The Liberty Bell March was composed by American bandmaster John Philip Sousa in 1893 and became one of his most performed marches for military bands and parades. It reached a second life in Britain when Monty Python's Flying Circus adopted a recording by the Band of the Grenadier Guards as its opening theme from 1969, pairing the stately music with absurd animation and a giant foot stomp. That association turned a patriotic march into a universal shorthand for British silliness, mock ceremony, and deadpan pomp that creators still borrow today.