John Cleese signs a deal to publish his first memoir

Monty Python star John Cleese has signed a deal to publish his first memoir, half a century after launching his entertainment 
career.

The 72-year-old, who recently married for the fourth time, has struck a deal with Random House for his autobiography.

The publisher said the book “like the man himself, promises to be both hilariously frank and frankly hilarious”. Cleese found his first success in the early 1960s as a TV comedy scriptwriter – after making a name for himself with the Cambridge Footlights – before appearing on The Frost Report, founding the Monty Python’s Flying Circus team and co-writing and starring in the hugely successful Fawlty Towers.

Hollywood success followed with his lead role in A Fish Called Wanda, and he had two stints in James Bond movies.