Terry Jones, the Welsh-born comedian and director best known for his work with Monty Python, had a love of the absurd that contributed much to the anarchic humour of Monty Python's Flying Circus. His style of visual comedy, leavened with a touch of the surreal, inspired many comedians who followed him.
Jones was born in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, on 1 February 1942. His grandparents ran the local amateur operatic society and staged Gilbert and Sullivan concerts on the town's pier each year. His family moved to Surrey when he was four, but he always felt nostalgic about his native land. 'I couldn't bear it and for the longest time I wanted Wales back,' he once said. 'I still feel very Welsh and feel it's where I should be really.'
After leaving the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, where he captained the school, he read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, but 'strayed into history', the subject in which he graduated. At Oxford he wrote sketches for the Oxford Revue and performed alongside Michael Palin. He later wrote for The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set, and co-wrote The Complete and Utter History of Britain, which aired on ITV in 1969.
When Monty Python's Flying Circus launched in October 1969, Jones was the driving force behind abandoning punch lines at the end of sketches, developing the show's trademark stream of consciousness. He appeared naked apart from a collar and tie playing an organ, and specialised in playing middle-aged women. Possibly his most memorable appearance was in The Meaning of Life as the exploding Mr Creosote.
Jones co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail and took sole charge of Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. He remained bemused at the fierce opposition to Life of Brian. 'It wasn't about what Christ was saying, but about the people who followed him,' he said. 'The ones who for the next 2,000 years would torture and kill each other because they couldn't agree on what he was saying about peace and love.' The council at Aberystwyth in his native Wales banned the film for 30 years.
