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Graham Chapman was born on January 8, 1941 in Leicester, England while a German air raid was in progress. Graham's father was a chief police inspector and probably inspired the constables Graham often portrayed later in comedy sketches. Graham studied medicine in college and earned an M.D., but he practiced medicine for only a few years.
At Cambridge, he took part in a series of comedy revues and shortly after completing his medical studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Graham realized what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to perform comedy. In 1969, Graham along with University friends John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and American Terry Gilliam formed their own comedy group called Monty Python. Their BBC TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969), which aired a short while later was a an instant hit. Their often self-referential style of humor was delightfully original but completely accessible to most audiences in the UK.
Before the show appeared on public television in the US, many people assumed that Americans would find Monty Python much too British to consider it funny. But PBS never had a larger audience than when stations began to air it during the early 1970s. The classic routines have since become standard college humor.
So enduring was the Python humor that fans know entire sketches such as "The Pet Shop," "Nudge-Nudge, Wink-Wink," "Argument Clinic," and "Penguin on the Telly." Graham was a standout of the group with his tall, blond profile and his zany characters (one of the more memorable was Colonel Muriel Volestrangler, a vaguely military-type character who would stop a sketch because it was "much too silly").
Graham was openly gay long before it was socially acceptable, and was open about his long-term relationship with writer David Sherlock, who lived with him for 24 years. He even adopted and raised a teenage runaway named John Tomiczek. Graham played the title role in the movie Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) as well as King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). By the late 1970s, most of the Python members were pursuing independent movie projects and the group was slowly fading into obscurity after their last successful effort Monty Python's the Meaning of Life (1983). Also in 1983, Graham co-wrote and starred in the movie Yellowbeard (1983), which received negative reviews.
In 1988, Graham began working on another series when his health began to decline. A longtime alcoholic, who suffered liver damage before he stopped drinking for good in 1977, Graham began to have trouble concentrating at work. In November 1988, a routine visit to a dentist revealed a malignant tumor on one of his tonsils which was surgically removed. A visit to the doctor a few months later revealed another tumor on his spine which had to be removed which confined him to a wheelchair. During most of 1989, he underwent a series of surgical operations and radiation therapy but for every tumor that was found and removed, another would form either along his spine or in his throat. By July 1989, his cancer was declared terminal and that he would not survive the year, yet he continued to pursue treatments which included chemotherapy. In his wheelchair, he attended the September 1989 taping for the Monty Python's 20th anniversary special. But on October 1, he was hospitalized after a massive stroke which turned into a hemorrhage. He died at the Maidstone hospital at age 48 on October 4, 1989 from complications of the stroke as well as throat and spinal cancer.- Brian Pendleton was born on 13th April 1944 in Wolverhampton; whilst still a baby his family moved to Dartford in Kent and it was Dartford Grammar School that Brian attended as a teenager, in the year below two fellow pupils named Mick Jagger and Dick Taylor. Brian learned to play guitar and played in a number of jazz bands before answering an advert to join the Pretty Things (featuring ex-Rolling Stone Taylor) as rhythm guitarist in late 1963. In mid 1964 the Pretty Things came to the attention of the public and the media amid a blaze of publicity and were seen as more outrageous, 'hairier' and 'dirtier' than the already notorious Stones. Hits followed; 'Rosalyn', their first effort, reached the lower sections of the top 50 and was followed by their biggest commercial success "Don't Bring Me Down' which was banned in the USA due to its supposed 'risque' lyrics. 'Honey I Need' followed in early 1965, at around which time their first album 'The Pretty Things' was released to critical acclaim and a Top Ten chart placing. The Pretties owe much to Brian's strong rhythm guitar playing contributing to their sound. This was the peak of the Pretties' commercial success. In the Spring on 1965, Bob Dylan toured the UK and footage was filmed which would materialise into _Don't Look Back (1967)_; Brian featured in this film in the scenes relating to the broken glass and Donovan and Dylan performing for each other. By early 1966 commercial success, despite their still producing excellent tracks, was eluding the Pretty Things. At the end of that year Brian quit the band; there has been much speculation about how and when he did this over the years. What is certain is that Brian returned to his original profession, the insurance industry, and kept a very low profile thereafter; however he continued to play and he performed with the Kent Jazz Orchestra, amongst other bands, a return to his original musical influences. In the early 90s Brian came to local (Kent) attention again as the member of a band called 'So What' who enjoyed success in the Maidstone area playing blues and other styles; Brian played lead guitar with them. Eventually they split up and Brian subsequently became ill with lung cancer, but he never stopped playing guitar.
Brian died on Wednesday 16h May 2001, aged 57.
