The school, modeled on Yates' own experiences as an adolescent at Avon Old Farms School, is called Dorset Academy, a small private institution dependent on its now senile founder, a wealthy older woman named Abigail Church Hooper, a thinly-veiled reference to Avon Old Farms founder Theodate Pope Riddle.
Lenthan has sent away for a human expert on rocketry but has instead gotten Zifnab, a bizarre long-bearded fellow who seems utterly senile, especially since he seems to think he's some person named "James Bond" one moment, and "Dorothy Gale" the next; his "dog Toto" (actually one of Pryan's native "dragons") spends a lot of time reining him in.
Meclofenoxate (Lucidril), also known as centrophenoxine, is a drug used to treat the symptoms of senile dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
It then cuts to a fairytale starring the troupe ("The Princess With The Wooden Teeth" from Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus), which then cuts to a poolside interview of a cranky, senile old man (Cleese) by Dayna Devon, a reporter.
While trying to find a topic for his doctorate, he first went to Naples to study with crystallographer Arcangelo Scacchi, who was senile by that time.
Patacchiola lives with his nymphomaniac wife (Dagmar Lassander), raunchy daughter Marisa (Michela Miti), senile father (Riccardo Billi), mentally retarded son Paolo (Fabio Grossi), and African maid Domenica (Anna Fall) who Patacchiola wants to use as a "manmaker" for his son.