The Foreign Secretary and Other News is a sketch that appears in "It's a Living," the nineteenth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Synopsis[]
The interviewer from the previous sketch (Graham Chapman) introduces the Foreign Secretary who will talk about canoeing.
It cuts to the Foreign Secretary standing at the bank. He gets into a canoe and two Arabs pick up one end of the canoe and drop him into the water.
The interviewer introduces Lord Porlman, Chairman of the Committee, Sir Charles Avery, Employers' Reorganization Council, and Ray Millichope, leader of the Allied Technicians' Union who will make a human pyramid, which they accomplish.
He then introduces the President of the Board of Trade, who is standing at the same bank with a weaved hamper. He gets into it and the two Arabs swing him into the river again. The interviewer announces the Vice Chairman of ICI, who is also thrown into the river.
The interviewer changes the topic to sport, including various 'interviews' with sports stars who are trown into the water by four Arabs. He ends the show by presenting Dame Irene Stoat (Michael Palin) who reads one of her 'most famous poems' in celebration of her 85th birthday in front of the bank. Two Arabs in the background spot her and run out of frame. Suddenly, a Samurai (Terry Gilliam?) jumps on screen and pushes her back into the water.