> Ok. Uncle! Here's a slew of MP references going completely over my head. :-( Could you please back up and take it from the top? ... viz., wot's The Spanish Inquisition got to do with esteemed Python?

Well, I got lost after the Spanish Inquisition bit, but I can fill you in on that one:

One of the funnier bits MP did was the "Spanish Inquisition". The gag is that a couple of people are talking in ordinary conversation and one, being a bit badgered by the other, responds "Well I wasn't expecting a Spanish Inquisition." At that moment three cardinals burst in on the scene and shout "NOBODY ever suspects the Spanish Inquisition!" They then go on about how "Our chief weapon is fear. Fear and suprise. Our chief weapons are fear and suprise. And our *outrageous* devotion to the Pope." It goes on, as I'm sure you could imagine...

Stephen