In a rare interview, John Cleese tells David Clensy about

his plans to return to Clifton College; reveals he’s writing a

new comedy reminiscent of Fawlty Towers; and predicts that

‘Barack Obama will transform the world’

When you're due to interview John Cleese over the telephone,

it's difficult not to imagine him on the other end of the line

standing behind the reception desk at Fawlty Towers.

Beyond all reasonable logic, I half expect him to answer in

Basil's trademark stressed-out state, while Sybil, Manuel and

the Major get up to some slapstick capers in the

background.

In fact, it couldn't have been further from the truth. When

he comes on the line, the godfather of silly walks; the nemesis

of Norwegian Blue parrots; the leader of the People's Front Of

Judea, sounds surprisingly reserved – thoughtful and

intelligent.

You know immediately when somebody's brain is working on a

much higher intellect than your own – you can almost hear the

whirring.

He answers questions without pausing for thought, skipping

gleefully between subjects. If you don't get your next question

in quickly, he'll come up with one for you, after bridging the

pause with a relaxed: “Now, let's see, what else can I tell

you?”

With a career that's spanned the story of modern comedy,

from working with The Two Ronnies on The Frost Report, through

the Monty Python years, to the immaculately written Fawlty

Towers, John has come a long way since his school days at

Clifton College.

But the Weston-super-Mare-born star is returning to his alma

mater later this month, giving a series of intimate “evening

with” style performances at the school's Redgrave Theatre to

raise money for the neighbouring Bristol Zoo.

“When I was a schoolboy at Clifton College, we were so close

to the zoo that I could hear the animals all day,” he says.

“It was the gibbons mostly, they were whooping all the

time,” – he breaks to give me an impromptu impersonation of a

gibbon.

“But I could also hear the lions and the tigers roaring. I

loved it. I would often go and wander around the zoo. My

favourite animal was a lemur, who was in a cage near the main

entrance. I just took to him – he was such a playful little

thing. And I've loved lemurs ever since. That's why I've done

work for Save The Lemurs over the years, and made TV

documentaries about them. In fact, when I'm on stage in

Clifton, I'll be joined by Colin the Lemur, whom I met last

year when I last visited the zoo. Nice little chap.”

There are plenty of stories in circulation about Cleese's

time at Clifton – most famously that he marked-out footsteps in

the snow making it appear that Field Marshall Earl Haig had

left his stoney steed in the night for a visit to the little

boys' room.

“I've heard that story, too, but sadly it wasn't me,” he

says, dashing the school's foremost urban legend.

“In fact, that story was doing the rounds when I was at

Clifton College. Although in those days it was supposed to be

some other Old Boy who'd done it. These stories just keep going

round and round, and they're always attributed to the last

famous person that was there,” he laughs.

“I've heard another one about me putting an old Morris

Oxford on the roof of one of the school buildings. Again, not a

shred of truth in it, sadly.”

He may not have wreaked the sort of havoc you would have

wished for from a future Python, but John has fond memories of

his time at the school.

“I had a very happy time there,” he says. “It was a friendly

school.

“My only criticism is that the teaching then wasn't

stimulating enough for me.

“I used to get the most enjoyment from the particular

teachers who had a habit of going off on a limb and talking

about life in general rather than their specific subject.

“I learned a lot from them, but not much from the normal

lessons.

“But then, I also found that at Cambridge. I think I do need

a lot of intellectual stimulation to be happy.”

This is a trait that has reflected in his career. Never one

to rest on his laurels, he's always moved on from successful

projects before they had chance to wane.

He left Python before the fourth TV series, and called it a

day on Fawlty Towers after just 12 episodes.

“True,” he says. “I was the first to leave the Python team,

after the third series, because I was ready to try something

new.

“And when people found out I was writing a sitcom with my

first wife Connie Booth about a hotel in Torquay, they thought

I was mad – 'why's he writing with his wife?' they'd say. But

we did OK with Fawlty Towers, I think.”

John, who has divorced recently from his third wife, the

American psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger, is currently

trying his hand at writing with a close relative again – this

time it's his daughter Camilla.

“I'm writing a film script with Camilla,” he reveals. “It is

a comedy set in an old folks' home. No doubt people will say

there's a hint of Fawlty Towers in it. But to be honest, no

matter what I wrote, people would say there's a hint of Fawlty

Towers in there somewhere.

“ I could play Mary Queen of Scots and somebody would say

there's a touch of Basil Fawlty there.”

Apart from the lemurs documentary, John has steered clear of

television since Fawlty Towers.

But for the past four years, he has also been pioneering a

new form of entertainment – performing at his ranch in

California in podcasts for his website, with viewers charged $1

per downloaded episode.

Fed up with television executives and studios, John set up

the website in 2004 as a vehicle for his humour and personal

philosophy. “It's like having a tiny TV station,” he says.

It's the kind of technophile behaviour of which another of

his most famous incarnations would be proud.

John briefly took on the role of Q in the Bond movies during

the Pierce Brosnan years, following the death of Desmond

Llewellyn. “Desmond was a fascinating man,” he says. “I'd

worked alongside him, playing his deputy in The World Is Not

Enough.

“He'd been a prisoner of war, but he had great respect for

the Germans. I used to love listening to his stories.”

By 2002, when it came to filming Die Another Day, the Bond

world had lost the veteran actor, and John was happy to step

into the iconic MI6 quartermaster role.

“I enjoyed being in the Bond movies, though of course, I

only did two of them,” he says. “Unfortunately, when they moved

over to Daniel Craig, the producers decided to take the element

of humour out of Bond, so Q went. That was a real shame, I

think, but they've done it because the films make most of their

money in the Far East now, and our Asian friends just don't

really get the humour. They just want to see the action

sequences. In my view, they go on for far too long now.”

But over the past 30 years, John has shown he feels quite at

home among the Hollywood glitterati, producing hit movies like

A Fish Called Wanda. He's lived in Santa Barbara for almost a

decade.

“I love California,” he says. “I've lived out there since

1999. I grew up in Weston-super-Mare, which was a very middle

class, protestant, repressed little town in those days. Going

to America helped me to shake off that repression.

“Though people used to tell me I was more like an American

anyway – given my interest in psychoanalysis, and having

married three American women.

“But the weather is fantastic, I'm able to be close to my

two daughters, and, of course, I'm not as well known out there

– which is very liberating for me.

“Although people are lovely to me in the UK, I'm so well

known here it can get a bit oppressive having everybody looking

at you as you walk down the street.”

And John is optimistic about the future of his adopted

country. He recently revealed his plans to pen speeches for

presidential hopeful Barack Obama exclusively in the Evening

Post's sister paper, the Western Daily Press.

“I think Obama is the brightest beacon of hope I've seen in

world politics in the last 30 years,” he tells me. “He'll win a

landslide. I think McCain will win three states at the most.

Barack Obama will transform the world. Bush has done nothing

but harm to America, and it's not just me sounding off – people

all over the world are saying this.

“I think Obama will be able to clear the slate for

America.

“I've not met Obama yet in person,” he adds. “His people

have asked me to meet him, but I think he's far too busy to

meet me at the moment – he'd only be able to offer me 90

seconds. What's the point of that?

“But I have made it known that I am more than happy to work

for him. That might be speechwriting, or simple

fundraising.

“In fact, I am organising a fund-raising event for the Obama

campaign in September, so that's one relatively straightforward

way I can help him.

“I'm excited about a future in which Obama is

president.”

John Cleese appears at the Redgrave Theatre on July 23, 24

and 25 in conversation with Chris Serle, in aid of Bristol

Zoo's conservation work.

There are two tiers of ticket on sale: tickets for the

theatre performance only priced at £50; or the special but

limited opportunity to attend the performance and an

after-show, private audience reception with John priced

£150.

For more information, visit the website at

www.bristolzoo.org.uk or call 0117 9747300