TERRY JONES

(1 February 1942 - 21 January 2020)

The Welsh comic writer, actor, producer and director Terry Jones, who has died from dementia at the age of 77, was one of the founding members of the BBC TV comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969-74). However, before that he had written for and sometimes performed in many other television programmes, including John Bird’s The Late Show (1966), The Frost Report, Twice a Fortnight, with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Michael Palin etc, Complete and Utter History of Britain, with Palin, among others, and Do Not Adjust Your Set, with Eric Idle and Palin, etc. Then Monty Python came along, with four series written and performed by Jones, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. Although Python more or less took over his life, he did also contribute to The Two Ronnies. The Punch Review, The Mermaid Frolics and Ripping Yarns, the last written with Palin and in which they both appeared. There was also a compilation of Python sketches, And Now For Something Completely Different (1971), which was released in the cinema. After that came the Python movies which Jones co-wrote and directed – Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. In all these Jones also acted, often playing old women, most notably in Life of Brian as Brian’s Mum (“He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”). He also wrote and sometimes directed other films, including Erik the Viking, Labyrinth (directed by Jim Henson), Consuming Passions, a film of his play written with Palin, The Wind in the Willows and Absolutely Anything (2015), his last film. He also wrote children’s books and made many historical TV documentaries. As an actor he was also in Jabberwocky, The Great Muppet Caper, The Creator (as God), Locked Out, King Guillaume and The Secret Policeman’s Ball, etc. Terry Jones was first married to Alison Telfer and they have two children, Sally and Bill, and then to Anna Sӧderstrӧm and they have a daughter, Siri.

MICHAEL DARVELL