Michael Palin series on Brazil to air

Armchair travellers are in for a treat as intrepid explorer Michael Palin is about to take television viewers on a tour of Brazil, the 96th country he has visited to-date.

People often associate Brazil with football and huge carnival celebrations in Rio. Palin will reveal its many other wonders, such as "the most extraordinarily beautiful beaches I've ever seen."

BBC 1 will start broadcasting the four-part series Brazil With Michael Palin at 9pm on Wednesday.

When asked what keeps him on the road, Palin said: "It's curiosity that keeps me travelling. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to know what was round the next corner, or over the next hill."

Though Brazil was one country he hadn't really visited.

"I can hardly believe that in nearly 25 years of travelling, I've only spent one night in Brazil, and that was on Pole To Pole whilst changing planes on my way to Chile.

"It's a big country to have missed, the fifth largest in the world."

During the filming of his series earlier this year, Brazil's economy officially overtook the UK's as the world's sixth biggest economy.

Rio will be the 2014 host of the World Cup and the 2016 host of the Olympic games.

"Suddenly world focus was on Brazil as never before and I felt that now was the time to satisfy my own curiosity about the country. A curiosity hopefully shared by all those whose interest in Brazil had been greatly stimulated by the closing ceremony of the Olympics in London," Palin said.