Bunch of educated idiots
Despite being champions of the surreal, the non-sensical and the downright childish, the Pythons are extremely well-educated, having graduated from either Oxford or Cambridge University. Graham Chapman was a qualified doctor, until he succumbed to the wiles of writing and performing. The only member who didn't go to Oxbridge was transplanted American animator Gilliam, but this was not because he was stupid. He was American. And no, they are not the same thing...

Meeting of minds
The six-man team had a very specific way of working. Cleese and Chapman always wrote together, a partnership that was forged while the pair were at Cambridge. Jones and Palin began writing together while at Oxford, and worked together on The Frost Report in the mid 60s. In 1967 Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam wrote and starred in the kids TV series, "Do Not Adjust Your Set." All six performers came together the following year to form Monty Python's Flying Circus. Throughout the Python years, it was only Idle who wrote alone.

Kings of surreal
Although indebted to the 'satire boom' of the mid-1960s, the Pythons were more influenced by the work of Spike Milligan. They chose not to lampoon politicians or any of the other targets regularly attacked by the BBC's The Frost Report or in Peter Cook's Establishment Club. "We weren't being satirical because it wasn't the thing that interested us," Terry Jones once commented. "Ours was a slightly more abstract humour - just being silly really. What satire there is, is more generalised satire."

Owl Stretching Time
This was one of the many possible titles that the group were considering when it came to naming their freeform sketch show, before settling with the equally random Monty Python's Flying Circus. From 1969 until 1974 we were blessed with four series of Flying Circus, although by the fourth series relations were becoming strained and John Cleese did not appear in the final series, a series that featured considerably less episodes. It seemed as though they were running out of steam...

Big Screen Python
Although calling it a day on TV, the Pythons' creativity was revitalised by all six deciding to make feature length films. They began with 'And Now For Something Completely Different', a re-hash of their best sketches, made chiefly to meet their growing fan base in the States. Then they combined their love for history with Arthurian legend in Monty Python and The Holy Grail, followed by the controversial Life Of Brian, about a hapless Judean mistaken for the messiah round the same time as Jesus. Their last outing was The Meaning Of Life, in which they infused grotesque comedy with existential thought. All of these films are now rightly considered to be some of the funniest films ever made.

Where are they now?
Where to start... Cleese created sitcom icon Basil Fawlty and is now Q in the latest Bond films. Palin has won the nation's heart by being the nicest man in the world, most of which he has visited for his televised expeditions, from the Sahara to the Hamalayas. Jones is an established author, presenter and director, specialising in programmes about Medieval history. Gilliam has directed some of the most visually striking films ever made, from Jabberwocky and Brazil to The Fisher King and Twelve Monkeys, while Idle now writes, acts and lives in America. Sadly, Chapman, arguably the most inventive of all the Pythons, died of cancer on October 4, 1989, a day before their 20th anniversary.