Editing Michael Palin (section)

== Early life and education ==
Palin was born in [[Ranmoor]], [[Sheffield]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/time-and-place-michael-palin-6pg35bjvr2l|title=Time and place: Michael Palin|work=The Sunday Times|first=Danny|last=Scott|date=2 June 2013|access-date=10 August 2017|archive-date=10 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810171353/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/time-and-place-michael-palin-6pg35bjvr2l|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Peace |first1=Lee |title=Sheffield-born comic legend Sir Michael Palin to undergo heart surgery |url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/people/sheffield-born-comic-legend-sir-michael-palin-to-undergo-heart-surgery-486441 |agency=The Star (UK) |date=25 July 2019 |access-date=8 September 2019 |archive-date=10 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230910134548/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/people/sheffield-born-comic-legend-sir-michael-palin-to-undergo-heart-surgery-486441 |url-status=live }}</ref> the second child and only son of Edward Moreton Palin (1900–1977)<ref>{{cite news|first=Nick |last=Barratt|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1435162/Family-detective.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1435162/Family-detective.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Family detective |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London, England |date=11 November 2006 |access-date=25 October 2008 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/0/Michael-Palin.html |title=Michael Palin Biography (1943–) |publisher=Filmreference.com |access-date=1 June 2011 |archive-date=20 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520213842/http://www.filmreference.com/film/0/Michael-Palin.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey; 1903–1990). His father was a [[Shrewsbury School|Shrewsbury]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]]-educated engineer working for a steel firm.<ref name="ind120729">{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Chalmers |title=The dark knight rises: Perhaps Michael Palin isn't the nicest chap in Britain after all... |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-dark-knight-rises-perhaps-michael-palin-isnt-the-nicest-chap-in-britain-after-all-7976634.html |work=[[The Independent]] |publisher=Independent Print Limited |location=London, England |date=29 July 2012 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814124724/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-dark-knight-rises-perhaps-michael-palin-isnt-the-nicest-chap-in-britain-after-all-7976634.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> His maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lockhart Ovey, [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]], was [[High Sheriff of Oxfordshire]] in 1927.<ref name="Python Autobiography">{{cite book|first1=Graham|last1=Chapman|first2=Michael|last2=Palin|first3=John|last3=Cleese|first4=Terry|last4=Gilliam|first5=Eric|last5=Idle|first6=Terry|last6=Jones|first7=Bob|last7=McCabe|title=The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|location=New York City|date=2005|isbn=978-0312311445}}</ref>

Palin was educated at [[Birkdale School|Birkdale]] and [[Shrewsbury School]]. His sister Angela was nine years his senior; despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1987.<ref name="ind120729"/><ref>{{cite web|first=Basil|last=Pao|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/World/FJ23Wd06.html |title=The wandering man |work=The Weekend Standard |publisher=Sing Tao Newspaper Group and Global China Group|location=Hong Kong|date=23–24 October 2004 |access-date=1 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522082137/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/World/FJ23Wd06.html |archive-date=22 May 2011 }}</ref> Palin has ancestral roots in [[Letterkenny]], [[County Donegal]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Seán&nbsp;P.|last=Feeny|url=http://donegalnews.com/2013/03/first-letterkenny-heritage-magazine-launched/|title=First Letterkenny heritage magazine launched|work=[[Donegal News]]|publisher=North-West News Group|location=Letterkenney, Ireland|date=14 March 2013|access-date=14 March 2013|quote=Over 100 people attended the official launch of Letterkenny Community Heritage Group's new magazine in the Station House Hotel this week. [...] Did you know that Michael Palin of Monty Python fame has ancestral roots in the town?|archive-date=5 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605151208/http://donegalnews.com/2013/03/first-letterkenny-heritage-magazine-launched/|url-status=dead}}</ref> His great-grandmother fled the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Irish Famine]] and was adopted by a wealthy English family.<ref>{{cite web|title=Back to his roots Students honour Palin|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/back-to-his-roots-students-honour-palin-26433171.html|access-date=17 November 2021|website=Independent|date=27 March 2008|archive-date=17 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117105326/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/back-to-his-roots-students-honour-palin-26433171.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''. At the age of 10, still interested in acting, he made a comedy [[monologue]] and read a [[Shakespeare]] play to his mother while playing all the parts.{{sfn|Ross|1997|p=200}} 

After leaving Shrewsbury in 1962, he went on to read Modern History at [[Brasenose College, Oxford]].<ref name=whoswho/> With fellow student [[Robert Hewison]] he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at a university Christmas party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acornmedia.com/rippingyarns/MEP_Bio.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201073651/http://www.acornmedia.com/rippingyarns/MEP_Bio.htm|url-status=dead|title=Michael Palin biography|archivedate=1 February 2009}}</ref> [[Terry Jones]], also a student at Oxford, saw that performance and began writing with Hewison and Palin.{{sfn|Ross|1997|p=200}} That year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-op drama festival.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/stories/s712623.htm |title=ABC TV Documentaries: Sahara episode 3/4 |access-date=2 September 2006 |work=Australian Broadcasting Company |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511182847/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/stories/s712623.htm |archive-date=11 May 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He also performed and wrote in [[the Oxford Revue]] (called the Et ceteras) with Jones.<ref>{{cite episode|title=Michael Palin|series=Desert Island Discs|network=[[BBC Radio 4]]|date=17 November 1979|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mwvb|access-date=5 August 2019|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805081612/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mwvb|url-status=live}}</ref>