Monty Python legend Eric Idle brings new show home to Midlands
He supported Wolves until he moved to London, when he "watched Chelsea for a bit", but said: "I watch both sides because it's much more fun."In London, neighbour Gary Lineker later pointed out to Idle that fans only sang his hit song on the terraces when they were losing.
'I pushed Sinatra off the top'
"The best moment in my life about that song was when England were beating Germany 5-0 in Munich, and the German fans started to sing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," he said. "I thought that was so funny and so brilliant".It later became Britain's number one funeral song, which Idle found "very moving". "I'm particularly proud because I pushed Frank Sinatra off the top. It was My Way before that," he said.
Describing his new show as a mix of comedy and songs, he said he was adapting it for each location on tour.In Birmingham, he wants to talk about the number 148, which went through Hollywood on its way into the city.
'Mock and roll'
In the 1970s, the Python team played four nights at the rather-more-famous Hollywood Bowl in the US, when they took their live show out on the road.It was about that time, when the cult comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released in 1975, that Idle coined the phrase "mock and roll" for their particular brand of comedy."We weren't quite a rock group, we were more like a mock group," he explained.He said he found going "from Hollywood to Hollywood", a full circle in his life, "rather wonderful".
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