FOR someone who's known for immortal lines like "He's not the Messiah – he's a very naughty boy", a lecture on Chaucer might sound like a serious prospect.

But for Terry Jones – one sixth of Monty Python's Flying Circus – it's a subject so close to his heart, he wants everyone to be as fascinated by it as he is.

Terry was at The Friars, in Aylesford, to give a keynote lecture entitled Who Murdered Chaucer? to 20 teachers helping Key Stage 3 pupils study his work.

The aim of the day, organised by the Prince's Teaching Institute for English teachers (PTI), was to help them bring Geoffrey Chaucer's work alive in the classroom.

He said: "I'm not showing teachers how to bring it alive in the classroom – I wouldn't begin to know how to do that. But I am hoping to give them an alternative take on Chaucer, another dimension to him and his work."

Terry has written two books on Chaucer and is regularly invited to give talks on the subject.

See Friday's Kent Messenger for the full story.