Sir Michael Palin with Lindsay Mackie and Foyezur Miah

SIR MICHAEL Palin shared his love for living in Gospel Oak, a “special place that’s not pretending to be something it’s not”, at a community event on Monday night.

On the same day that he finished penning his latest book – on his travels around Venezuela – the Monty Python actor journeyed down the road from his home in Oak Village to give a talk at the Queen’s Crescent Community Association (QCCA).

The event was the third in the “Camden Talks” series hosted by the centre to bring the community together and raise money for QCCA.

More than 100 people came to hear Mr Palin talk about his career and love for the area where he has lived for more than 60 years to journalist Lindsay Mackie and CEO of the community centre Foyezur Miah.

He told the audience: “I’ve been back from Venezuela for about a month, and have written an account of that journey in that time, because that’s the sort of pressure you’re under now.

“Publishers, particularly marketing people, say ‘oh, we’ve got to get this in the press, they’ve got to know when this is coming out’.

“So I’m very glad that today I’ve finished it.”

Mr Palin shared how another time when he was filming in Venezuela men dressed in national guard uniforms detained them for a day, and they endured hours of questioning from the police and military intelligence.

“They had automatic weapons and black outfits and they looked very very nasty indeed.

“Eventually it was three o’clock in the afternoon. We hadn’t filmed. We’re all hungry because we got up at six in the morning. Permission was given to take us to a nearby restaurant. So in this restaurant there’s our crew and all these guys with their rifles on the table.”

But they were saved from the ordeal when one of the military officers went on YouTube at the restaurant and found a video of Mr Palin discussing Life of Brian with Malcolm Muggeridge and John Cleese.

“And then they found Monty Python and then we knew we were going to be safe. At the end we all had photos taken together,” he continued.

Sir Michael has lived in Gospel Oak since 1968.

“So you must like it?” Lindsay Mackie asked.

“No, I just hate moving,” he joked.

“Oak Village in itself is a good community. I think it’s the relationship the houses have with each other. No one drives. People have to meet and they get on. I’ve always found people terrifically friendly and supportive.

“We’ve got wonderful schools. My kids went to William Ellis and Parliament Hill. [Gospel Oak] ticks all the boxes. I did a talk at Carlton School and the kids asked the most wonderful questions: ‘What’s the lowest part of the Himalayas? Have you ever been sick on camera?’

“It’s very special and not pretending to be something it’s not. Estate agents used to call it the fringes of Hampstead. They don’t bother anymore.”

But Mr Palin also said that this “soulful” community is under threat from overdevelopment, which could push out ordinary families.

He told the New Journal: “Gospel Oak seems to be targeted for development. Not only in the Bacton High Rise but also in the Kentish Town side. I do get the impression that, as with all these developments, the amount of what they call affordable housing gets reduced every time you see a new plan. I think it would be very, very sad if Gospel Oak just became a dormitory for people working in the city.

“I see neighbourhoods like down in Battersea becoming totally high-rise now and they lose their soul. I think Gospel Oak has got a soul. It’s kind of indefinable. It’s not Hampstead. It’s not Camden Town quite, it’s somewhere in between. There’s something about the place that works. There’s a kind of harmony.”