As people remember Terry Jones, this letter outlining the censor’s suggested cuts to Holy Grail is a very funny read

As people pay tribute to Terry Jones, the Monty Python star who has died aged 77, this letter outlining the censor’s suggested cuts to Monty Python and the Holy Grail went viral all over again.

It was shared on Twitter by @LettersOfNote who had this to say about it.

‘RIP Terry Jones. I’ll never forget him turning up at the launch party for the Letters of Note book in 2013 & then reading aloud this letter about Monty Python & the Holy Grail. I could barely process it. He was the loveliest man.’

And here it is.

And just in case that’s tricky to read …

Dear Mike,

The censor’s representative, Tony Kerpel, came along to Friday’s screening at Twickenham and he gave us his opinion of the film’s probable certificate.

He thinks the film will be AA, but it would be possible, given some dialogue cuts, to make the film an A rating, which would increase the audience. (AA is 14 and over, and A is 5 – 14).

For an ‘A’ we would have to:

Lose as many shits as possible

Take Jesus Christ out, if possible

Lose ‘I fart in your general direction’

Lose ‘the oral sex‘

Lose ‘oh, fuck off’

Lose ‘We make castanets out of your testicles’

I would like to get back to the censor and agree to lose the shits, take the odd Jesus Christ out and lose Oh fuck off, but to retain ‘fart in your general direction’, ‘castanets of your testicles’ and ‘oral sex’ and ask him for an ‘A’ rating on that basis.

Please let me know as soon as possible your attitude to this.

Brilliant.

That is amazing. It actually reads like a Python script.

— Kal 🇬🇧🇹🇿🇮🇳 (@GoonerKal) January 22, 2020

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Simply 17 lovely tributes to Terry Jones, the Monty Python star who has died aged 77

Source Twitter @LettersOfNote Image Sony Pictures Entertainment