Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

From Silly to Scholarly: The Complete and Utter History of Terry Jones

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Python beyond Python

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Comedy ((PSCOM))

  • 1240 Accesses

Abstract

Kern examines the role of history in Terry Jones’s work. “From Silly to Scholarly: The Complete and Utter History of Terry Jones” argues that while Jones has used history in his work since his university days, it originally served as little more than base material for comedy that ultimately had absurdist or contemporary sensibilities. Jones’s later efforts increasingly have given history more meaningful attention—his comedic background informing, yet ancillary to “serious” historical interpretation. During this time, Jones’s relationship with history has gone from being a keen enthusiast to being a professionally-recognized documentarian and academic author. Yet despite these changes several constants have defined his work throughout: whether as a comedian or a historian, Jones is almost always forceful, provocative, and iconoclastic.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Graham Chapman, John Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003), 42–49.

  2. 2.

    Ken P., “An Interview with Terry Jones,” IGN Filmforce, January 21, 2004, http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/01/21/an-interview-with-terry-jones, accessed April 2, 2015.

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

  4. 4.

    V.A. Kolve, “Young Jones at Oxford, 1961–62” in The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, edited by R.F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 13; Terry Jones, “The Image of Chaucer’s Knight” in Speaking Images: Essays in Honor of V. A. Kolve, edited by Robert F. Yeager and Charlotte C. Morse (Asheville, NC: Pegasus Press, 2001), 205.

  5. 5.

    Except when performed by Terry Gilliam.

  6. 6.

    Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 12, 70, 75, 78, 93; John Cleese, So, Anyway…(New York: Crown Archetype, 2014), 183, 193.

  7. 7.

    Kim “Howard” Johnson, Life Before and After Monty Python: The Solo Flights of the Flying Circus (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993), 12–14; Andrew Pixley, “Viewing Notes” in The Complete and Utter History of Britain 3-disc box set, directed by Maurice Murphy (1969; London, England: ITV Studios, Ltd., 2013), DVD, 5–6; Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 83–85.

  8. 8.

    Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 93.

  9. 9.

    Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 90–93; Johnson, Life Before and After, 21–22; Pixley, “Viewing Notes,” 6–7; Michael Palin, “Terry Jones: The Complete Medievalist” in The Medieval Python, 55–56.

  10. 10.

    David Morgan, Monty Python Speaks! (New York: Avon Books, 1999), 7–8; Johnson, Life Before and After, 29–37; Pixley, “Viewing Notes,” 8–19; Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 102–110, 121.

  11. 11.

    Johnson, Life Before and After, 51–54, 58; Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 116–126; Pixley, “Viewing Notes,” 19–20; Do Not Adjust Your Set, directed by Daphne Shadwell (1967; Santa Monica, CA: Tango Entertainment, Ltd., 2005), DVD.

  12. 12.

    Morgan, Monty Python Speaks!, 9–11, 24; Pixley, “Viewing Notes,” 25–38; Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 121–123; Complete and Utter History.

  13. 13.

    Complete and Utter History; Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 121.

  14. 14.

    Pixley, “Viewing Notes,” 36.

  15. 15.

    Complete and Utter History; Pixley, “Viewing Notes,” 54.

  16. 16.

    Palin, “Terry Jones: The Complete Medievalist,” 57.

  17. 17.

    Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 239.

  18. 18.

    Michael Palin, Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006), 174–175; Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 253–259.

  19. 19.

    Palin, Diaries, 190.

  20. 20.

    Chapman, Cleese, et al., The Pythons Autobiography, 279-280; Palin, “Terry Jones: The Complete Medievalist,” 58.

  21. 21.

    Ken P., “An Interview with Terry Jones”; Terry Jones, Robert Yeager, et al., Who Murdered Chaucer? (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003), vii.

  22. 22.

    Johnson, Life Before and After, 148–149; Terry Jones, Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary, revised edition with new Introduction. (London: Methuen London, 1994), 82, 273.

  23. 23.

    Alan T. Gaylord, Review of Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale”: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900–1985. Speculum 69, no. 1 (January 1994), 214.

  24. 24.

    John M. Fyler, Review of Terry Jones Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary, The Yearbook of English Studies, 12 (1982): 235–6.

  25. 25.

    Gabriel Josipovici, “Imperfect Knight,” Review of Chaucer’s Knight by Terry Jones, Chaucer, Langland and the Creative Imagination by David Aers, and The Golden Age by Marcel Thomas. London Review of Books 2, no. 7 (April 17, 1980), 8.

  26. 26.

    Phillipa Hardman, Review of Chaucer’s Knight: Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary, The Review of English Studies New Series, 33, no. 131 (August 1982), 311–313.

  27. 27.

    Malcolm Andrew, Review of Chaucer: A Bibliographical Introduction by John Leyerle and Anne Quick. Speculum 63, no. 3 (July 1988), 697. According to tradition, King Henry II initiated the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket by asking rhetorically, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

  28. 28.

    Jones, Chaucer’s Knight, vii–xxii; Maurice Keen, “Chaucer’s Knight, the English Aristocracy and the Crusades” in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, edited by V.J. Scattergood and J.W. Sherborne (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), 45–61; Terry Jones, e-mail message to author, October 3, 2014.

  29. 29.

    Hardman, “Review,” 311–312.

  30. 30.

    Jones, Chaucer’s Knight, back cover.

  31. 31.

    Quoted in Martha Driver, “Making Medievalism” in The Medieval Python, 161.

  32. 32.

    Ken P., “An Interview with Terry Jones”; Terry Jones, e-mail message to author, March 13, 2015.

  33. 33.

    Terry Jones and Alan Ereira, Crusades, television, BBC, 1995.

  34. 34.

    Jones and Ereira, Crusades (London: Penguin Books/BBC Books, 1996), ix–x.

  35. 35.

    Jones and Ereira, Crusades, “Episode 1: Pilgrims in Arms.”

  36. 36.

    Ken P., “An Interview with Terry Jones”; Terry Jones and Alan Ereira, The Surprising History of Egypt, television, Discovery Channel, 2002; Phil Grabsky, Terry Jones and Alan Ereira, The Surprising History of Rome, television, Discovery Channel, 2002; Phil Grabsky, Terry Jones, and Alan Ereira, The Surprising History of Sex and Love, television, Discovery Channel, 2003; The Story of 1, television, BBC, 2005; Gladiators: The Brutal Truth, television, BBC, 2000; Terry Jones, Alan Ereira, and David McNab, Terry Jones’ Barbarians, television, BBC, 2006; Terry Jones and Alan Ereira. Terry Jones’ Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History (London: BBC Books, 2007).

  37. 37.

    Terry Jones, “The Middle Ages of Reason,” The Guardian, February 8, 2004, http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/feb/08/highereducation.news, accessed April 5, 2015.

  38. 38.

    Ken P., “An Interview with Terry Jones”; Terry Jones, The Anti-Renaissance Show, radio, BBC Four, 2002; Terry Jones, Medieval Lives, television, BBC, 2004; Terry Jones, Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives (London: BBC Books, 2004).

  39. 39.

    Terry Jones, e-mail message to author, December 16, 2014.

  40. 40.

    Despite the title, Jones admits the book is less of a “Whodunnit?” than a “Wasitdunnatall?” Jones, Yeager, et al. Who Murdered Chaucer?, vii, 1.

  41. 41.

    Jones, “The Image of Chaucer’s Knight,” 205–36; Jones, Yeager, et al., Who Murdered Chaucer?, 246–257.

  42. 42.

    Terry Jones, “Was Richard II a Tyrant? Richard’s Use of the Books of Rules for Princes,” Fourteenth Century England 5 (2008), 130–160; Terry Jones, “Did John Gower Rededicate His Confessio Amantis before Henry IV’s Usurpation?” in Middle English Texts in Transition, edited by Simon Horobin and Linne R. Mooney (Woodbridge, England: York Medieval, 2014), 40–74.

  43. 43.

    Gerald Morgan, “The Dignity of Langland’s Meed,” Modern Language Review 104, no. 3 (July 2009), 624.

  44. 44.

    Nigel Saul, “Terry Jones’s Richard II” in The Medieval Python, 52.

  45. 45.

    Peter Nicholson, “Gower’s Manuscript of the Confessio Amantis” in The Medieval Python, 76.

  46. 46.

    Driver, “Making Medievalism,” 1.

Bibliography

  • Andrew, Malcolm. Review of Chaucer: A Bibliographical Introduction by John Leyerle and Anne Quick. Speculum 63, no. 3 (July 1988): 695–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, Graham, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin with Bob McCabe. The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleese, John. So, Anyway…. New York: Crown Archetype, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, Martha. “Making Medievalism.” In The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, edited by R.F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya, 151–165. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fyler, John M. Review of Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary. The Yearbook of English Studies 12 (1982): 235–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaylord, Alan T. Review of Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale”: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900–1985. Speculum 69, no. 1 (January 1994): 211–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardman, Phillipa. Review of Chaucer’s Knight: Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary. The Review of English Studies New Series, 33, no. 131 (August 1982): 311–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Kim “Howard”. Life Before and After Monty Python: The Solo Flights of the Flying Circus. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Terry. Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary. Revised edition with new Introduction. London: Methuen London, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Terry. “The Image of Chaucer’s Knight.” In Speaking Images: Essays in Honor of V. A. Kolve, edited by Robert F. Yeager and Charlotte C. Morse, 205–236. Asheville, NC: Pegasus Press, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Terry. “The Middle Ages of Reason.” The Guardian, February 8, 2004. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/feb/08/highereducation.news. Accessed April 5, 2015.

  • Jones, Terry and Alan Ereira, Crusades. London: Penguin Books/BBC Books, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Terry, Robert Yeager, Terry Dolan, Alan Fletcher, and Juliette Dor. Who Murdered Chaucer? New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Josipovici, Gabriel. “Imperfect Knight.” Review of Chaucer’s Knight by Terry Jones, Chaucer, Langland and the Creative Imagination by David Aers, and The Golden Age by Marcel Thomas. London Review of Books 2, no. 7 (April 17 1980): 7–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ken, P. “An Interview with Terry Jones.” IGN Filmforce. January 21, 2004, http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/01/21/an-interview-with-terry-jones. Accessed April 2, 2015.

  • Kolve, V. A. “Young Jones at Oxford, 1961–62.” In The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, edited by R.F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya, 13–25. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, David. Monty Python Speaks! New York: Avon Books, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, Gerald. “The Dignity of Langland’s Meed.” Modern Language Review 104, no. 3 (July 2009): 623–639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson, Peter. “Gower’s Manuscript of the Confessio Amantis. ” In The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, edited by R.F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya, 75–86. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Palin, Michael. Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palin, Michael. “Terry Jones: The Complete Medievalist.” In The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, edited by R.F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya, 55–58. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pixley, Andrew. “Viewing Notes.” in The Complete and Utter History of Britain. 3-disc set. Directed by Maurice Murphy. London, England: ITV Studios, Ltd., 2013. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saul, Nigel. “Terry Jones’s Richard II.” In The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, edited by R.F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya, 39–54. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Terry Jones for his cooperation with this project, and Wade Wilcox and Christopher Garrett-Kern for their help in its preparation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA

    Kevin F. Kern

Authors
  1. Kevin F. Kern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Theatre and Dance, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Paul N. Reinsch

  2. Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    B. Lynn Whitfield

  3. Texas Tech University Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Robert G. Weiner

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kern, K.F. (2017). From Silly to Scholarly: The Complete and Utter History of Terry Jones. In: Reinsch, P., Whitfield, B., Weiner, R. (eds) Python beyond Python. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51385-0_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation