The Many Faces of a Python Genius
Terry Jones, remembered by millions as the beloved Monty Python star, was far more than just a comedian. A new biography by Robert Ross titled Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones reveals the astonishing breadth of this polymath's talents and interests. From writing jokes for Cliff Richard to founding his own real-ale brewery and launching an ecological magazine called Vole, Jones defied easy categorisation throughout his remarkable life.
From Medieval Scholar to Comedy Legend
Jones's intellectual curiosity knew few bounds. He demonstrated his scholarly credentials with his first published book, which offered a radical reinterpretation of Chaucer's Knight's Tale. The Python argued that Chaucer intended the hero's fighting and pillaging as satire rather than celebration. This fascination with medieval history later inspired his beloved children's book The Saga of Erik the Viking, which he adapted into a film. Characteristically, when his illustrator informed him that Vikings didn't actually wear horned helmets, Jones insisted on keeping them, believing historical accuracy should sometimes yield to creative vision.
The biography traces Jones's journey from his early childhood in Wales through his family's move to Surrey, which left him permanently disgruntled. His path led to Oxford University, where comedy began to take centre stage. Ross identifies early influences on Jones's distinctive comic style, including one tutor who followed a lecture on Minor Poets of the 18th century with an addendum titled 18th-century poets More Minor Still.
The Python Years and Beyond
Jones's involvement with the Oxford Revue paved the way to London, where he and Michael Palin became jobbing comedy writers at the BBC. The other future Pythons gradually came together, forming what Ross describes as a comedy boyband of six that would revolutionise British humour. The spiritual heart of this biography, however, beats in the north London pubs where Jones would happily discuss his latest projects with the author over many pints.
The book includes warm reminiscences from Python colleagues, including Eric Idle, who recalls: My finest time with Terry was playing Ratty to his Toad in his movie of The Wind in the Willows. Michael Palin offers perhaps the most touching tribute, describing Jones as more than a friend: A chum is different from a friend. And Terry was a chum.
Lost Projects and Final Years
Readers will be particularly fascinated by the revelations about Python projects that never came to fruition. Jones originally considered making Erik the Viking with the Muppets, a collaboration that would undoubtedly have been magical. In the 1990s, discussions took place about Monty Python and the Last Crusade, featuring the Pythons as aged knights with archive recordings of Graham Chapman as the voice of King Arthur's ashes. Most intriguing of all was the sadly aborted Monty Python's Third World War, which feels particularly relevant today.
The biography concludes, as all must, with Jones's decline and ill-health. He developed frontotemporal dementia, which gradually deprived him of speech entirely. Yet Ross continued to join him in the pub, nursing half an ale together. In a final gesture that itself sounds like the beginning of a Python sketch, Jones's brain was flash-frozen and donated to science after his death.
Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones by Robert Ross is published by Coronet at £25 and available through guardianbookshop.com.
