Which proposed series title later became the title of Flying Circus episode 4?

Owl Stretching Time was a proposed series title that later became the title of Flying Circus episode 4.

Before settling on Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the group considered a string of deliberately absurd names. Owl Stretching Time was one of them, alongside titles such as A Horse, a Spoon and a Basin and The Toad Elevating Moment. The joke was that the programme’s name should sound unrelated to its actual content.

The BBC ultimately used Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but the rejected names did not disappear. Several were recycled as episode titles or other programme material. Owl Stretching Time became the title associated with episode 4, making it a notable example of Python turning its own discarded branding into part of the show’s mythology.

The title is sometimes confused with the name of a sketch within the episode or treated as an alternative title for the whole series. In context, it was a proposed name for the series itself and later the title of the fourth episode. Hyphenated forms such as “Owl-Stretching Time” are also found in episode and script listings.