a major, major sort of problem to our understanding of it, because i think, you know, there was no... one felt there was nothing you could do. so, how would we talk about it? and at what stage do you suddenly say, "is there anything we can do to stop your stammer?" or, "how did you first get a stammer?" i'd love to have asked all these questions, but we just didn't because it would feel like rubbing in, you know, rubbing it all in, making him even more aware of it. and so there was a sort of unspoken feeling that we just accepted it in the family. and we did, really, around the table and all that. um... and to sort of single it out and sit and talk about it as if it were a disability would be..would be sort of, as i say, sort of underlining something he didn't want to be underlined. it was only after his father's death that he understood the importance of being open about stammering. he agreed to put his name to the michael palin centre for stammering in london