BOOK REVIEW: SERIOUSLY SILLY – THE LIFE OF TERRY JONES by Robert Ross

BOOK REVIEW: SERIOUSLY SILLY – THE LIFE OF TERRY JONES by Robert Ross
Coronet/Hachette, 2025
Paperback
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
88%

Monty Python keypin Terry Jones’ life is wonderfully scrutinised by long-time colleague and friend Robert Ross, a “comedy historian” who has done similar works covering Peter Sellers, Marty Feldman and Sid James, and was enlisted by Jones himself to write the book Jones didn’t want to write himself.

What unfolds is a funny, heartfelt, and also very balanced look at Jones’ life – celebrating his epic successes but also never shirking from his foibles, mistakes, failures personal and professional, not to mention his final years where dementia sadly changed him irrevocably.

Helped along by a Foreword courtesy of one of Jones’ oldest friends and Python comrade, Michael Palin, a Middle Word by fellow Pythoneer Eric Idle, and even an Afterword by another Pythonist and fellow Terry, Terry Gilliam, as well as ample contributions by Jones’ two wives, kids and colleagues, what unfolds is an illuminating story of a life mostly well lived, a man who loved nothing more than good friends, good food, good drink, good work and good conversation – even good arguments.

The Python shows and movies are well covered, of course – as are his prior university productions, his movies, books, and a later career tangent presenting historical shows.

The most surprising parts of this illuminating biography, though, are in depth looks into the eco-friendly magazine Vole which he sunk a fair wedge of cash into, and his brewery and campaign to champion Real Ale, both causes he believed strongly in but which were not huge commercial successes. As with many creatives, an ideal can be harder to manifest in the real world.

As a final surprise, we discover that after death his brain was frozen to aid in medical research, and if that isn’t the foundation of a Monty Python sketch, I don’t know what is.

Category: Book Reviews