Terry Jones was born in North Wales in 1942, and was educated at Oxford University. After graduation he worked as an actor, before joining the BBC's Light Entertainment Department as a scriptwriter in 1965. Four years later, he rose to fame as a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Terry has worked on all the Monty Python films, and has also written and directed a number of television documentaries and feature films, including adaptations of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows and his own story, Erik the Viking.

His first children's book, Fairy Tales, was published in 1981, and was a collection of stories written for his daughter, Sally. To make things fair, he wrote The Saga of Erik the Viking for his son Bill, which was inspired by a visit to a Viking exhibition.

Terry has always had a passion for mediaeval history and has been highly praised for his work on Chaucer and The Crusades.

He loved to read the Rupert stories as a child.