Pole to Pole

About the photography

For much of the journey from the Arctic to Antarctic, by ship, train, truck, skidoo, balloon and bicycle, Palin was accompanied by friend and travel photographer Basil Pao. His camera provided many of the wonderful pictures in this Folio edition: the faded grandeur of Leningrad, passengers riding on the roof of a Sudanese train, and a witch doctor in Tanzania, among many other striking images. They capture the spirit of Palin’s honest, blisters-and-all travelogue, culled from diaries and tape recordings produced on the road. He is at his best on the trip’s perils and misfortunes, from avoiding trigger-happy riot police in Ethiopia to breaking a rib during an ill-advised dip in the Zambezi. His eye for the absurd is undimmed since Monty Python – as when he presents a gift from Watford to its Soviet twin town of Novgorod, or experiences cream teas, cricket and brass bands in scorching heat at a British outpost in Cyprus. Palin’s sense of fun is infectious, but the comedy is never overbearing: Pole to Pole belongs in the great tradition of adventure writing.

About the photography

For much of the journey from the Arctic to Antarctic, by ship, train, truck, skidoo, balloon and bicycle, Palin was accompanied by friend and travel photographer Basil Pao. His camera provided many of the wonderful pictures in this Folio edition: the faded grandeur of Leningrad, passengers riding on the roof of a Sudanese train, and a witch doctor in Tanzania, among many other striking images. They capture the spirit of Palin’s honest, blisters-and-all travelogue, culled from diaries and tape recordings produced on the road. He is at his best on the trip’s perils and misfortunes, from avoiding trigger-happy riot police in Ethiopia to breaking a rib during an ill-advised dip in the Zambezi. His eye for the absurd is undimmed since Monty Python – as when he presents a gift from Watford to its Soviet twin town of Novgorod, or experiences cream teas, cricket and brass bands in scorching heat at a British outpost in Cyprus. Palin’s sense of fun is infectious, but the comedy is never overbearing: Pole to Pole belongs in the great tradition of adventure writing.

About the photography

For much of the journey from the Arctic to Antarctic, by ship, train, truck, skidoo, balloon and bicycle, Palin was accompanied by friend and travel photographer Basil Pao. His camera provided many of the wonderful pictures in this Folio edition: the faded grandeur of Leningrad, passengers riding on the roof of a Sudanese train, and a witch doctor in Tanzania, among many other striking images. They capture the spirit of Palin’s honest, blisters-and-all travelogue, culled from diaries and tape recordings produced on the road. He is at his best on the trip’s perils and misfortunes, from avoiding trigger-happy riot police in Ethiopia to breaking a rib during an ill-advised dip in the Zambezi. His eye for the absurd is undimmed since Monty Python – as when he presents a gift from Watford to its Soviet twin town of Novgorod, or experiences cream teas, cricket and brass bands in scorching heat at a British outpost in Cyprus. Palin’s sense of fun is infectious, but the comedy is never overbearing: Pole to Pole belongs in the great tradition of adventure writing.

About the photography

For much of the journey from the Arctic to Antarctic, by ship, train, truck, skidoo, balloon and bicycle, Palin was accompanied by friend and travel photographer Basil Pao. His camera provided many of the wonderful pictures in this Folio edition: the faded grandeur of Leningrad, passengers riding on the roof of a Sudanese train, and a witch doctor in Tanzania, among many other striking images. They capture the spirit of Palin’s honest, blisters-and-all travelogue, culled from diaries and tape recordings produced on the road. He is at his best on the trip’s perils and misfortunes, from avoiding trigger-happy riot police in Ethiopia to breaking a rib during an ill-advised dip in the Zambezi. His eye for the absurd is undimmed since Monty Python – as when he presents a gift from Watford to its Soviet twin town of Novgorod, or experiences cream teas, cricket and brass bands in scorching heat at a British outpost in Cyprus. Palin’s sense of fun is infectious, but the comedy is never overbearing: Pole to Pole belongs in the great tradition of adventure writing.