Perhaps John came to his decision about the same time I realized I couldn't go back to retire, i.e., when Blair was re-elected to render permanent and add to the damage he and his minions have already done to the country. OG

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Cleese quitting humourless Britain

20aug01

JOHN Cleese is quitting Britain for good – because the Brits have lost their sense of humour.

The Monty Python star, 61, plans to make California his permanent home with his third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger.

"At my age, I want to wake up and see sunshine pouring in the windows every day," he said. "That certainly precludes living in England any more."

And he condemned the British for losing their sense of humour.

"England is less tolerant of silliness than it used to be," he said.

"I'm tall, I write satire and I've been well known in England for 26 years.

"Put those things together with an overactive, unimaginative media and I couldn't do anything over there."

Cleese, whose new comedy Rat Race, with Rowan Atkinson, has received rave reviews in the US, intends to base himself at his Santa Barbara ranch.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001