John Cleese has revealed he had a cancerous tumour removed from his leg last week, with his surgeon telling him: “Tis but a scratch.”
The Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star, 80, told his fans on Twitter: “Had a minor operation on Friday. A surgeon cut a small cancerous bit out of my leg. Very minor.
“At my age this sort of thing happens about once a week.
“He did a beautiful job, sewed it up and said: ‘Tis but a scratch.’”
Despite the procedure, Cleese appears to be as energised as ever, as just three minutes later he tweeted a picture of himself with a cricket bat and the words: “Happy Monday to all the internet trolls! This old man still has his swing and is ready to give you a damn good thrashing!”
This is Cleese’s second publicly known health issue, after the actor had a prostate cancer scare in 1996, which left him vowing to “live on the basis that I might at any given moment fall under a bus”.
Cleese can next be seen in the Australian comedy The Very Excellent Mr Dundee, and will then play Mr Bridwell in a live-action adaptation of Clifford the Big Red Dog.
