She worked with major comedy stars of the time, including Roy Hudd, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett and Charlie Drake. “Somewhere along the line,” she recalls, “I seemed to be established as a glamour stooge, someone to be the butt of their bawdier jokes … After a childhood in California and three years at Rada, she made her name as a leading lady in such ITV 1960s classics as The Saint and The Avengers.Only when she moved to the BBC did she start to show her “comedic talents”. “Young men like that grow up thinking there’s only two types of ladies: the young, giggly, sexygirl and the old bag And they played the old bags.

I did eventually play men and nuns and old women, but the public just remembers the bra and suspender-belt.”At the outset of her career, Cleveland did not seem destined to be known for that winning mixture of lingerie and laughter. But they just weren’t good at writing interesting parts for young women.”I’m sure it’s to do with their public school upbringing,” she continues in her understanding manner, proffering tea and a neatly arranged plate of biscuits. `Treat you like asex object, it’s so degrading.’ I just looked at them and said, `Hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.’ That shut them up.”I didn’t resent it because I was just having a great time …It wasn’t that the other pythons were anti giving me more to do; they were always apologising for not having better material to offer me. Happy Birthday.”Reclining on a sofa in the world’s smartest tracksuit, Cleveland admits that she has been attacked by feminists for going along with the sort of sexism that even Benny Hill might have blushed at.

“They did have a go at me on a couple of occasions – though not as often as you might think.”I remember being surrounded by a group of them waiting outside the stage door when we did the show in New York Tough, lesbian-type ladies [Puts on impeccable Noo Yoik accent] `How can you let them do that to you?’ `Do what?’ I said. A 50th birthday gift, it depicts Cleveland as an extravagantly-coiffed, voluptuous barrage-balloon supporting a foot-shaped basket containing the ot her six Pythons The caption reads: “For Carol How The Circus Kept Flying. In among the tasteful tribal artefacts and pot plants, there is only one visible sign of the Python days – a picture by Terry Gilliam hanging above the dining-room table. The answer is Carol Cleveland, also known as the Python Girl. If your memory still needs jogging, she was the one who spent much of the four series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus – 25 years old this year – in a state of semi-undress.

Remember the woman being unrobed behind a screen by Eric Idle in the Marriage Guidance Counsellor sketch? Or the woman whose clothes were ripped off by cacti as she was chased across the desert by a man-eating roll-top desk in Scott of the Sahara? That’s Carol.
Now a very well-preserved 52 with not a hair or a stroke of make-up out of place, Cleveland lives alone (her marriage ended 10 years ago) in an immaculately tidy terrace house in Brighton. Who’s the seventh Python? It’s one of those questions – like who was the fifth Beatle, or the Third Man? – beloved of pub-quiz bores. Atsome point you just have to pull the wires out and throw them away.”Allison Grant 22, Student”I don’t like wearing underwear and I don’t buy my girlfriend’s underwear because I don’t have a girlfriend.”Mustapha Atouche 26, French student. It depends on if it is fancy underwear that I don’t wear very often, if you know what I mean – don’t quote me.”Mrs B Muir 50s, Housemistress”I am wearing full white underwear I usually buy it at Marks & Spencer The most I would spend is £3 on panties, and on bras, £8 My favourite designer is Gianni Versace I don’t ever go without underwear.