Terry Jones archive donated to the BFI

We’re delighted to announce that film material from The Terry Jones Archive related to Jones’s professional work has been donated by the Jones family to the BFI National Archive for preservation. The collection of film includes Jones’s personal 16mm copies of the Python feature films, a 35mm print of his film adaptation of The Wind in the Willows (1996) and early sketches from series including The Late Show (BBC, 1966 to 1967).

News of the donation was revealed on Saturday as part of a celebratory event at BFI Southbank, Terry Jones: The Renaissance Man, hosted by BFI Archive TV programmer Dick Fiddy. The event remembered the late director, writer, historian, performer, presenter and Python’s multiple talents, five years after his passing, looking back over his glittering career with memorable and rare clips, including some from his own archive and contributions from friends, family and colleagues. Contributors and guests included Sir Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, John Cleese, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jones’s daughter Sally Jones and comedy historian and close friend Robert Ross, whose new biography Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones was launched at the event and is published on 6 November.

“We are delighted to receive this collection of personal prints and film materials from The Terry Jones Archive,” said Lisa Kerrigan, Senior Curator of Television at the BFI National Archive. “Like many filmmakers Terry kept prints and film copies of his work and we are grateful to the Jones family for entrusting the preservation of these to the BFI National Archive. They are a testament to all of his many, many talents and will join programmes such as Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python’s Flying Circus that are already preserved as part of the national television archive, as well as the personal film collection of fellow Python Terry Gilliam.”

Sally Jones, Terry’s daughter, said, “Dad was a longtime supporter of the BFI. I remember being brought along to screenings of classic films from an early age. From the wonderfully obscure to the almost forgotten, BFI Southbank shows films that you cannot see anywhere else and helps keep film alive. Dad had a huge place in his heart for the work of the BFI so the BFI National Archive was the obvious choice to preserve and safeguard his film collection.”