Monty Python’s parrot may have been “bleedin’ demised” when that sketch was performed in 1969, but an unlikely discovery suggests that it was once alive and well.

The “Norwegian blue” that Michael Palin claimed was not dead, but simply “shagged out following a prolonged squawk”, may not have been such a ridiculous invention as the comedians intended.

David Waterhouse, a palaeontologist from Norfolk, believes that he has identified the oldest known parrot fossil and, at the same time, proved that the birds once lived considerably farther north than was previously thought.

Although the bird has been officially named Mopsitta tanta, Dr Waterhouse has nicknamed it the Danish blue, a tribute to its fictional Norwegian counterpart in the Python routine, which has been voted Britain’s best-loved alternative comedy sketch.