A Monty Python Pad

A White House - home to a funny man with a love of life

Location: Southwood Lane, Highgate, N6

Description: Southwood Lane is in Highgate, North London. It's just a short walk from Highgate Village, one of the most pleasant and desirable of all North London's small, almost self-contained communities.

And on Southwood Lane is a property called 'The White House'...and how does Shady know - well because this is the house that Monty Python's Flying Circus mountaineering comic star used to live in and own, yes 'Graham Chapman'.

This is the house that Graham, David Sherlock and John Tomiczek spent many a happy day, and who decided to paint the house completely white, in part to hide the work that they had had to do to it.

It was then that it become known by the locals as 'The White House' - it was of course a house that also saw a lot of traffic, much of which came from the numerous local pubs! The Angel pub being a perfect example.

So where on this road is 'The White House'? Please let us know.

Sadly Graham Chapman died of a rare spinal cancer, which was diagnosed in November 1988 after his dentist found a growth on his tonsils. By September 1989 the cancer was declared incurable. He filmed scenes for the 20th anniversary of Monty Python that month, the last time he would appear on screen, but was taken ill again on 1 October.

Present when he died in a Maidstone hospice on the evening of 4 October 1989 were his brother John, his sister-in-law, David Sherlock, Michael Palin, and John Cleese, who had to be led out of the room to deal with his grief.

Terry Jones and Peter Cook had visited earlier that day. His death occurred one day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus; Jones called it 'the worst case of party-pooping in all history.'

Tours: Graham Chapman's Python London

Themes: Comedy Comedy Theme