Terry Jones

Terence Graham Parry Jones (born in Colwyn Bay, Wales, on February 1, 1942) is a British comedian and writer, film director and popular historian. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team.

Biography

Before Python

Jones was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, where he was head boy; he graduated in English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

He appeared in Twice a Fortnight with Michael Palin, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn. He also appeared in Do Not Adjust Your Set with Michael Palin, Eric Idle and David Jason. (Jones speaks about this series during an interview which appears on both Do Not Adjust Your Set DVD, and At Last the 1948 Show DVD). He wrote for The Frost Report and several of David Frost's programmes on British television.

Monty Python

He was a member of Monty Python, the team of writers and performers that made Monty Python's Flying Circus. As a Python, Jones is remembered for his roles as middle-aged women and the bowler-hatted "man in the street". His character, Mr. Creosote from The Meaning of Life, has become practically iconic. One of Jones' major concerns was devising a fresh format for the Python TV shows, devising a stream-of-consciousness style which abandoned punchlines and instead encouraged the fluid movement of one sketch to another and the cross-referencing of jokes. This allowed the team's conceptual humour and one-line ideas room to realise their full potential which conventional formulas would arguably compromise. Jones also objected to TV directors use of speeded-up film, over-emphatic music, and static camera style.

Directorial efforts

Jones co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail and directed two further Monty Python moves, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life As a film director, Jones finally gained fuller control of the projects and devised a visual style that complemented the humour and, once again, concentrated on allowing the performers room to breathe, for instance, in the use of wide shots for long exchanges of dialogue, and more economical use of music. His methods encouraged many future television comedians to break away from slapstick or studio-bound shooting styles, as demonstrated by Green Wing, Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen. He directed further films, including Erik the Viking (1989) and The Wind in the Willows (1996).

As an author

He co-wrote Ripping Yarns with Michael Palin, and wrote the screenplay for Labyrinth (1986). He has also written numerous works for children, including Fantastic Stories and The Beast with a Thousand Teeth.

He has written books and presented television documentaries on medieval and ancient history and the history of numeral systems. His series often challenge popularly-held views of history: for example, Terry Jones' Medieval Lives (2004) argues that the Middle Ages was a more sophisticated period than is popularly thought, and Terry Jones' Barbarians (2006) presents the cultural achievements of peoples conquered by the Roman Empire in a more positive light than Roman historians typically did.

He has written numerous anti-war editorials for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Observer. Jones has two children.

Publications

Fiction

Fairy Tales - 1981
The Saga of Erik the Viking - 1983 (Children's Book Award 1984)
Nicobobinus - 1985
Fantastic Stories - 1992
The Knights and the Squire - 1997
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic - 1997, a novel based on the computer game of the same name by Douglas Adams. Jones claims to have written the entire book while in the nude.
The Lady and the Squire - 2001 (nominated for a Whitbread Award)

with Brian Froud

The Goblins of the Labyrinth - 1986
Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book - 1994
The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins - 1996 (an abridged re-release of The Goblins of the Labyrinth, in a smaller format with the colour plates missing)
Strange Stains and Mysterious Smells: Quentin Cottington's Journal of Faery Research - 1996

Non-fiction

Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary - 1980, (updated 1994)
Foreword to The Quest for King Arthur by David Day - 1995
Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery with Robert Yeager, Terry Dolan, Alan Fletcher and Juliette Dor - 2003
Terry Jones's War on the War on Terror: Observations and Denunciations by a Founding Member of Monty Python - 2004
With Alan Ereira, Barbarians, BBC Books, 2006, ISBN 0563493186 (hardcover)

Screenplays

Secrets (TV) 1973, with Michael Palin
Labyrinth - 1986
Erik the Viking - 1989, which includes a notice in the credits specifically disclaiming any link with Jones's earlier novel ("although he hopes it will help the sales")
The Wind in the Willows - 1996

Documentary series

The Crusades (1996)
Ancient Inventions (1998)
Terry Jones' Medieval Lives (2004)
''The Story of One' (2005)
Terry Jones' Barbarians (2006).

Political articles

I remain, sir, Haggard of the Hindu Kush - published in The Observer, December 30, 2001
Spare our blushes and put a sack on it - published in The Observer, January 6, 2002
Why grammar is the first casualty of war - published in The Daily Telegraph, January 12, 2002
OK, George, make with the friendly bombs - published in The Observer, February 17, 2002
A fox isn't a chicken. Is it? - published in The Observer, March 17, 2002
If you want a free vote, ask nicely - published in The Observer, April 21, 2002
The audacious courage of Mr Blair - published in The Observer, September 22, 2002
I'm losing patience with my neighbours, Mr Bush - published in The Observer, January 26, 2003
Powell speaks with forked tongue - published in The Observer, February 23, 2003
Could Tony Blair look at the internet now, please? - published in The Observer, March 2, 2003
Mr Bush goes for the kill - published in The Observer, March 9, 2003
Poor Tony Blair wakes up - published in The Observer, March 16, 2003
Tony and the pixies - published in The Observer, March 23, 2003
Welcome aboard the Iraqi gravy train - published in The Observer, April 13, 2003
Mr Blair's dark days - published in The Observer, April 27, 2003
"If fish can feel pain, then maybe Iraqi children can, too" - published in The Observer, May 4, 2003
Why look in the crystal ball? - published in The Observer, May 4, 2003
If politicians start telling the truth ... - published in The Observer, May 18, 2003
Alastair, God and the Devil - published in The Observer, July 6, 2003
A resignation is worth a thousand smiles - published in The Observer, August 31, 2003
Why Tony went to war - published in The Observer, October 5, 2003
Let's make infants pay for their schooling - published in The Independent, January 27, 2004
Suits you, sir - but can we suggest something warmer? - published in The Independent, February 1, 2004
Tony really must try harder - published in The Guardian, April 14, 2004
Invade Iraq? It's a no brainer - published in The Guardian, April 19, 2004
The war of the words - published in The Guardian, April 30, 2004
This week - published in The Guardian, May 22, 2004
This won't hurt much - published in The Guardian, June 16, 2004
In Iraq, it's already July 9th - published in The Guardian, July 7, 2004
George, God here ... - published in The Guardian, October 22, 2004
A man-made tsunami - published in The Guardian, January 11, 2005
Let them eat bombs - published in The Guardian, April 12, 2005
Vote Draino - published in The Guardian, May 5, 2005
Comedy of terror - published in The Guardian, December 29, 2005
God: I've lost faith in Blair - published in The Guardian, March 8, 2006

Trivia

An asteroid, 9622 Terryjones, is named in his honour.

External links

Terry Jones.net Semi-official fan site
Terry Jones – BBC Guide to Comedy
Terry Jones - Comedy Zone
MP3 audio interview with Jones from The Sound of Young America public radio program and pod cast.

Do Not Adjust Your Set
Denise Coffey — Eric Idle — David Jason — Terry Jones — Michael Palin
Twice a Fortnight
Graeme Garden — Terry Jones — Jonathan Lynn — Bill Oddie — Michael Palin

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Terry Jones