Desert Island Discs from outside. Roy Plomley enforced these rules strictly. He did, however, grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat. The rules are, however, less strictly enforced today; for instance, Lawley allowed John Cleese to take Michael Palin with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed. Examples of luxuries have included champagne and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries. After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented by Michael Parkinson and from 1988 by Sue Lawley. Lawley stepped down in August 2006 after 18
Michael Palin Scottish Colourists. Two further programmes followed on European painters; "Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse" (2004) and "Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi" (2005), about the French artist Henri Matisse and Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi respectively. The DVD "Michael Palin on Art" contains all these documentaries except for the Matisse programme. In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after the war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium for the programme, called the