Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sir Michael Palin: I loved recording my part for The Simpsons

Sir Michael Palin (Ian West/PA)
Sir Michael Palin (Ian West/PA)

Sir Michael Palin has said he loved recording his new role in The Simpsons – and it was like going to Buckingham Palace.

The Monty Python star, 77,  is guest-starring in the animated US show.

The presenter, who also looks back at his travels around the world in a new BBC series, said it was “terrific” to record his lines.

“To be asked to do a sort of guest appearance on The Simpsons is pretty much like going to Buckingham Palace, except not quite as funny!” quipped the star, who was knighted last year.

Sir Michael Palin was knighted at Buckingham Palace
Sir Michael Palin was knighted at Buckingham Palace (David Mirzoeff/PA)

“It was lovely to be asked and I’ve recorded my part,” he told the PA news agency.

“It’s all done very quickly, efficiently and you are shoehorned into the show.

“I haven’t yet seen what I look like. I’m looking forward to that.”

He said of being knighted: “It’s not closed any doors or made me feel I can no longer be silly! So I appreciate it greatly. But that was the past and the future lies ahead. And I want to keep working. I want to keep doing things.”

The globe-trotter said that looking back at his adventures, for BBC series Michael Palin: Travels Of A Lifetime, made him feel for younger generations.

He feels “sad… for young people wanting to travel… who just aren’t able to because of Covid, and we just don’t know how long this is going to last”.

Recovering from open heart surgery, and then lockdown, has made him reassess life.

It has “made me actually consider how frantic my life was for the first 50 years as I started in television”, he said.

“And it’s given me a bit of time to think about what I want to do next, and quiet time is good.”

Michael Palin: Travels Of A Lifetime continues on BBC Two, and is available on BBC iPlayer.