Remaining Pythons pay tribute to Terry Jones, 1942-2020
THE death of a close friend is not traditionally the occasion for a joke.
But when that friend is a fellow Python, it might seem more appropriate.
It was announced yesterday that Terry Jones, founder member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, had died at 77. He was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia in 2016.
John Cleese’s response? A statement that ended “Two down, four to go,” referring to the deaths of Jones and Graham Chapman, and the remaining members of the troupe.
Jones would have expected nothing less. At Chapman’s memorial service in 1989, following his death from cancer,
Cleese said in his eulogy that most would think it sad that Chapman had died at 48 when he had so much left to achieve. “Well, I feel that I should say: nonsense. Good riddance to him, the freeloading b-----d. I hope he fries,” Cleese joked, to uproarious laughter.
The Pythons’ often flippant approach to death was epitomised by the crucifixion scene from Life of Brian, when the victims of the Romans sang “Always look on the bright side of life” from their crosses.
For Sir Michael Palin, who counted Jones as his closest friend, yesterday’s news was heartbreaking. “It’s sort of like losing a limb,” Sir Michael said of a friendship that began when the pair met as Oxford students in 1962. They wrote together for several years before forming Monty Python and were “inseparable”.
“Even in the last few years, when Terry was doing his thing and I was doing my thing, we would still meet up. We were very close friends and I valued Terry’s opinion perhaps more than any other,” Sir Michael said.
He broke down during an appearance on BBC News when asked what he would most miss about Jones. “I just miss putting my arm around him and having a drink,” he said.
“He was a terrific companion. So I shall miss our trips to the bar, I shall miss our pints and I shall miss our sessions setting the world to rights. He was the most wonderful friend.” Jones first showed signs of dementia in 2014, when Monty Python played a reunion show at the O2 in London. He struggled to remember all of his lines and instead read them from an autocue. Sir Michael said: “Fairly soon after, his dementia increased and he lost the power to communicate and it was very sad to see… He was a man of words. He was brilliant with words.” But he recalled a recent visit to Jones’s north London home, and a sign that his friend had not lost all power of understanding.
He said: “I took a book that we had written together, Dr Fegg’s Encyclopaedia of All World Knowledge, and started reading a few little bits out of it. And for the first time in a long time I heard real laughter. And I thought that was a marvellously encouraging thing to happen.
“But what was best of all was that Terry was only laughing at the bits he had written. I thought, well, that’s defying dementia for you.”
In a statement, Jones’s family said he died on the evening of Jan 21 with his wife, Anna Soderstrom, by his side. It went on: “We have all lost a kind, funny, warm, creative and truly loving man whose uncompromising individuality, relentless intellect and extraordinary humour has given pleasure to countless millions across six decades.” Stephen Fry, the comedian who performed with the Pythons in their 2014 show, made reference to the troupe’s best-known visual gag in his tribute, saying: “Farewell, Terry Jones. The great foot has come down to stamp on you.”
‘It’s sort of like losing a limb... He was a terrific companion... I shall miss our sessions setting the world to rights’