MONTY PYTHON - CLEESE BACKS FAWLTY TOWERS STATUE PLAN

MONTY PYTHON star JOHN CLEESE has given his full support to plans to erect a statue of his FAWLTY TOWERS character BASIL FAWLTY at the English seaside resort where the comedy was set. Cleese, 67, created the 1970s show after staying in a hotel run by "the most wonderfully rude man" in Torquay, Devon, basing the bumbling, bad-tempered hotelier Fawlty on the local hotel owner. The town of Torbay, near Torquay in south west England, plan to take full advantage of the popularity of Fawlty Towers by honouring the show with a statue worth GBP20,000 ($39,000). Local councillor ANDY WESTWOOD says, "The programme is shown somewhere in the world every hour. It's about time we took advantage." Cleese says, "This sounds splendid. Let's get someone to sculpt it in a non-controversial style."