“Well, what Jesus blatantly fails to appreciate is that it’s the meek who are the problem.” So says John Cleese as Reg, leader of the People’s Front of Judea, as he and his hapless fellow rebels walk away baffled from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (“AD 33 Saturday Afternoon About Tea-Time”). It is 40 years since Monty Python’s Life of Brian was first released, to great acclaim, but also in the face of heated controversy over its alleged blasphemy, indecency and sacrilege. The film tells the tale of Brian Cohen (played by the late Graham Chapman) who is hailed as Saviour by a mob of credulous followers – in spite of his mother Mandy’s insistence that “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!” – and ends up crucified by the Romans, singing ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ as the credits roll. Read in full.