Terry Jones
Actor, Writer, Presenter and Python! From Colwyn Bay, Wales
Born in Colwyn Bay during WW2 (1st February 1942) Terence Graham Parry Jones found fame and success as an actor, writer, comedian, screenwriter, film director and historian. A member of the Monty Python comedy team first broadcast by the BBC in 1969.
Graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Terry and writing partner Michael Palin (Oxford students together) wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman, and American animator/filmmaker Terry Gilliam.
Terry was largely responsible for the programme's ground-breaking, surreal structure where sketches flowed from one to another without punchlines or conclusion.
His directorial debut was the 'Python' team's first movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, co-directing with Gilliam. Terry also directed the subsequent 'Python' films, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
He co-created and co-wrote with Palin the Ripping Yarns series first broadcast by the BBC. Apparently he also created an early draft of the 1986 cult-classic film Labyrinth, though little of his work remained in the final cut.
Terry was a well-respected medieval historian authoring several books and presented television documentaries on this period. He was also a prolific children's book writer!
2016 saw Terry gain a 'Lifetime Achievement' award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film.
Sadly after several years of degenerative aphasia, Terry lost the ability to speak and died on 21st January 2020.
Terry Jones' Medieval Lives
Famous for lampooning the schoolboy view of the medieval world in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", Terry Jones has a real passion for and detailed knowledge of the Middle Ages.
In "Terry Jones' Medieval Lives" his mission is to rescue the Middle Ages from moth-eaten cliches and well-worn platitudes. Behind the stereotypes of "damsels in distress" and "knights in shining armour", of rich men in their castles and the poor man at their gates, there are wonderfully human stories that bring the period to life.
Terry will start with a medieval archetype - the Knight, Peasant, Damsel and Monk, Outlaw, King, Merchant and Physician - and in the course of unravelling their role and function will meet a host of colourful real-life characters, recreating their world by visiting key locations.
Fairy Tales
Three raindrops have an argument on their way out of a cloud ...A silly King goes for a walk with a dog tied to each leg ...An enterprising herring, bored of the North Sea, decides to swim right round the world ...Thirty short stories of magic and adventure penned by Monty Python team member, Terry Jones.
Embracing the tradition of the fairy tale, but adding Jones' inimitable comic imagination and originality, each story makes a perfect bedtime read for children - and grown ups! 'Could become a 'modern classic' ...the book is a joy' - Brian Patten, "Spectator".
Terry Jones' Barbarians
"Terry Jones' Barbarians" takes a completely fresh approach to Roman history. Not only does it offer us the chance to see the Romans from a non-Roman perspective, it also reveals that most of those written off by the Romans as uncivilized, savage and barbaric were in fact organized, motivated and intelligent groups of people, with no intentions of overthrowing Rome and plundering its Empire.
This original and fascinating study does away with the propaganda and opens our eyes to who really established the civilized world.
Delving deep into history, Terry Jones and Alan Ereira uncover the impressive cultural and technological achievements of the Celts, Goths, Persians and Vandals. In this new paperback edition, Terry and Alan travel through 700 years of history on three continents, bringing wit, irreverence, passion and the very latest scholarship to transform our view of the legacy of the Roman Empire and the creation of the modern world.
The Pythons' Autobiography By The Pythons
Over thirty years ago, a group of six Englishmen - well, one was Welsh and another an interloping American - rewrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python's Flying Circus, an unheralded, previously unseen half-hour show of sketches, hilarities, inanities and animations, first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact has been felt the world over ever since.
From its humble beginnings, it blossomed into the most influential movement in modern comedy. THE PYTHONS' AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE PYTHONS is a unique look at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age, with 64 pages of photographs, many culled from the team's own personal collections, and many more seen for the first time. This is the definitive word on all things Pythonesque.