Monty Python's classic 1969 "Dead Parrot" sketch was voted the greatest British comedy sketch in a poll in 2004.
John Cleese walks into a pet shop holding a cage with a dead parrot in it. He tries to tell the shop owner that his parrot is dead, but the shop owner refuses to believe him. Cleese even bangs the bird's head on the counter and throws it into the air to prove it is dead.
Cleese, getting increasingly angry, tells the shop owner that the parrot is "a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace". The shop owner also tries to give a "logical explanation" such as "it's tired following a prolonged squawk".
The absurd thing about the whole scene was that the bird came from Scandinavia, even though they are a tropical breed.
But scientists have discovered a real life Norwegian Blue - but it lived 55 million years ago....
Norwegian Blue parrot really DID exist - but now they are all 'stiff, bereft of life and ex-parrots'
By ANDREW LEVY
15th May 2008
Daily Mail
When John Cleese tried to return a dead Norwegian Blue parrot to pet shop owner Michael Palin, it became an instant comedy classic.
Adding to the absurdity of the scene - in which Cleese complained 'It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace' - was the fact the birds are a tropical breed and couldn't come from Scandinavia.
But it turns out the Monty Python team were right all along.
A fossil expert has discovered that parrots not only lived in the region 55million years ago but probably evolved there before spreading to the Southern Hemisphere.
"It's probably pining for the fjords, sir": The famous "dead parrot" sketch in Monty Python first aired in 1969
The discovery was based on a single preserved wing bone of a previously unknown species, now nicknamed the Norwegian Blue.
Dr David Waterhouse said: "I specialise in bird fossils and am also a Python fan, so I have lived with jokes about dead parrots for years.
"Obviously, we were dealing with a bird that is bereft of life but the tricky bit was establishing it was a parrot."
A fossil expert has discovered that parrots not only lived in the region 55million years ago but probably evolved there before spreading to the Southern Hemisphere
Dr Waterhouse was studying for a phD in parrot evolution at the University of Dublin in 2005 when he visited a museum in Jutland.
He had heard the collection included bird remains found in a nearby opencast mine and spotted a fossilised two-inch long humerus - or funny bone.
Research has now confirmed it was part of an upper wing from a bird in the parrot family, given the scientific name Mopsitta Tanta.
Although the mine was in Denmark, the find means the birds almost certainly lived in neighbouring countries such as Norway at the time.
Dr Waterhouse added: "All that remained was a single upper wing bone but it contained characteristic features that showed it was clearly from a member of the parrot family, about the size of a Yellow-crested Cockatoo.
"It isn't as unbelievable as you might think that a parrot was found so far north. When Mopsitta was alive, most of northern Europe was experiencing a warm period, with a large shallow tropical lagoon covering much of Germany, south east England and Denmark.
"This was only ten million years after the dinosaurs were wiped out and some strange things were happening with animal life all over the planet. After the dinosaurs, lots of niches needed filling.
"No Southern Hemisphere fossil parrot has been found older than about 15million years, so this new evidence suggests parrots evolved here in the Northern Hemisphere before diversifying further south in the tropics later on."
Details have been published in the latest edition of Paleontology journal, under the distinctly Pythonesque title Two New Fossil Parrots (Psittaciformes) from the Lower Eocene Fur Formation.
The Pythons were wrong about one thing, however. The Norwegian Blue couldn't have pined for fjords - one of Palin's ludicrous excuses for the bird lying lifelessly on its back.
"This parrot shuffled off its mortal coil around 55million years ago but the fjords of Norway were formed during the last ice age and are less than a million years old," Dr Waterhouse added.
The dead parrot sketch, written by Cleese and Graham Chapman, was first aired in 1969.
Cleese played customer Eric Praline, who tries to convince shopkeeper Palin that the bird he had sold him is dead.
Cleese's character is shown banging the 'ex-parrot' on the counter, shouting at it and pointing out it had been nailed to its perch.
Palin assures him it is just resting or stunned, giving reasons such as it's 'tired following a prolonged squawk'.
It was voted Britain's favourite alternative comedy sketch in a Radio Times poll in 2004. Michael Palin chuckled when told about the discovery and said: "It just shows that nothing is original."
dailymail.co.uk
John Cleese walks into a pet shop holding a cage with a dead parrot in it. He tries to tell the shop owner that his parrot is dead, but the shop owner refuses to believe him. Cleese even bangs the bird's head on the counter and throws it into the air to prove it is dead.
Cleese, getting increasingly angry, tells the shop owner that the parrot is "a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace". The shop owner also tries to give a "logical explanation" such as "it's tired following a prolonged squawk".
The absurd thing about the whole scene was that the bird came from Scandinavia, even though they are a tropical breed.
But scientists have discovered a real life Norwegian Blue - but it lived 55 million years ago....
Norwegian Blue parrot really DID exist - but now they are all 'stiff, bereft of life and ex-parrots'
By ANDREW LEVY
15th May 2008
Daily Mail
When John Cleese tried to return a dead Norwegian Blue parrot to pet shop owner Michael Palin, it became an instant comedy classic.
Adding to the absurdity of the scene - in which Cleese complained 'It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace' - was the fact the birds are a tropical breed and couldn't come from Scandinavia.
But it turns out the Monty Python team were right all along.
A fossil expert has discovered that parrots not only lived in the region 55million years ago but probably evolved there before spreading to the Southern Hemisphere.
"It's probably pining for the fjords, sir": The famous "dead parrot" sketch in Monty Python first aired in 1969
The discovery was based on a single preserved wing bone of a previously unknown species, now nicknamed the Norwegian Blue.
Dr David Waterhouse said: "I specialise in bird fossils and am also a Python fan, so I have lived with jokes about dead parrots for years.
"Obviously, we were dealing with a bird that is bereft of life but the tricky bit was establishing it was a parrot."
A fossil expert has discovered that parrots not only lived in the region 55million years ago but probably evolved there before spreading to the Southern Hemisphere
Dr Waterhouse was studying for a phD in parrot evolution at the University of Dublin in 2005 when he visited a museum in Jutland.
He had heard the collection included bird remains found in a nearby opencast mine and spotted a fossilised two-inch long humerus - or funny bone.
Research has now confirmed it was part of an upper wing from a bird in the parrot family, given the scientific name Mopsitta Tanta.
Although the mine was in Denmark, the find means the birds almost certainly lived in neighbouring countries such as Norway at the time.
Dr Waterhouse added: "All that remained was a single upper wing bone but it contained characteristic features that showed it was clearly from a member of the parrot family, about the size of a Yellow-crested Cockatoo.
"It isn't as unbelievable as you might think that a parrot was found so far north. When Mopsitta was alive, most of northern Europe was experiencing a warm period, with a large shallow tropical lagoon covering much of Germany, south east England and Denmark.
"This was only ten million years after the dinosaurs were wiped out and some strange things were happening with animal life all over the planet. After the dinosaurs, lots of niches needed filling.
"No Southern Hemisphere fossil parrot has been found older than about 15million years, so this new evidence suggests parrots evolved here in the Northern Hemisphere before diversifying further south in the tropics later on."
Details have been published in the latest edition of Paleontology journal, under the distinctly Pythonesque title Two New Fossil Parrots (Psittaciformes) from the Lower Eocene Fur Formation.
The Pythons were wrong about one thing, however. The Norwegian Blue couldn't have pined for fjords - one of Palin's ludicrous excuses for the bird lying lifelessly on its back.
"This parrot shuffled off its mortal coil around 55million years ago but the fjords of Norway were formed during the last ice age and are less than a million years old," Dr Waterhouse added.
The dead parrot sketch, written by Cleese and Graham Chapman, was first aired in 1969.
Cleese played customer Eric Praline, who tries to convince shopkeeper Palin that the bird he had sold him is dead.
Cleese's character is shown banging the 'ex-parrot' on the counter, shouting at it and pointing out it had been nailed to its perch.
Palin assures him it is just resting or stunned, giving reasons such as it's 'tired following a prolonged squawk'.
It was voted Britain's favourite alternative comedy sketch in a Radio Times poll in 2004. Michael Palin chuckled when told about the discovery and said: "It just shows that nothing is original."
dailymail.co.uk