He famously travelled around the world in 80 days but today Sir Michael Palin has alighted at a pub in Kent on an “emotional” mission.

The globetrotting broadcaster paid a visit to the county to unveil a plaque in honour of a group of arctic explorers at the site of their last farewell.

Sir Michael, who found fame as a TV actor and a member of the Monty Python comedy group, dropped in at the Sir John Franklin pub in Greenhithe High Street to commemorate the spot where the ill-fated Franklin Expedition first set sail.

In 1845, a British voyage of Arctic exploration led by captain Sir John Franklin departed England aboard two ships – HMS Erebus and HMS Terror – for the virgin exploration of the Northwest passage in the Canadian Arctic but would never return after becoming icebound.

The veteran presenter, who has written a book and hosted podcasts on the subject, spoke of his fascination with the tale of the two ships.

He told KentOnline: “Greenhithe is a very significant place in the story of Erebus and Terror.

“People said farewell to Sir John Franklin and his sailors here. They were going off into the unknown and they never came back.

“This was their last port of call and the last time a lot of their families would have seen them. It is freighted with significance as it was the last time they would celebrate together. It’s very emotional.”

He added: “I wrote about the Sir John Franklin pub in my book and it’s good to come and see it for real.”

Sir Michael, who penned Erebus, The Story of a Ship, about the disastrous journey, said he found the story particularly fascinating “because it’s one that has never been told”.

“You learn about Drake and Raleigh at school but you don’t learn about this one,” the 80-year-old documentary maker said.

“The expedition to the North West passage was considered very important. It had not been done before.”

The ships were lost at sea and only recovered in 2014, with many unanswered questions.

“It’s a mystery,” Sir Michael said. “What went wrong and why? Where are all the ships documents which might hold the answers.

“People want to solve the mystery.”

Councillor Drew Swinerd spearheaded the idea to commemorate the expedition on its 175th birthday in 2020.

“Apart from the name of the pub and the picture of Sir John Franklin there is no outward clue whatsoever that Sir John Franklin left this place in 1845 so a permanent plaque seemed like a much more reliable means of commemorating this,” he said.

“Of course pubs change names, and pubs change owners and increasingly pubs cease to be pubs so this plaque will hopefully be here for a very long time indeed.”

He added: “We appreciate objects that tell us a thing or two about where we are and its history and they are important in telling our national story.

“It gives a place some meaning which it wouldn’t otherwise have.

“The shoreline here does not strike one as a place of historical significance but the plaque will do that.

“It enables people to use their imagination to come here and see for themselves in their own minds the Erebus and The Terror out on the river before they started their journey into the North Sea.”