Previously unseen sketches from Monty Python have been discovered in Michael Palin's archives, donated to the British Library in 2017. The material includes unused script ideas, such as a Wild West bookshop scene and an 'amorous Pink Knight' storyline cut from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The sketches will go on public display at the British Library later this month, alongside more than 50 notebooks containing notes on the films Holy Grail and Life of Brian. The notebooks reveal how both films evolved during drafting, with controversial material removed to avoid causing offence.
One sketch shows that Holy Grail originally had a different ending and included a Wild West saloon scene where a man seeking beer discovers the saloon is actually a bookshop. 'The last bookshop before you get to Mexico,' the bookseller says.
The archive spans Palin's creative life from 1965 to 1987. Palin, now 75, said he cannot think why some sketches were not used, noting that Holy Grail 'took shape gradually' and the narrative ultimately focused on the knights' story.
