Pole to Pole with Michael Palin

*Pole to Pole with Michael Palin*
Pole to Pole with Michael Palin
	BBC1
Release	21 October –; 9 December 1992
Related
	Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin; Full Circle with Michael Palin;

Pole to Pole with Michael Palin is an eight-part

BBC1 in 1992. The presenter is Michael Palin, this being the second of Palin's major journeys for the BBC. The first was Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, a 7-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1989, and the third was Full Circle with Michael Palin

, a 10-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1997.

The trip from the North Pole to the South Pole went via Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and through the heart of Africa. The intention was to follow the 30-degree east line of longitude, which would cover the most land. A last-minute diversion to Chile included South America in the series. Using aircraft as little as possible, the whole trip lasted 5½ months.

The programme has been sold to many television stations around the world. It was also released on video tape and later on DVD. Following the trip, Palin wrote Pole to Pole describing the trip. The book contains many pictures from the trip, almost all taken by Basil Pao, the stills photographer on the team.

Episode list

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Cold Start"	21 October 1992 (1992-10-21)
2	"Russian Steps"	28 October 1992 (1992-10-28)
3	"Mediterranean Maze"	4 November 1992 (1992-11-04)
4	"Shifting Sands"	11 November 1992 (1992-11-11)
5	"Crossing the Line"	18 November 1992 (1992-11-18)
6	"Plains and Boats and Trains"	25 November 1992 (1992-11-25)
7	"Evil Shadow"	2 December 1992 (1992-12-02)
8	"Bitter End"	9 December 1992 (1992-12-09)

The journey

Cold Start

Palin begins at the North Pole, flying there on a small aeroplane fitted with skis. The North Pole scene was filmed in May 1992, after the rest of the series had been shot, as weather conditions were more suitable then as the ice was too fragile the previous year.

Leningrad

.

Russian Steps

In Leningrad, Palin meets up with a

coup that attempted to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev

, which leads to the collapse of the Soviet Union a few months later.

Mediterranean Maze

Arriving by ferry to

Nile River, he checks out ancient Egyptian ruins with tourists from Sheffield. From Aswan, he catches a ferry bound for Wadi Halfa

and braces himself for what appears to be a rough road ahead.

Shifting Sands

Arriving in

Gedaref near the Ethiopian border is hampered by poor road conditions, and the vehicles are repeatedly stuck in the ruts left in the dirt from large trucks that travelled the road in the rainy season, forcing Palin and the other passengers to push them free. Compounding the difficulty, in Ethiopia a long civil war has just ended, resulting in the overthrow of the Derg regime. There was the added risk of rebels from the war hiding near the border. Finally, after spending 24 hours travelling the distance from London to Oxford

, 95.56 km (59.4 mi), he arrives at the Ethiopian border.

Crossing the Line

In the old Ethiopian capital of

communist symbols being destroyed. He also witnesses a peaceful demonstration turn violent. After a couple of hitchhiking rides he arrives at the Kenya border. He then journeys to Lerata and the school where part of the movie The Missionary was filmed. As a gift he gives the school the inflatable globe he used in Around the World in 80 Days. In Nairobi he prepares himself for a safari

.

Plains and Boats and Trains

In Kenya Palin takes a

Ngorongoro Crater. In Dodoma he catches a train bound for the town of Kigoma. In the nearby town of Ujiji he visits the site where David Livingstone and Henry Stanley had their famous meeting. Palin then catches what is believed to be the world's oldest operating ferry: the MV Liemba down Lake Tanganyika to Mpulungu in Zambia

.

Evil Shadow

In Zambia Palin meets a witch doctor who tells him that he has an "evil shadow" and bad things lie ahead for him. He then is given a piece of tree bark to "wash" with, supposedly a medicinal aid. Palin journeys down through Zambia, where long-time leader Kenneth Kaunda has just been ousted. He visits the Shiwa Ngandu estate, run by Lorna Harvey (daughter of original owner Sir Stewart Gore-Browne) and her husband John. The Harveys were murdered six months after Palin's visit.

Palin then moves on to

whitewater rafting

. He also tries swimming through some rapids wearing a life jacket, resulting in a cracked rib. One of his suitcases has been lost by the local railway company, and a crew member catches malaria. Palin then decides to take the medicine administered by the witch doctor.

Entering Zimbabwe he visits the tomb of Cecil Rhodes, for whom the country was originally named Rhodesia. Moving on to Bulawayo he meets up with another BBC—the Bulawayo Bowlers Club, and visits a local nightclub. Then he heads towards his last African frontier, between Zimbabwe and South Africa, where apartheid was abolished four months earlier.

While in South Africa Palin attends a local

Western Deep Levels Mine, the world's deepest gold mine. In Soweto he meets former South African neighbours of his from London; jazz trombonist Jonas Gwangwa and family. Then he catches the luxurious Blue Train to Cape Town. On top of Table Mountain

he regards the southern tip of Africa and reminisces about how the continent changed him from an optimist to a realist. The BBC's efforts to get him on the Agulhas have failed, and it appears that he will be unable to reach the South Pole.

Bitter End

Although he is unable to reach Antarctica via the

panflute player, he is off to Punta Arenas

in southern Chile.

From there he waits anxiously for the weather conditions to allow the trip to Antarctica. After a couple of days, Palin and the others-including motorcyclist

Sir Edmund Hillary’s son Peter Hillary while waiting again for the go-ahead to set off for the South Pole. Finally, after a day, he makes a final flight to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station

and then, at 02:00 New Zealand time on 4 December 1991, Palin sets foot on the South Pole, one of a small number of people who have visited both the North and South Poles.

References

^ Travelling to Work by Michael Palin (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2014)

External links

Palin's Travels – the official website
Pole to Pole at
IMDb

[1] Travelling to Work by Michael Palin (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2014)