Spamalot's Cambridge Connection
As the Monty Python musical Spamalot opens in London's West End, Mike Gerrard reveals the connection between the Holy Grail, a dead parrot, Arthur Dent, Basil Fawlty and England's university city of Cambridge.
Cambridge, the second-oldest university city in the English-speaking world, played a vital role in British comedy history. Without Cambridge there might be no Spamalot!
The Monty Python musical Spamalot opened last week in London's West End, following on from its successful run on Broadway. It made me wonder whether visitors to the historic English university city of Cambridge, only about twenty miles from where I live, are aware of the place it has in the history of British comedy?
Without Cambridge there might be no Monty Python's Flying Circus, and so no Spamalot. There might be no Fawlty Towers, no Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, no Beyond the Fringe. Many of Britain's greatest modern comic talents went to Cambridge or Oxford, but Cambridge in particular with its Footlights reviews seemed to attract some of the greatest comic names.
So to reveal a little more about Cambridge's comedy connections I've written an article about the city, which you can read by clicking here.
For the official Spamalot London site click here.
