Britain's Royal Mail celebrates Monty Python with stamps

LONDON (AP) — And now for something completely different: Britain's Royal Mail has issued stamps celebrating the absurdist comedy of Monty Python. The 10-stamp series announced on Thursday celebrates some of the troupe's most iconic characters and catchphrases, from "Nudge, nudge" to "The Lumberjack Song." Six stamps depict scenes from the sketch-comedy TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus," including "The Spanish Inquisition," "The Ministry of Silly Walks," "Dead Parrot" and "The Nude Organist." Another four mark the 50th anniversary of the cult classic 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," including one showing the limb-losing Black Knight insisting, "'Tis but a scratch." The stamps can be pre-ordered from Thursday and go on sale Aug. 14. Made up of Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman, Monty Python brought a unique blend of satire, surrealism and silliness to British TV screens in a series that ran from 1969 to 1974. The troupe also made several feature films, including "And Now for Something Completely Different," "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life." David Gold, Royal Mail's director of external affairs, said the collection "honors a body of work that has shaped the comedic landscape for nearly six decades." Palin said he was "very glad to share a stamp with the nude organist!" The group largely disbanded in the 1980s, and Chapman died of cancer in 1989. The five surviving Pythons reunited in 2014 for a string of live stage shows. Jones died in 2020 from a rare form of dementia.