The real-life couple who inspired Fawlty Towers: How guesthouse owners Donald Sinclair and his wife were behind the creation of Basil and Sybil Fawlty... and the other hotel staff who inspired waiter Manuel and long-suffering maid Polly
Donald Sinclair and his wife Beatrice were the proprietors of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay. Cleese and the other Monty Python stars stayed there in 1970.
Source: dailymail.co.uk