month they included it in the session for what became Series 1, Show 10 (21/12/69).

[NOTE: 'Pet Conversions' features a back-reference to an earlier pet shop sketch: "Have you got a parrot?", asks Cleese. "We're fresh out of parrots...", answers Palin. This exchange now appears extraordinarily creepy and audience-winning - a comedy team smugly self-referencing a more popular sketch. However it was actually written and recorded before the latter was even transmitted. By the time of the Matching Tie And Handkerchief LP (1973) dead parrots had of course become somewhat synonymous with Python. No surprise then that, for the re-recording of 'Pet Conversions' for that LP, they elected to change the bird to a 'budgie'! That's the way!]

8.   Monty Python's Flying Circus Series 2 commenced broadcast on 15/09/70. This had been preceded by a short run of Series 1 repeats (see our broadcasts page for more details). The repeats had already garnered a lot of publicity from disgruntled viewers (and media commentators) who were perplexed that it wasn't being networked - with many regions choosing to opt out and include their own programmes in the timeslot. Some examples of general annoyance can be found in our press page for 1970.

Upon discovering that the second series was to get much the same treatment the Pythons sent a letter (signed by all six members, dated 10/09/70) to BBC1 controller Paul Fox which read:

	Obviously we are all very disappointed to discover that our shows will be going out at regional time, especially as we were led to believe it would be networked. If it would be possible for you to let us know privately the reasons for this, we would be very grateful.

	I am sorry you are disappointed about the placing of the new 'Pythons'. There are, I can assure you, good reasons for what seems unreasonable to you, and if I may I'd like to tell you about them. I've asked Michael Mills to be kind enough to arrange a suitable date. Many congratulations to last night's start of the new series � it was tremendous.

	Sir, Keeping the war going between Monty Python's Flying Circus and the B.B.C. seems to be a favourite occupation of The Times and other quality newspapers. Maybe, in the next series, we could feature a sketch about flogging a dead horse. Certainly the most recent series was not fully networked. However, to say, as your television critic did today (April 19) that the programme was not seen north of Edgware, but only "round the London lighthouse", is inaccurate. Sixty percent of the public were able to see it � including people north of Manchester and north of the Border. That hardly demonstrates a lack of confidence on the part of the B.B.C. There are two other points to be made: (1) Monty Python will be seen on the full network in July, and all the cast, and many journalists, know that; (2) the B.B.C. is the only broadcasting organisation in the world which could have started the programme, and sustained it. All the cast, and most journalists, know that, too. Yours sincerely, BILL COTTON, Head of Light Entertainment Group, B.B.C. Television Centre, W.12.

9.   The final "Oh bugger!" from the 'Spanish Inquisition' (Series 2, Show 2 - 22/09/70) was, according to John Cleese in Monty Python Speaks (Page 103), a bone of contention for the BBC, until they realised how funny it was and let it pass uncut. It was however censored for viewers in Scotland, according to a 1975 article in The Listener ('Monty Python - The Early Years', 28th June 1979). The same article also alludes to an oft-rejected Palin and Jones sketch called 'Vercotti New Town'. Palin: 'It was about the Vercotti Brothers � the two who tried to sell protection to the army � trying to set up a New Town in Scotland. They tried to get people up there before they'd built anything and said "Well, you can just choose your plot. There's very clean water about a quarter of a mile over there, we don't want to spoil people with telephones and television. At the moment they've got space, they've got open air, they've got freedom." You can understand why that ended up in the wastepaper basket but we kept getting it out and baiting the others by reading "Vercotti New Town."'. The full article can be read as part of our press archive.

[NOTE: Terry Jones was still in character as 'Justice Kilbracken' during the final 'Spanish Inquisition' studio appearance and the part of Cardinal Biggles is taken by an unknown actor in sunglasses!]

	"This is fearsomely rare and much sought after, but it was also commercially released on a 1000-copy only vinyl compilation, 'Freakout At The Facsimilie Factory', on Tenth Planet records. (Now sold out, but you might find a second hand one.) The flying lesson music is 'Knightsbridge March' by Eric Coates - there are various versions of this on Light Music compilations currently on sale. I don't know about the TV version of 'Stop The Film', but the tune on the 'And Now For Something Completely Different' version is 'Swing-A-Day' by Johnny Hawksworth from the de Wolfe library LP 'The Best Of Johnny Hawksworth' (an LP which also provided the theme tune to 'Man About The House'!) All the music from this film (and 'Holy Grail') came from the de Wolfe library".

11.   During the opening animated credit sequence of the 'The Bishop' (Series 2, Show 4 - 20/10/70), the audience can be heard having undue hysterics in the background. Johnson notes that the original idea was to have the set fall apart as the Bishop entered Ron Devious' office and one theory is that this is what's causing the audience convulsions. Another theory (though not a very good one) is that Idle's nude lady revealed a tad more of herself to the audience than was planned.

[NOTE (1): During the 'Bishop' film that follows, the gang re-enter Devious' office, breaking in by using one of the Bishop's henchmen as a battering ram. This scene does show part of the set collapsing but since we cut away from this very quickly it suggests this was a genuine mistake.]

[NOTE (2): Ian MacNaughton wrote to HCLE on 21 September 1970, giving his reasons for a five-minute over-run during the studio recording for Series 2, Show 4 (recorded 18/09/70). In the letter MacNaughton apologises for the over-run, but mentions that one actor had a migraine on the day of recording and ended up drying during one take. He also adds that there was no production assistant working on the show until the afternoon of the recording - 'the show was by no means the smoothest to record in the studio, being recorded out of order and almost upside down'.]

Anyway, the reason it's mentioned here is that the glitch has meant that one frame from a vox pop section which was VT-edited-out is partially visible (albeit as a double-image pasted on top of Ken Shabby) Freeze-frame at the exact moment between Shabby's "I use Rancid Polecat #2..." and Palin's chemist rushing back to the shop and the ghostly image of John Cleese, arms folded, mouth wide open, ready to deliver a line (and wearing a nice shirt) can be detected.

[NOTE: VT-editing was still in its infancy in the early 70s, and the splicing of tape was often crude. This meant that edits sometimes started with one half-frame of material that the editor did not want. These are usually impossible to pick up watching in real time. A few such anomalies also occur during the 'Courtroom' scenes in Series 3, Show 1 (19/10/72). Meanwhile, the sketch in Series 2, Show 13 (22/12/70) where several works of art go on strike includes an odd edit between the colour separation effect which allows some Gilliam graphics to be visible through a studio window and the next scene which has a close-up of Cleese as an auctioneer, Depending on the general mood of your VCR you can sometimes isolate one field which depicts Cleese's face framed in the same window.]

[NOTE (1): The real Tony Bilbow hosted an edition of the real Late Night Line-Up which featured a pre-recorded interview with the Pythons shown on BBC2 on the evening of the last episode of Series 2 (22/12/70). Bilbow also introduced the edition of Film Night which looked behind the scenes of Monty Python And The Holy Grail. He would later make a couple of excellent cameos in Eric Idle's Rutland Weekend Television.]

[NOTE (2): Pixley also mentions a Series 2 sketch, cut before transmission, featuring a 'critic (Jones) who narrates a sketch about a housewife (Carol Cleveland) with a milkman, who is revealed to smell a lot by a series of superimposed captions'. Johnson doesn't mention this so we can't speculate on which show it actually was.]

[NOTE: It is odd that the BBC were so po-faced about such medical vocabulary. Dr Graham Chapman often sneaked in such extremities as character names, possibly to impress his old medical school friends. For instance, a character in the 'How Not To Be Seen' sketch (Series 2, Show 11, 24/11/70) is introduced as 'Mrs B.J. Smegma'. With this now a word in common usage, Python has achieved that rare thing - creating material which becomes more risqué with age, rather than less. Others include 'Mr Glans' in the 'Exchange & Mart' sketch (Series 2, Show 11), a character named - in the script only - after the erogenous tip of the penis, 'Plucky Reginald Vas Deferens' from the Holy Grail soundtrack (1975), named after the tube that connects the sperm duct to the urethral opening, and 'Trofemov' from the 'Gumby Cherry Orchard' sketch on Another Monty Python Record (1971), a character from Chekhov's meisterwerk but also the name of an operation which gives an androgynous child an artificial vagina. It's also known that one of the many mooted titles for the series was 'Cynthia Fellatio's Flying Circus'.

'Mrs Mittelschmertz' (from Another...'s 'Stake Your Claim') sounds decidedly naughty too, although it's actually German for 'painkiller'. Mind you, its literal translation is 'middle pain', so it's still a bit naughty.

The line that caused Cleese's Hungarian to hit Jones' tobacconist in 'The Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook' sketch is, like the 'World's Funniest Joke' in the first show, gibberish ...except for 'stravenka', which, according to The Guardian's 'Notes and Queries' page (someone once quoted the line in full and asked if it was real Hungarian), means 'luncheon voucher'.]

[NOTE: In looking through the Flying Circus shooting scripts we've avoided noting general differences between text and performance. The sketches were rarely performed exactly as-written down to the minutest word and were usually jammed around by the time of the studio date. However, unseen sketches or snipped sections or dialogue which differs radically will be noted. It should be mentioned here that although the texts prepared by Roger Wilmut, editor of the Flying Circus script books Just The Words (Methuen) were TV transcripts they did use a lot of the original Python-written stage directions from the shooting scripts, albeit often simplified. We will also note anything of interest in those stage directions which the books avoided (for reasons of general confusion or space). It's hoped that one day the Pythons will publish all the original scripts as was, with annotations and footnotes. Until then...]

	Monty Python's Flying Circus  Series 2, Show 7 Shooting script Show Recorded: 02/10/70 TX: 10/11/70

b) 'Attila The Nun' is described as 'BRANDISHING A SWORD' in the script directions but she doesn't in the finished show. It would presumably have been difficult and not a little dangerous considering how fast the motorbike was going. Also the "simple country girl who took a vow of eternal brutality" voiceover was originally intended for before the bike crashes. In the tx it's played over the subsequent studio shots of the nun flailing about in a hospital bed. The '6 Shabby Men' who stand with their hands deep in their pockets watching Carol Cleveland breath in and out to the strains of 'The Stripper' are identified as David Aldridge, Steve Smart, David Gilchrist, George Jansen, Clinton Morris and Leslie Noyes. The nurse is played by Laurel Brown.

c) The "Secretary of State for Commonwealth affairs" (who strips at the "Peephole Club") was originally supposed to come onstage to a 'Brassy music intro'. In the tx he comes on to basic audience applause. There are a few lines in his final speech which aren't in the shooting script but nothing outstanding.

d) 'Killer Sheep' features alternate dialogue after Mr Concrete (Terry Jones) has finished talking to the BBC on the subject of Parliamentary Groupies.

	MRS CONCRETE (PALIN) Have you been talking to television again dear? MR CONCRETE (JONES) Yes, I bloody told 'em. MRS CONCRETE What about? MR CONCRETE I dunno. MRS CONCRETE Was it Val Doonican? MR CONCRETE No. MRS CONCRETE Did he have his rocking chair? MR CONCRETE No - it wasn't like that. There was lots of them with lights and tape recorders and all that. MRS CONCRETE Probably the Black & White Minstrels. I prefer them to Val Doonican - they're not so nosey. THE DOORBELL GOES DINDONG [sic] AS ALL GOOD DOORBELLS DO IN MP Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 2, Show 7 (10/11/70)

In the tx the refs to Val Doonican and the Black & White Minstrels were replaced by similar refs to Reginald Bosanquet ("Did he have his head all bandaged?") and Raymond Baxter ("and the boys and girls from Tomorrow's World").

In the script the sign in the living room pointing towards the wainscotting is only revealed as they start searching for the sheep hole. The script directions meanwhile reiterate salient observations for the benefit of cast and crew:

	RATCATCHER (CHAPMAN) Now then. Where are they worst? MRS CONCRETE (POINTING TOWARDS WAINSCOTTING. NICE WORD ISN'T IT "WAINSCOTTING") Well it's down here really - you can usually hear them. RATCATCHER Ssssh! THEY KNEEL DOWN BESIDE THE WAINSCOTTING (NICE WORD) AND LISTEN Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 2, Show 7 (10/11/70)

During the second entrance of the cricket team looking for the Third Test, the original script doesn't mention that John Cleese has his face blacked up and talks with a West Indian accent, suggesting that this was an extra joke they added just prior to recording. Incidentally the other cricketers are played by the same extras who played the '6 Shabby Men' earlier. Except for Leslie Noyes. Maybe he had a bus to catch.

e) A slightly different text occurs during the 'Tale Of Two Cities' (adapted for parrots):

	MUSIC REACHES A CLIMAX AND WE MIX SLOWLY THROUGH TO STUDIO. THE SET IS AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LIVING ROOM... AS ELABORATE AND AUTHENTIC AS WE CAN AFFORD. LUCY IS TENDING HER FATHER. SOME LOW MUSIC CONTINUES OVER. SUDDENLY THE DOOR BURSTS OPEN AND CHARLES DARNEY ENTERS DARNEY (CHAPMAN) 'Allo 'allo 'allo LUCY (CLEVELAND) 'Allo 'allo 'allo OLD MAN (OLD MAN) 'Allo 'allo 'allo DARNEY Who's a cheeky boy... silly boy... LUCY 'Allo vicar... ooh isn't he a silly one AD LIB CUT BACK TO NARRATOR Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 2, Show 7 (10/11/70)

In the tx they opted for the more traditionally comic "Who's a pretty boy", etc.

f) 'Today In Parliament features a couple of alternate lines:

	CYRIL For the front bench a government spokesman said that the Agricultural tariff would have to be raised and he fancied a bit. Furthermore, he argued, this would give a large boost to farmers, and a lot of fun to him, his friends, millions with poorer eyesight, (and) Swedish masseurs and gynaecologists everywhere. Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 2, Show 7 (10/11/70)

The tx changed this last bit to "and Miss Moist of Knightsbridge".

g) In 'News For Wombats' the newsreader's second use of "Yum yum..." isn't present. Also, a great script direction leads to 'Attila The Bun' (part of which was quoted on page 212 of Roger Wilmut's Fringe To Flying Circus):

	CUT TO ANIMATION OF VISCIOUS (sic) BUN DOING WHATEVER OUR AWARD WINNING ANIMATOR NORMALLY DOES WHEN HE'S AT HOME. A GOOD IDEA SOME OF US THOUGHT WOULD BE IF SOMEONE'S HEAD WERE TO COME OFF AT SOME POINT. THAT WOULD GIVE A LOT OF PEOPLE A LAUGH WE RATHER THOUGHT. ANOTHER FUNNY THING... A SHOT RINGS OUT AND THE MAN WRITING THE STAGE DIRECTIONS BITES THE MARGIN... ANYWAY THIS ANIMATION HAS SOMEHOW LEAD US INTO THE IDIOT FILM. PERHAPS A PAN ACROSS LOVELY LANDSCAPE AND THEN THE VO. Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 2, Show 7 (10/11/70)

h) In 'Idiots' Arthur Figgis (Cleese) smashes an egg on his head prior to jumping into the pond. You can still more or less see the aftermath of this in the show but it isn't particularly clear. The manager of the local bank meanwhile insists that "a really blithering idiot can earn five thousand pounds a year - given a good summer". In the tx this was changed to the much funnier "ten thousand pounds a year - if he's the head of some big industrial combine".

Chapman's 'city idiot' was scripted to say "Daddy's in advertising so he knew all the right people" - rather than the (again much funnier) tx line "Daddy's a banker and he needed a waste paper basket". Terry Jones' city idiot was originally to say "inbreeding really".

The script also mentions that Palin was to play the reporter at Lords Cricket Ground rather than Chapman. As the 'terribly old idiots' watch the cricket match a script note adds '(POSSIBLY THIS AND THE OTHER CRICKET MATCH COULD BE FILMED AT FENNERS, CAMBRIDGE. USING THE PAVILION.)'.

i) Cleese' commentary in the 'Cricket Match' was jammed around extensively by the time of the tx. The original script doesn't include the alliterative "Naughton of Northants got a nasty knock on the nut in the nets last night but it's nothing of note", or the bit where he loses control and has to be nudged back into action. The rather unnerving noise he makes before handing over to Chapman was also added later. During the second inactive bit of cricket the batsman was originally going to be replaced with a life-sized cardboard cut-out. Cleese' line "Get your hand off my thigh, West" doesn't feature either.

j) The commentary for 'Furniture Race' isn't present in the script, with a note saying 'COMMENTARY TO BE ADDED LATER, WHEN FILMED'.

k) In 'Take Your Pick' (later better known as 'Spot The Braincell'), Michael Miles' (Cleese) full question was originally "Which great opponent of Cartesian rationalism resists the reduction of all psychological phenomenon to physical states and insists that there is no point of contact between the unextended and the extended". The line was shortened slightly for the tx version but later live performances pretty much went back to the original text.

Also Miles' "Who does?" isn't present, although Jones' "I don't like darkies!" is.

The "They eat penguins? They eat themselves" confusion isn't in the script, and neither is Cleese' fish mime (although "Brian Close" is still one of Jones' guesses).

l) The sign advertising the price of Licence Fees isn't mentioned; neither is the presence of Chapman as the gameshow hostess banging a gong.

16.   As a mark of respect to the family of Take Your Pick quizmaster Michael Miles, who died in February 1971, the first repeat of Series 2, Show 7, edited out the parody and replaced it with 'Railway Timetables' from Series 2, Show 11 (08/12/70). In the re-edited version the 'Furniture Race' sequence links clumsily into the opening gunshot and blackout of '...Timetables' but eventually cuts back to the end credits of Show 7 after Gavin Millarrrrrrrrrrrr (Cleese) has finished his monologue. The credits, which were superimposed over a notice showing the price of the licence fee, were clearly intended as a comment on tackiness of quiz shows like Take Your Pick. The joke still worked as a comment on pseudo-intellectual broadcasters like Millarrrrrrrrrrrr, but seemed somewhat out of place.

Amazingly, the episode was still being repeated by the BBC in this amended version until 1995, and no-one in charge seemed to realise this, despite several viewers pointing it out to them and the fact that the correct version of the episode was included on the BBC's original video releases of the series in the mid-1980s. It's sobering to think that, particularly given the age of Monty Python's Flying Circus and the nature of the industry at the time that it was originally made, the original edit of the episode could have been junked as a result of someone 'not realising' what it was. Other shows in the series weren't quite as lucky...

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