Michael Palin reveals his late wife Helen's clothes are 'still in the cupboard' over a year after her death to make it feel like she's 'still here'

Michael Palin has heartbreakingly admitted that his late wife Helen Gibbins' clothes are still hanging 'in the cupboard' as they make it feel as if she was 'still here'. 

The Monty Python star,81, announced Helen had sadly passed away following a battle with chronic pain and kidney failure on May 2 last year,just weeks after they marked their 57th wedding anniversary.

He described her as the 'bedrock of my life' and said her death was an 'indescribable loss' for himself and their three children - Thomas,55,William,53,and Rachel,49. 

And now,over a year since his agonising loss,Michael told how he likes to see her belongings around their home as it reminds him of the time they spend together,with the star adding that it's the reason he will never move.

Speaking in an interview with The Times,Michael said on the possibility of moving: 'I don't feel that way - at the moment,anyway. Everything around me has a story or something that reminds me of time we spent together,not in a maudlin way. Just they are the props of your life. Get rid of all those props and I'd be in a different play,playing a different character. And I don't want to do that.

'I miss the jokes that we used to have together. I mean it would be our 58th anniversary and every anniversary we used to try and do something with increasing incredulity… That humour,I do miss a lot'

Speaking ahead of his new Channel 5 show,Michael Palin in Nigeria,he explained how he felt he 'had to keep on working' because Helen would have wanted him to go on. 

He continued: 'You can’t say,"Everything stops now,I am just going to live for the past" - you have to go on. I am lucky because I do get some work and I get to go round the world and be paid for it,which is terrific,and I want to continue to do that if I can. 

'It puts you in touch with human life but also gives me physical and mental energy which is really important for your morale.

'We'd love to do another journey. I'd go with the little group anywhere really.' 

Sir Michael PalinNew York Times