The Week UK 01Feb2020

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1February2020 THE WEEK

Obituaries

TerryJones,whohasdied
aged77,shottofameinthe
early1970sasamemberof
MontyPython’sFlying
Circus–thesix-strongtroupewhoseanarchic,
iconoclasticTVsketchshowcaptivated
audiencesonbothsidesoftheAtlantic,
andchangedthefaceofcomedy.Aswellas
appearingonscreeninavarietyofbizarre
guises,heco-wrotesomeofthePythons’most
memorablesketches,anddirectedthreeoftheir
featurefilms.Suchwastheirimpact,hewas
foreverafterreferredtoasthe“exPython”,
saidTheTimes,yethehadmanyotherstrings
tohisbow.Hewrotescreenplaysandchildren’s
books,andwasakeenamateurhistorianofthe
medievalperiod.Gregarious,effusiveand
affable,heoncesaidthathewasgladhehad
gonetotheUniversityofOxford,becausehe
mettwomentherewhochangedhislife:
MichaelPalinandGeoffreyChaucer.

TerryJoneswasborninColwynBayin1942,andbroughtupin
Surrey, where hisfatherworkedin abank.As aboy,helistened
to theGoonson the radio, and wasentranced. “Itwas the
surreality oftheimageryand thespeed ofthe comedythatI
loved,”he wrote.Hewasastar pupilat theRoyalGrammar
SchoolinGuildford,andfromtherewonaplaceto readEnglish
atSt EdmundHall,Oxford.JoiningtheExperimentalTheatre
Club, hestartedwritingandperformingmaterialwithPalin,a
fellowundergraduate, whowouldbecomealifelongfriend.On
graduating,theyfound work attheBBC, andin the late1960s,
collaboratedwithEricIdleandtheAmericananimatorTerry
Gilliamonthe surrealchildren’ssketchshowDoNot Adjust
YourSet.Soonafter,John Cleeseand hiswritingpartner
GrahamChapman(whohadmetatCambridge)contactedthem,
suggestingthey producesomematerialforanewshow together.
Conveniently,theBBCofferedthem a13-episodeseries.Their
firstchoiceofanameforthetroupewasBun,Wackett,Buzzard,
StubbleandBoot,buttheBBCrejectedit, sotheysettledon
Monty Python’sFlyingCircus. “It’ll nevercatchon,”wasJones’s

brother’sverdict.Theythenhadtodecidethe

show’sformat–whichwastrickier,saidThe

DailyTelegraph.JonesandPalin–the“Oxford

men”–hadamore“visual,anarchic”humour,

afreewheeling,streamofconsciousness

approachthatdidnotdependonpunchlines;

the“Cambridgemen”favouredmore

structuredsketches,withpunsandsharp,

clearly-signalledjokes.

Thistensionprovedcreative:theFlyingCircus

wasamassivehit,leadingtorecords,books

and(later)“concert”tours.Butbehindthe

scenes,therewasconsiderabledisharmony.

ThePythonsdisbandedin 197 3,before

reunitingin 1975 forthefilmMontyPython

andtheHolyGrail.Jonesco-directeditwith

GilliambeforetakingthereinssoloonLife

ofBrian(1979),asatireaboutayoungJewish

manwhoismistakenforJesus.Healsostarred

inthefilmand,asBrian’smother,Mandy,he

delivereditsmostfamousline:“He’snotthe

Messiah,he’saverynaughtyboy!”Althoughthefilmisnotabout

Christ,Lifeof Brianwasbannedasblasphemous inIreland and

byseveralcouncilsintheUK.JonesalsodirectedTheMeani ngof

Life( 1983 ), inwhichhe playedMr Creosote,theobesedinerwho

explodesin asmartrestaurantaftereatinga“wafer-thin”mint.

Jones’slaterfilmsas adirectorincludedPersonalServices(1987),

aboutthe British“madam”CynthiaPayne. Hewrotethe

screenplayfor the David Bowie filmLabyrinth(1986),andseveral

highlyregarded popularhistories.Inthe 2000s,he had acolumn

in TheGuardian,whichheused torailagainst the USinvasionof

Iraq.Jones wasmarriedfirsttoAlisonTelfer,withwhomhe had

twochildren.Heleftherin 2009 ,to marryhis loverAnna

Söderström,whomhehadmet atabooksigningwhenshe was

23. They hadonedaughter,in 2009,and married in2012.He
    was diagnosed withaformofdementia in2016. Asked oncewhat
    he’dlikewrittenon hisgravestone,Jonessaid hedidn’twant to
    be rememberedasaPython,butforhis children’sbooks,and the
    “academic stuff”.Those,hesaid,“aremybestbits”.

TerryJones

1942-2020

LorenzaMazzetti,who has

diedaged91,earned aplace

in Britishcinemahistory inthe

1950swhenshe co-founded

theFreeCinema documentary movement,a

precursortot he British New Wave.Its films

were typically shot in blackand white,using

hand-held cameras, and focusedoneveryday,

mainly working-class Britishsubjectsthat their

makersfeltwereoverlooked by the mainstream

industry.Mazzetti’s bestknownfilm,Together,

won aprizeatCannesin1956, but whileher

threecollaborators in themovement –Lindsay

Anderson, KarelReiszand Tony Richardson –

went onto make some of the seminalfilms of the

1960s, Mazzetti movedback to Italy, where she

became better knownasawriterand painter.

Lorenza Mazzetti wasborninRome in1928.After hermother

died, sheand hertwin sister were sent to Tuscany, wherethey

were raisedbyanaunt whowasmarried to Robert Einstein, a

cousin of Albert.She rememberedher childhoodas ahappyone

untilthe summer of 1944, whentheSSslaughteredher aunt and

her two cousins. Robertwas not at home at thetime,but killed

himselfayearlater. Mazzetti wasdeeplytraumatised. After the

War,she studied attheUniversity ofFlorence,

thenmovedtoLondon, whereshe worked asa

waitress. Findingthatsheenjoyeddrawing,she

applied totheSlade School.“You must letmein,

becauseIam agenius, ”she told itsdirector,

WilliamColdstr eam.

At theSlade she“liberated” somefilm-making

equipment tomakeafilm basedon Kafka’s

Metamorphosis.Ondiscovering the theft,

Coldstreamthreatenedtocall the police,but

was interested to see whatshe hadproduced:the

resultwas so impressivethatDenis Forman,the

director of theBritish Film Institute,gaveher a

granttomakeTogether.Filmedonlocation, it

stars the artists EdouardoPaolozziand Michael

Andrewsasprofoundlydeaf brotherswhowork

as dockersin the bomb-ravagedEast End. It was

asensation whenit wasscreened aspart of theFree Cinema

programme in 1956,but soonafter, MazzettireturnedtoItaly to

visit hersister, and fell intoadepression. Shenever worked in the

UK again,but she remain ed on good termswith herfriendsfrom

the B ritish film world. Sh ewrote sev eral books, includingthe

bestsellingIl cielocade(The SkyFalls); exhi bitedher paintings;

and formanyyears ranapopula rpuppet theatreinRome.

Lorenza

Mazzetti

1928-2020

Acclaimed writer, director, historian and Python

Jones:Chaucerchangedhislife

Mazzetti: “BecauseIamagenius”

Italian artist who was a pioneer of British cinema