![\"Gilliam](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/palin-gilliam-in-sculptor-studio.jpg\"\/)
\n\u00a9\u00a0Bill & Ben Productions\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nude organist tribute to be unveiled in Colwyn Bay in April<\/p>\n
The statue of Terry Jones\u00a0 as the nude organist from Monty Python\u2019s Flying Circus is to be unveiled on April 25, it has been announced.<\/p>\n
It comes after comedy fans from around the world donated \u00a3120,000\u00a0 to the campaign, to raise a statue of the comedian in his hometown of Colwyn Bay, North Wales.<\/p>\n
Michael Palin\u00a0 said: \u2018Terry always insisted on doing his own stunts, and I think that sitting stark naked (apart from a tie) on Colwyn Bay promenade, in all weathers, is the ultimate tribute to the lengths he was always prepared to go to for comedy. I hope his wonderfully generous bottom will become an emblem of the town he loved so much.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\u00a9\u00a0Bill & Ben Productions\u00a0<\/p>\n
He and fellow Python Terry Gilliam \u2013\u00a0who led the way in the fundraising campaign \u2013\u00a0recently visited sculptor Nick Elphick as he unveiled the finished design.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Elphick said : \u2018Working with his family, they were saying he didn\u2019t have that sort of ego where he\u2019d want a statue of him being done.<\/p>\n
\u2018But actually a statue of one of his characters and him bringing his humour back, his art back, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to honour him.The fact that he\u2019s going to bring joy forever. It\u2019s just such an honour for me to be able to do.\u2019<\/p>\n
He revealed that he made seven heads and destroyed them all before finding one he was happy with.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Terry\u2019s daughter, Sally, added: \u2018Once we decided the best way to remember him was in character, it was so obvious that it had to be the nude organist. Dad\u2019s approach to comedy and life in general was non-conformist and convention defying; and the nude organist is perfect, as it was such a shock in those early days of television.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018When Python burst on the scene, in the late 1960\u2019s, they played with the structure of comedy, defying the convention of gag and punchline, with Graham Chapman dressed as a Field Marshall declaring sketches “too silly” to continue or with a naked Terry blowing up a Hammond organ in some remote field.<\/p>\n
\u2018The nude organist symbolises what made Python so special, captivating and new.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Statue](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/terry-jones-statue-design.jpg\"\/)
\n\u00a9 Nick Elphick<\/p>\n
In the final design, Elphick morphs the instrument into Terry\u2019s writing desk, to reflect other aspects of his multi-faceted career<\/p>\n
Also included are elements of his popular children\u2019s stories, Erik the Viking and Nicobobinus, frolicking across the bronze surface; while even the organ itself has sprouted suitably Pythonesque legs.<\/p>\n
Elphick added: \u2018I have put my heart and soul into this, every waking minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I feel all of the different elements in this statue will explain and express everything about Terry, in so many different ways. I have been given so much creative stimuli and inspiration, giving me complete free rein, artistically speaking.\u2019<\/p>\n
Throughout the next few months he will oversee the casting process to fully immortalize him in bronze.<\/p>\n
Steve Coogan, who worked with Terry on his film version of Wind in the Willows, has said the naked organist \u2018is both cheeky and a strangely profound expression of Terry\u2019s life a\ufb03rming anti-establishment anarchy!\u2019<\/p>\n