08/03/2025
One of the funniest TV shows I’ve seen in my life was ‘Fawlty Towers.’ Here is the true story that inspired John Cleese and Connie Booth to create it (thanks to British Comedy):
In May 1970, while filming near Paignton, the cast of Monty Python's Flying Circus stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, managed by Donald Sinclair and his wife, Beatrice. Sinclair's eccentric behaviour included criticising Terry Gilliam's table manners for being "too American" and removing Eric Idle's briefcase to the car park, fearing it contained a bomb. These actions led most of the cast to seek alternative accommodation, though John Cleese and his wife, Connie Booth, remained. Cleese later used Sinclair's mannerisms as inspiration for Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers. The Gleneagles Hotel is even referenced in the show's second episode, "The Builders."
Opinions vary on how accurately Basil Fawlty represents Sinclair. Former staff and guests recall events at the Gleneagles Hotel as ludicrous as those depicted in the series. However, Sinclair's family contends that Fawlty was an inaccurate caricature, with Beatrice describing her husband as a "gentleman and a very brave man," not the "neurotic eccentric" portrayed by Cleese. She did acknowledge that, like Sybil Fawlty, she was very much in charge of the business.
The publication of Michael Palin's Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years in 2006 supported Cleese's depiction of Sinclair. In entries from May 1970, Palin recounted that Sinclair saw the Pythons as a "colossal inconvenience," leading Palin and Graham Chapman to leave after one night, only to be billed for two weeks by Beatrice.
Cleese later portrayed eccentric hotel owners in films such as the 1999 remake of The Out-of-Towners and the 2001 movie Rat Race; in the latter, his character was named Donald Sinclair.
