The origin story of Fawlty Towers has become the stuff of comedy legend, stemming from a 1970 Monty Python tour that took the troupe to the English seaside town of Torquay. There John Cleese was “fascinated” by the manager of a local hotel, who treated guests as if they were a “nuisance.”
The business in question was the Gleneagles Hotel, and the real-life proprietors were Donald Sinclair and his wife Beatrice. While the Pythons were guests, Sinclair allegedly chastised Terry Gilliam’s American table manners and tossed Eric Idle’s briefcase outdoors because he “thought it might be a bomb” (it “actually contained an alarm clock”).
Cleese’s wild stories have been corroborated by Michael Palin’s diaries. He recorded that “Mr. Sinclair, the proprietor, seemed to view us from the start as a colossal inconvenience.” So all the Pythons moved to another hotel after just one night, except for Cleese,...
The business in question was the Gleneagles Hotel, and the real-life proprietors were Donald Sinclair and his wife Beatrice. While the Pythons were guests, Sinclair allegedly chastised Terry Gilliam’s American table manners and tossed Eric Idle’s briefcase outdoors because he “thought it might be a bomb” (it “actually contained an alarm clock”).
Cleese’s wild stories have been corroborated by Michael Palin’s diaries. He recorded that “Mr. Sinclair, the proprietor, seemed to view us from the start as a colossal inconvenience.” So all the Pythons moved to another hotel after just one night, except for Cleese,...
- 7/16/2024
- Cracked
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