Terry Jones dies - Famous Python faded away

Fans of satirical comedy will lament the passing of Terry Jones, the Welsh actor, writer, film director, historian and founder-member of the Monty Python sketch team.

Fellow trouper John Cleese paid tribute to him saying: “It feels strange that a man of so many talents and such endless enthusiasm, should have faded so gently away…” He added: “Two down, four to go.”

Jones had a passion for the absurd that contributed to the anarchic humour of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. As a director, he enjoyed a rare distinction in Ireland: three of the films — The Meaning of Life, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Personal Services — were all banned here.

In the summer of 1979, Christians in the UK and US turned out to protest at screenings of Life of Brian. The campaigner against social liberalism, Mary Whitehouse, then at the height of her powers, led objections in Britain while nuns protested in New York. There were, however, no placards outside cinemas in Ireland.

There was no need, as Frank Hall, the film censor, placed a nationwide ban on the film as soon as it arrived here.

Hall, himself a skilled satirist, later quipped that Life of Brian was “offensive to Christians and to Jews as well, because it made them appear a terrible load of gobshites”.

That is the kind of quote that could have come straight out of any Monty Python offering.