Into Iraq: Michael Palin

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In zijn boek, “Naar Irak”, die een literaire versie is van de TV-reeks geeft hij nog iets meer informatie vrij over zijn odyssee van bijna 1. At the next he would be visiting the war-torn city of Mosul, or learning about the horrific Speicher massacre in Tikrit. In March 2022, Michael Palin travelled the length of the River Tigris through Iraq to get a sense of what life is like in a region of the world that once formed the cradle of civilisation, but that in recent times has witnessed turmoil and appalling bloodshed. His journeys have taken him across the world, the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and most recently, Eastern Europe. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you.

Into Iraq his latest book and TV venture, is in the tradition of all that he has done in his earlier works. On the way through Iraq following the River Tigris he gets to places I read about as a child, the ancient city of Ur and its famous ziggurat, Babylon and the astonishing minaret in Samarra which can be seen top right on the cover of the book. Not only was it my first time there, it was the first time I’d seen such damage and such resilience side by side. Overall, a good book to read if you have the intention of visiting Iraq or want to know a little more about how you might experience Iraq, just as Palin experienced it. Michael Palin has written and starred in numerous TV programmes and films, from Monty Python and Ripping Yarns to The Missionary and The Death of Stalin.Iraq seems as though it was once a very beautiful country and while that beauty is still there, it's been marked with years of hostility and war. Hij begon in 1980 met een aandeel in “Great railway journeys of the world”, een programma van de BBC waarin hij Groot-Brittannië per trein doorkruiste. I doubt I'll get there unless either, the country becomes completely "normal" or I have Palin's pedigree.

His words in books, supplemented with vivid and informative photographs and pieces to camera in TV programmes always engage me and fostered a desire to explore beyond my limited travel horizons. now an older, and somewhat jaded, Palin and team travel along the length of the Tigris (mostly in Iraq). Aber auch wenn er immer wieder gerade die alltäglichen Dinge, die er beobachtet, zu etwas Besonderem macht, verschwindet die Reserviertheit vom Anfang nicht ganz. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth) and several volumes of diaries.It's not the most detailed at around 160 pages, but it does paint a vivid picture of a country struggling with identity and recovery. I am grateful for the many journeys we have shared but mostly the change of attitude he has given me in my own trips. And he considers the role that Iraq's other great natural resource - oil - plays in both providing wealth and threatening political stability. It's too easy to make a trip to Iraq be about bad news - and there is mentions of ISIS and the role of women in a conservative Muslim society and a touching piece on kids playing in war-torn Mosul - but this is Palin, so he tries to focus on the nice side of things.