The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine
65
TERRY JONES OG 1961 AN APPRECIATION Writer, film director, comedian, poet, librettist and historian, Terry Jones achieved worldwide renown with Monty Python’s Flying Circus after early success on comedy shows such as Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report. His love of the absurd and a style of visual, often slightly surreal, comedy brought anarchic humour to the group and inspired many comedians across the generations. It was on Python that he honed his directing skills, notably on Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. He created many memorable moments and characters, both in the sketches and films, and made something of a speciality of playing middle-aged “screeching” women.
T
erry went on to direct a comedy fantasy film, Erik the Viking. He also co-created and co-wrote with Michael Palin the TV series Ripping Yarns and in 1987 directed the film Personal Services. In 1996 he wrote and directed an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, in which he also played the part of Mr Toad. He became a popular children’s author with a number of books, including Nicobobinus, the story of a boy who can do anything, and The Saga of Erik the Viking, which won the Children’s Book Award in 1984. A keen historian, Terry wrote several books such as Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary and wrote and presented TV documentaries on ancient and medieval history (Crusades, a four-part documentary series for BBC TV and his Emmy Awardwinning Medieval Lives). The complete works of Chaucer was his Desert Island book of choice. In 2016 it was announced he was suffering from a form of dementia which robbed him of his ability to communicate, an especially cruel blow. He received a standing ovation in October that year when he appeared on stage to receive a BAFTA Cymru Award for his outstanding contribution to film and television. Born in Colwyn Bay, his family had moved to Guildford when he was four years old but he forever felt Welsh to his core. Once asked how he would best like to be remembered, Terry replied “Maybe a description of me as a writer of children’s
books or some of my academic stuff. Or maybe as the man who restored Richard II’s reputation. He was a terrible victim of 14th Century political spin, you know.” Terry’s time at the RGS was a foretaste of the eclectic life he would go on to lead. As School Captain, House Captain of Beckingham, Rugby Captain (as a wing forward) and sometime wicketkeeper for the 2nd XI Cricket team, TGPJ also excelled at shooting (Imperial Challenge Silver Medallist) and gained School and/ or House Colours in rugby, gymnastics, cricket, boxing and cross-country. He was on committees for the Debating Society,
English Society, General Games and Editor of The Guildfordian. Terry was awarded the Powell Essay Prize for English Literature in 1959, JG Simpson Prize for English Literature in 1960 and achieved a Commonership to read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He later said, “The master who had the most effect on me was someone probably no one else remembers: Don Martin.” (English teacher). Terry was Vice President of the 1991 RGS Appeal and wrote the forward to To be a Pilgrim, a book of OG recollections for the 500th anniversary of the School. ➧
Terry Jones (right) and friends rehearse a Goons sketch, 1959
