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And now for something completely different... I prised open the small package. Another gold disk? A fan letter from Selina Scott? No, a 3.5" floppy disk. I inserted said disk into Tebbit (what's your ST called?) and waited for it to load.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the game that nice Mr. Carey had sent was based on my old fave TV comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus. Fab gear! Monty Python the ST game goes in for the same off-beat humour, with strange disjointed limbs sticking out of the ground and hills in the background that resemble the many changing haircuts of a certain Mr. Bowie.

And there, standing in the middle, is the start of the show, that great working class hero Gumby, who would appear considerably in the series chanting "And Now For Something Completely Different" for no obvious reason. Dressed as he is in wellington boots and knotted hanky he is certainly that. But in this game anything can happen, and before you know it his body is plucked off and replaced with that of a fish! Now, what you have to do is guide this poor fool around several surreal landscapes in order to retrieve the four segments of his brain.

The first piece has to be fought for in a labyrinth of mechanical tubes that looks like a scene from a drug-ravaged Pipemania (great game, by the way).

Gumby can count among his enemies characters from most of the prominent Python sketches: Eric The Half A Bee, the silly walking chartered accountant, and those nice blocks from the Spanish Inquisition whom nobody expected. These last lot keep heaving pillows at you ("Aargh, not the comfy pillows!") which it's advisable to avoid.

Of course, you get hit now and then, and it becomes necessary to get hold of Gumby's favourite snack, a tin or two of life-enriching Spam. (This only goes to prove, incidentally, that the only people left eating meat are the stupid.) He seems to enjoy it, though, for each time he guzzles the vile stuff a deep satisfied belch rings out.

These tins are concealed all over the place, but even if you can see one it's another thing getting hold of it! Throughout the game there are ludicrous interruptions, as in the TV show.

Just as you're involved in a tricky manoeuvre, for instance, you receive advice on how to recognise a certain tree from a great distance. Or there could appear a "Game Over" sign for no apparent reason - followed by restoration of the wrong game - Arkanoids!

Anything could happen here. If I said that Dr David Owen strides purposefully into the abbatoir crooning "Sexual Healing" to a gnu, that would probably give suffice to give you some indication of what to expect: the unexpected. And why not, say I - a mad game for a mad world.

The influence of Terry Gilliam, the genius who designed the bizarre backdrops and animations for Monty Python, is stamped all over this game.

But where this game really scores is in the audio department. There are some truly heroic farts and burps whenever something interesting happens (wonder why they chose this game for me?) along with some well chosen samples of speech straight from the show.

The argument sketch is noteworthy here, obliging you to disagree with the statement being uttered by the jobsworth seated behind his desk in an "Oh yes it is!" "Oh no it isn't!" kinda fashion. Wonderfully moronic - just like real life!

In fact, the only thing that bothers me is the original theme tune, a decidedly dodgy old military march, which probably had the cast in fits each time they heard it. Fortunately you can turn it off yet retain the rude noises.

This is all glorious escapist stuff which had me laughing aloud. But more than that, it's an absorbing game. Some situations were so desperate I found myself shouting "Gotta get some spam!" - and I'm a vegetarian!

You don't have to be a Python fan to enjoy this ST game. I can't wait for a cheat to come along so that I don't keep getting dumped back at the start, just when I've done all the tough stuff. Jimmy Tarbuck would neither understand nor like this one: there can, I think, be no higher recommendation.