HistFest 2026: Travels Through Time with Sir Michael Palin

This event, originally titled ‘Sir Michael Palin: Travels Through Time’, took place on 19 April 2026. The information below is correct as of the publication date.

Join Sir Michael Palin for a special HistFest session exploring his extraordinary career on screen and on the page through the lens of history.

From his groundbreaking work with Monty Python’s Flying Circus to his acclaimed travel documentaries, Palin has spent decades bringing curiosity, wit and humanity to stories from around the world. Alongside his bestselling travel writing and diaries, he has also turned to biography and history, with books including Erebus: The Story of a Ship and Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire, blending meticulous research with his trademark storytelling voice.

In conversation with HistFest director Rebecca Rideal, he reflected on how history has shaped his creative life, and how comedy, documentary, and historical writing alike can deepen our understanding of the past and present.

This event took place as part of HistFest 2026.

About HistFest:

HistFest is a dynamic history festival that celebrates the brightest and the best in the world of history over an exciting weekend of talks, discussions, performance and music.

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Speaker Bios:

Michael Palin is an actor, comedian, writer and television presenter, well known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his appearance in A Fish Called Wanda (1988). After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer. His journeys have taken him across the world, the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and Brazil. In 2000, Palin became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television. From 2009 to 2012, Palin was the president of the Royal Geographical Society. In 2013, Palin was made a BAFTA fellow, the highest honour that is conferred by the organisation.

Rebecca Rideal is a historian, award-winning podcast and TV producer, and the author of 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Rebecca writes regularly for press and contributes to radio and television documentaries. She is the founder of the London-based history festival, HistFest, and tutors at the University of Oxford's Department for Continuing Education.

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