The fourth volume of Michael Palin’s widely acclaimed diaries finds him embracing the first decade of a new century. In Travelling to Work, the third volume covering the years 1988-1998, Michael’s career took an unexpected direction into travel after a decade of filming, writing and acting, and it is travel that would shape his working life for the next 25 years, with eight very successful television series including Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole. The early years of the 21st century see Michael trekking around (around through) the world’s largest desert in Sahara (2002) and travelling around some of the highest mountains in the world in Himalaya (2004), and for a complete change of scenery there was New Europe (2007), in which Michael travelled in the nations of Eastern Europe.

In each case he wrote a book about his travels. These travel programmes were responsible for a phenomenon termed the ‘Palin effect’: areas of the world that Michael has visited suddenly becoming popular tourist attractions. Michael also wrote and presented documentary programmes on artists that interested him – the Scottish colonists in The Bright Side of Life; The Ladies Who Loved Matisse; and The Mystery of Hammershøi on the Danish artist.

As a model railway enthusiast, he also had two trains named after him. He won a BAFTA Special Award in 2005 and another as part of the Monty Python team in 2009. Finally, in 2009 Michael was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.

These latest Diaries show a man grasping every opportunity in a phenomenally varied life, and they deal candidly with the doubts and setbacks that accompany this prodigious work-rate. As ever, his family life is there to anchor him.