Cleese takes Wanda to West End

John Cleese, who reputedly waived his rights to royalties for the Monty Python musical Spamalot, has decided to turn another of his comic creations, the film A Fish Called Wanda, into a West End show. In this endeavor, Cleese, 68, is being helped by his daughter, Camilla. He told the Sunday Telegraph: "We've knocked the story into shape. We're going to try a few lyrics and if it turns out we are no good ­ which is what I expect ­ we'll get a new lyricist in. Right now we're working on the story and trying to figure out where the songs should go. It's very early days, though."

When the film, which also starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline (both pictured with Cleese above), was released in 1988 it was a worldwide success, winning Cleese and his co-writer Charles Crichton an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. The film regularly features in polls as one of the funniest comedies ever made, a claim that is supported by the fact that a Danish dentist died after while watching it in 1989. His heart was estimated to have been beating at 500 beats per minute before he succumbed to a fatal cardiac arrest.