Michael Palin: our very silly man in Brazil Palin's den contains hundreds of books, assorted globes, three Bafta statuettes and a high shelf bearing lots of ring-binder folders. These contain almost every script he has written, in chronological order from The Complete And Utter History of Britain, written with Terry Jones when they were fresh-faced Oxford graduates, to Brazil. There is no space for more folders although, at 69, Palin has no intention of slowing down. I still go running on Hampstead Heath. I'm reasonably fit," he says. And something happens beyond a certain age. People don't judge you quite as they did, nor are you so anxious about being judged. You feel less oppressed, less competitive, and that makes you slightly freer. It is good to find a near-septuagenarian looking resolutely forwards - especially one with so many accomplishments to look back on. But does he have any regrets? Well, I've had a very lucky life. I suppose I'd like to have done more stage stuff, but if I say that in the paper I'll have people phoning up offering me a revival of Half A Sixpence. He chuckles. I do wish I'd taken a few more of the acting opportunities offered - but if I had, I might not have done other things. It is the upbeat philosophy of a contented man. But his father was not so contented and, while Palin rarely reflects on his career, he does admit to thinking, increasingly, about his late parents and sister Angela (who, having long suffered from depression, committed suicide in 1987). "I now have grandchildren and I see in them traits that remind me of their parents, then think 'Oh my God, their parents are like us," and that makes me think back, more and more, to my own parents." His father had a bad stammer, on which Palin drew for his portrayal of the hapless Ken in the 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda. A few years later, Palin gave his name to a therapy centre for child stammerers, which is still going strong. He believes that, had such institutions existed 100 years ago, his father's life would have been far easier. He was born in 1900 - the son of a doctor, actually - and I'm certain that treatment would have made a huge difference. The stammer made him very short-tempered, especially in public places. If we went out to a restaurant he would always check the bill about six times, then summon the waiter and get him to explain everything. I got embarrassed by that. He could be cantankerous, and I've gone completely the other way. I'm very conciliatory. I want to like people, and them to like me. I am trying to avoid the N-word - nice - which rather dogs Palin, but he is certainly warmer and more effortlessly obliging than most well-known people. Does anything actually make him furious? Bullying in any shape or form, such as cars on the motorway driving up close behind you. That kind of ignorance and arrogance. And litter... the usual middle-class concerns. But I also despair of the mess people make of the world we live in - huge city buildings that block out the view and are hideous. Perhaps his next series should be on architecture. Certainly Palin's career has been remarkably eclectic so far, with novels (his latest, The Truth, came out this year to decent reviews) and children's books, not to mention all his screen appearances, ranging from slapping John Cleese with a wet fish to introducing viewers to the culture of Brazil. With characteristic modesty, he ascribes this to an inability to stick at anything. "I've spent most of my life avoiding commitment," he says, adding, with the ghost of a grin, "apart from living in the same house for 45 years and being married to the same wife for 46 years. But apart from that, I've tried to avoid being tied down for too long. The current series, and accompanying book, has nevertheless occupied much of the past 18 months, and we will get round to discussing it. But to some of us, despite his epic trips from pole to pole and just about everywhere else, he will always be more of a fish-slapper than a travel guide. What, I ask, was his response when he heard that Eric Idle was writing the musical Spamalot, based on their 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail­? We were all a bit suspicious. We've always been terribly protective of our work, and we wondered whether it would be up to Python standards. But Eric, to his great credit, ploughed on, kept sending us bits of music and eventually we said 'Let's go ahead. And of course it turned out extremely well. Not least financially. Yes, we all got a cut. It's impossible not to like. The same is surely true of Michael Palin himself, but that was no guarantee of a kind reception for Brazil and he welcomed, with some relief, the positive reviews of the opening programme. The series was his idea. I really hadn't planned to do any more journeys, but Brazil auditioned itself very well. The economy is growing fast, the World Cup is there in 2014 and the real clincher was the Olympics in 2016. It meant that a country that had never had much attention from this side of the Atlantic was in the spotlight. So we applied to the BBC for a budget. Even for a man with his track record, however, there was no instant green light. It wasn't a given at all. I rather hoped it might be. But there are new people at the BBC, with new policies. Still, he got the go-ahead and set off, he says, with the same spring in his step with which he embarked on his first travelogue, Around The World in 80 Days, in 1989. One thing that amazed him was the sheer size of the country: Brazil is twice as big as India. And the distance from the Amazon to the south is like from here to Nigeria or something. We wound up telling Brazilians what other parts of their own country were like. He will continue to travel, he says, perhaps to make one-off programmes or simply to write. Or maybe I'll do none of that and become an opera singer. In the meantime he is enjoying being at home, with a freshly scraped pavement outside and boxed-sets to catch up on. The latest is The Wire, at the urging of the eldest of his three children. I watch it up here, on the computer, while [his wife] Helen is downstairs watching Downton. Period drama is not really his thing. But I love Wallander and The Killing. Maybe it's to do with all the travelling that I'm more comfortable out of my own environment. I'm a bit embarrassed by those depictions of how unequal our lives were in this country 100 years ago. I'd rather watch Danish or Swedish people bumping each other off. He laughs a mighty laugh. Brazil With Michael Palin" is on BBC One on Wednesday at 9pm. Brazil" by Michael Palin (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) is available from Telegraph Books for £23 +£1.35 p&p. To order, call 0844 871 1516 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk