Monty Python legend theorizes Richard II victim of medieval spin

An English king who has been portrayed as a tyrant for 600 years was likely the victim of political spin, an international conference on medievalism was told in London yesterday.

Terry Jones, better known as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, showed his scholarly side as the provocative opening speaker for the weekend conference at the University of Western Ontario.

There were certainly laughs during his presentation in Conron Hall, such as when he described Niccolo Machiavelli as "a very naughty boy" or payments for pardons as "a very good bargain."
But when Jones had finished his 90-minute address on Richard II, he had made a case that the king's aborted reign was "a brave experiment in monarchial rule" usurped by the real tyrant,

Henry IV, his successor.

Jones said Richard made peace with France, a good thing for his people, but his reign was plagued by high-ranking plotters who killed 30 of his supporters and proved to be traitors.
Henry used brute force and censorship to establish his power and scared scribes of the day into revising history, said Jones.

It was largely they who gave Richard the bad rap that still dogs him, he said.
To give weight to his thesis, Jones showed slides of paintings and writings altered during Henry's rule and how writers of the day had changed their tunes about both Richard and Henry.
The legend of comedy received hearty applause at the end of his speech and praise from conference organizer, UWO professor Jane Toswell.

"With an opening address, one hopes for a provocative, well-researched, interesting and exciting speech, and we've certainly had that," said Toswell.

She encouraged Jones to write a book about his findings on Richard.

With such books as Chaucer's Knight and Who Murdered Chaucer? to his credit, Jones has already established himself as a credible historian, said Toswell.

In an interview, Jones said he has always enjoyed writing more than anything -- whether it has been writing comedy skits, movie screenplays, children's books or such contemporary works as his War on Terror.

In the early days of Monty Python, his writing and performing collaborators believed "we could be funnier than anything else that was on television."

But never did they think their comedy would endure to become classics, he said.

"We were just being as silly as we could be at the time," he said.

Jones said he remains good friends with his old Python pals -- John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam.

"It was a short period during our lives. We had a lot fun. But we never had a breakup like the Beatles."

Monty Python's Flying Circus was a series of 45 television shows that aired over four seasons in Britain between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Skits such as Dead Parrott, Spam and Nudge

Nudge became comedy classics.

After TV, the Pythons turned their talents to movies, making the last one in 1983.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was screened for the medievalists at Conron Hall last night.

By JOE MATYAS

From: London Free Press