Is there an actual person named "Monty Python"?

zbeckabee

According to this site...if there is a person named Monty Python...he has nothing to do with the "group." They went through a variety of names for whose Flying Circus it was ("Cynthia Fellatio's Flying Circus" was considered). Michael Palin had seen the name "Gwen Dibley" in a women's journal and wanted that used, but as it was a real person the idea was nixed. Somehow someone (probably John Cleese) thought of "Python". Then "Norm Python" and "Bob Python" came and went. The "Monty" is mysterious, but it is said that Eric Idle dredged up a memory from his local pub, where a small man in a suit and bow tie would always come in and ask everyone "Has Monty been in yet?" It conjured up an image of a seedy, sixth-rate theatrical booker, sitting in a darkened corner of the pub. Monty was a sharp kind of name, and combined with "Python" it became suddenly unusually pleasing and resonant. Thus began "MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS." Most of the other names were used eventually. The name of Gwen Dibley popped up fairly often, and before each show a ragged old man called out "It's." Most of the others got to be the show's title for one episode each in the first series. http://orangecow.org/pythonet/pyth-faq.html May 13 06, 7:03 AM

BungeeAZ

Michael Palin as the old man saying "it's" was supposed to be the original title of the show (It's), but the BBC balked at it. May 13 06, 8:14 AM

barbara5

No, I don't believe so. May 13 06, 8:56 AM

SENTENTIA

Yes and No! The name was chosen simply because they thought it sounded funny. In 1998's Live at Aspen documentary, the group revealed how it came about. 'Monty' was selected as a tribute to Field Marshal Lord Montgomery, a legendary British general of World War II,(THIS IS THE YES) and the team agreed that it wanted a 'slippery-sounding' name as well. The word 'Python' fitted the bill. These explanations aside, some believe that the name of a character in several of humorist P. G. Wodehouse's books, 'Monty Bodkin', served on some level as an inspiration.(THIS IS THE NO) And yet another from the same article....... The origin of "Monty" is somewhat confused, but Idle claims it was a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub. People would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. (AGAIN FOR THE YES) And a final......... The title Monty Python's Flying Circus was partly the result of the group's reputation at the BBC. Michael Mills, BBC's Head of Comedy, wanted their name to include the word "circus", because the BBC referred to the six members wandering around the building as a circus. The group added "flying" to make it sound less like an actual circus and more like something from World War I. "Monty Python" was added because they claimed it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent, the sort of person who would have brought them together. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python May 13 06, 10:08 AM