Students at Exeter have voted to pass a motion asking comedian and alumnus of Brasenose College Michael Palin to become an honorary member of the JCR.
It is hoped that the invite will mean Mr Palin’s attendance at Exeter’s Ball Launch Party on the 29th January, with the motion stating that “all JCR members should feel welcome to attend the Orient Express Ball and Ball Launch, including Mr Palin.”
The motion goes on, “Michael Palin is a distinguished man and would be an excellent JCR member. The JCR has the power to appoint Honourary Members according to Section B.5 of the Constitution.”
Matt Slomka, who is amenities officer for the Exeter college ball and proposed the motion, told Cherwell, “Big Mike is a great guy who we’ve always thought would enjoy sampling the delights of the JCR and Ball. Some other suggestions were to invite Anne Hathaway but frankly she would Palin to insignificance beside him.”
It was whilst at Oxford that Palin first got involved with comedy, teaming up with his long-time partner, Terry Jones. He also became a member of the Oxford Revue at this time, then known as ‘the et ceteras’. He graduated from Brasenose in 1965 with a degree in Modern History, before rising to fame as part of the ‘Monty Python’ comedy troupe, with his personal contributions including the fish slapping dance and the (in)famous dead-parrot sketch. Following the end of that comedy series, the former Python made travel documentaries for the BBC, including ‘New Europe’, during which he travels across Central and Eastern Europe.
Edward Nickell, in charge of marketing for the Exeter ball, explained to Cherwell how this led to Palin’s invite: “Adam Baxter, our Orient Express Ball President, met Michael Palin in Blackwells at a book signing. Michael Palin has some great stories about his travels and lots of our JCR members are huge fans not only of his comedy but also his series ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. We’ve been thinking about having Michael Palin as a JCR member for some time now, but we realised that this ball, which is themed as a journey from European opulence through to the exotic luxury of the Orient, was exactly the sort of journey that we know Mr Palin enjoys.”
He continued, “I fully expect to see Mr Palin at a JCR meeting this year, in my letter to him I have made the dates of meetings very clear. Perhaps he might be around at a welfare tea too, I’ve told him that as an Honourary JCR member he is welcome to make full use of our vending machines, microwave, television and emergency contraceptive supply.
“The JCR were certainly all in favour of Mr Palin’s attendance of the Ball and his JCR membership, the vote was unanimous! Of course, some members were dismayed that other individuals have not yet been bestowed with the honour of Exeter JCR membership, there was a vocal campaign for Anne Hathaway’s membership. In light of her performance in Les Mis one of our JCR members will certainly be inviting her to the Ball. Though she doesn’t have Twitter, so her invitation will have to come via Russell Crowe.”
