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Jones, Terry

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author, Film, TV.

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(1942-2020) Welsh actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and author (of historical as well as comic work) who after appearing in several earlier UK Television comedy series came to considerable prominence as a key member of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974) and was associated with many subsequent Python-team enterprises and performances. In Cinema, he was co-director with Terry Gilliam of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and solo director of Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1981); for a brief discussion of these films, see Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Of his various book publications, several are of genre interest. Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys & Girls (coll 1974) with Michael Palin, raucously spoofs the conventions of "nice" children's books and includes some Fantastika in Python mode. Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (graph 1994), with artist Brian Froud, purports to reproduce a commonplace book whose owner had literally squashed fairies (see Supernatural Creatures) between the pages; this won a Hugo for best artwork and a Chesley Award for interior illustration. Strange Stains and Mysterious Smells (graph 1996), also with Froud, continues the conceit. Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic (1997) is a humorous novel Tie based on the titular Starship-based Adventure game Starship Titanic (1998), devised by Douglas Adams; Jones's plot is necessarily more developed than the game scenario, but the book's slapstick Humour has been unfavourably contrasted to Adams's. Evil Machines (coll 2011) comprises Fantasy and Technofantasy stories about Machines that perform their functions badly, or too well.

The 2016 BAFTA Cymru Awards included a lifetime achievement award to Jones for his contributions to film and television. [DRL]

Terence Graham Parry Jones

born Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire [now Clwyd]: 1 February 1942

died London: 21 January 2020

works (selected)

For works by the Python collective as a whole, see Monty Python's Flying Circus.

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