Palin embarks on new travel series

Globe-trotting actor and television presenter Michael Palin has decided to put his retirement plans on hold to make another travel show - because he would have spent his free time travelling anyway.

The former Monty Python star made the switch from acting to travel shows in the late 1980s when the acclaimed BBC documentary 'Around the world in 80 days' saw him follow in the footsteps of fictional adventurer Phileas Fogg.

The 62-year-old says: "I was thinking of retiring but what would I do? Probably just travel."

Palin, who has embarked on journeys through the Sahara desert and around the Pacific rim, was left exhausted after filming his 2004 journey through Asia's Himalaya mountain range, and is looking for a new project closer to his native England.

He says: "It's hard to top the Himalayas. So we're thinking of something slightly nearer home, possibly Eastern Europe."