Sir Michael Palin has been forced to cancel his book tour after slipping in the bathroom and breaking three bones. 

The Monty Python star was set to hit the stage to showcase his new book, Michael Palin – In the Philippines. 

But after suffering from a ‘comedy fall with no audience’ and breaking three ribs and fracturing his pelvis, he postponed his tour.   

The 83-year-old apologised to his fans and to those who had worked on the tour.

The book followed Sir Michael’s adventures through the Philippines, where he was also filming a travel documentary for Channel 5.  

He wrote on Instagram:  ‘My accident was quite unsensational, a slip in the family bathroom where I’ve walked for 58 years. 

Sir Michael Palin has been forced to cancel his book tour after slipping in the bathroom and breaking three bones

The Monty Python star was set to hit the stage to showcase his new book, Michael Palin – In the Philippines

‘I fell heavily on my left side resulting in three fractured ribs and a minor pelvic fracture. The recovery of bone fractures takes a long time especially when you’re 83. 

‘It was a comedy fall with no audience there to see it. I shall stick to fish slapping dances from now on. 

‘Sincere apologies to everyone who has already put a lot of work on the tour. 

‘I’d also like to say a huge thanks to the NHS for their incredible care.’ 

Sir Michael’s website stated that those with tickets would be contacted as soon as possible about rescheduled dates. 

The book chronicles Palin’s island hopping in the south-east Asian nation. 

He wrote about the Philippines archipelago in ‘all its beauty, variety and many paradoxes’, according to publisher Penguin.  

In one section, Sir Michael writes about visiting Manila, where he goes to the ‘Smokey Mountain’, a rubbish dump so huge it has houses built into it. 

There, he tries to eat ‘pagpag’. 

This is made by a woman called Doring, who trawls round the branches of KFC late at night, strips flesh from leftover bones, washes it three times, refries it in ketchup and presents it the next morning on her stall. 

‘I like a gastro challenge,’ writes Sir Michael, ‘and have eaten maggots and bull’s testicles in my travelling life. But pagpag defeats me.’ 

In another section, he wanders the idyllic sandy beaches of Cadlao Island. 

The book is his latest travel adventure after visiting both the North and South Poles, the Sahara, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and even North Korea for travel documentaries. 

The book is available now from the Mail Bookshop.