Michael Palin

"I'm very pleased to have been shortlisted for this year's award."

There is a phenomenon in the travel industry known as The Palin Effect. It refers to the rapid transformation into tourist hot spots of places recently featured in travel programmes presented by Michael Palin. Such is the iconic status of the affable travel broadcaster.

His first travel documentary was the BBC’s Great Railway Journeys of the World in 1980, but it was not until 1989 that the former Monty Python star really took off travelling.

The hugely popular Around The World in 80 Days series, syndicated internationally, attracted huge audiences and would lead to a number of subsequent global adventures for television. They included Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure, Sahara, Himalaya and Michael Palin’s New Europe.

His services to the promotion of geography led to his award in spring 2009 of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Livingstone Medal and Fellowship to the Society. In June 2009, Michael was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.

He has been involved in countless other television programmes and appeared in a wide range of feature films including Time Bandits, The Missionary, Jabberwocky, Brazil, A Fish Called Wanda and You’ve Got Mail.