The bitter 18-month saga of John Cleese's financial settlement with his former wife appears to have come to an end.

The former Python has agreed to pay Alyce Faye Eichelberger Cleese, a psychotherapist, £8 million in cash and assets plus monthly maintenance of £50,000 for the next seven years, taking the total package to in excess of £12 million.

Cleese, 69, has claimed that the deal will leave him poorer than his former wife, and will force him to work well into his 70s to "feed the beast". He is reported to be renting a house in the New Forest as he works on a new one-man show called My Alyce Faye Divorce Tour.

Papers to finalise the settlement were lodged in the Santa Barbara Superior Court in California last week, it emerged today.

Source: Times Online