Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic,
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Clive James — writer, TV broadcaster and critic — dies aged 80 ''ABC News'', 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019. He began his career specialising in literary criticism before becoming television critic for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' in 1972, where he made his name for his wry,
deadpan
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blun ...
humour.
During this period, he earned an independent reputation as a poet and
satirist
This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires.
Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...
. He achieved mainstream success in the UK first as a writer for television, and eventually as the lead in his own programmes, including '' ...on Television''.
Early life
James was born Vivian Leopold James in
Kogarah
Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area.
Loca ...
, a southern suburb of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. He was allowed to change his name as a child because "after
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...
played
Scarlett O'Hara
Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the m ...
the name became irrevocably a girl's name no matter how you spelled it".James, C., ''Unreliable Memoirs'', Pan Books, 1981, p. 29. He chose "Clive", the name of
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include '' Jesse James'', ...
's character in the 1942 film '' This Above All''.
James's father, Albert Arthur James, was taken prisoner by the Japanese during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Although he survived the
prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
, he died when the American
B-24
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
carrying him and other freed allied POWs ran into the tail of a typhoon en route from Okinawa to Manila, and crashed into the mountains of southeastern Taiwan. He was buried at
Sai Wan War Cemetery
Sai Wan War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in Chai Wan, Hong Kong which was built in 1946. The cemetery was created to commemorate soldiers of Hong Kong Garrison who perished during the Second World War. The cemetery also contains 12 Wo ...
in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
Jannali
Jannali is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Jannali is located 28 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Sutherland Shi ...
, living some years with his English maternal grandfather.
He was educated at
Sydney Technical High School
Sydney Technical High School (STHS) is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in Bexley, a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1911 as part of Sydney Techn ...
Sydney Boys High School
Sydney Boys High School (”SBHS”), otherwise known as The Sydney High School (“SHS”) or High, is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically s ...
) and the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, where he studied English and psychology from 1957 to 1960, and became associated with the
Sydney Push
The Sydney Push was an intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual w ...
, a
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
intellectual subculture. At the university, he contributed to the student newspaper, ''
Honi Soit
''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrevia ...
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
with Honours in English in 1961. After graduating, James worked for a year as an assistant editor for the magazine page at ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
''.
In 1962, James moved to England, which became his home for the rest of his life. During his first three years in London, he shared a flat with the Australian film director
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.
Beresford's notable films he has directed include ''Br ...
(disguised as "Dave Dalziel" in the first three volumes of James's memoirs), was a neighbour of Australian artist
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitions ...
, became acquainted with
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film prod ...
(disguised as "Bruce Jennings") and had a variety of occasionally disastrous short-term jobs – sheet metal worker, library assistant, photo archivist and market researcher.
James gained a place at Pembroke College,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, to read
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
. While there, he contributed to all the undergraduate periodicals, was a member and later President of the
Cambridge Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University.
History
Footlights' inaugural ...
, and appeared on ''
University Challenge
''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...
'' as captain of the Pembroke team, beating St Hilda's,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, but losing to Balliol on the last question in a tied game.
During one summer vacation, he worked as a circus
roustabout
Roustabout (Australia/New Zealand English: rouseabout) is an occupational term. Traditionally, it referred to a worker with broad-based, non-specific skills. In particular, it was used to describe show or circus workers who handled materials ...
to save enough money to travel to Italy. His contemporaries at Cambridge included
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literatu ...
(known as "Romaine Rand" in the first three volumes of his memoirs),
Simon Schama
Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University.
He fir ...
and
Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...
. Having, he claimed, scrupulously avoided reading any of the course material (but having read widely otherwise in English and foreign literature), James graduated with a 2:1—better than he had expected—and began a PhD thesis on
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
.
Career
Critic and essayist
James became the television critic for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' in 1972, remaining in the role until 1982.
Mark Lawson
Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme ''Front Row (radio programme), Front Row'' between 1998 and 2014. ...
described a James review as "so funny it was dangerous to read while holding a hot drink". He was at times merciless. Selections from the column were published in three books – ''
Visions Before Midnight
''Visions Before Midnight'' is a selection of the television criticism written by Clive James during his first four years (1972–1976) as ''The Observers weekly television critic. The selection begins with a piece on the 1972 Summer Olympics ...
'', ''The Crystal Bucket'' and '' Glued to the Box'' – and finally in a compendium, ''On Television''. He wrote literary criticism for newspapers, magazines and periodicals in Britain, Australia and the United States, including, among many others, the ''
Australian Book Review
''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are 'to ...
'', ''
The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
'', ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', ''
The Liberal
''The Liberal'' was a London-based magazine "dedicated to promoting liberalism around the world", which ran in print from 2004 to 2009 and online until 2012. The publication explored liberal attitudes to a range of cultural issues, and encouraged ...
'' and ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
''.
John Gross
John Gross FRSL (12 March 1935 – 10 January 2011) was an eminent English man of letters. A leading intellectual, writer, anthologist, and critic, ''The Guardian'' (in a tribute titled "My Hero") and ''The Spectator'' were among several pub ...
included James's essay "A Blizzard of Tiny Kisses" in the ''Oxford Book of Essays'' (1992, 1999).
''The Metropolitan Critic'' (1974), his first collection of literary criticism, was followed by ''At the Pillars of Hercules'' (1979), ''From the Land of Shadows'' (1982), ''Snakecharmers in Texas'' (1988), ''The Dreaming Swimmer'' (1992), ''Even As We Speak'' (2001), ''The Meaning of Recognition'' (2005) and ''
Cultural Amnesia
Cultural Amnesia (CA) are an English post-punk music group, first active between 1979 and 1983 as participants in the so-called cassette culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s in the UK. During this first period the band released three cass ...
'' (2007), a collection of miniature intellectual biographies of over 100 significant figures in modern culture, history and politics. A defence of
humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
,
liberal democracy
Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
and literary clarity, the book was listed among the best of 2007 by ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''. Another volume of essays, ''The Revolt of the Pendulum'', was published in June 2009.
He also published ''Flying Visits'', a collection of
travel writing
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...
for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
''. For many years, until mid-2014, he wrote the weekly television critique page in the "Review" section of the Saturday edition of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
''.
Poet and lyricist
James published several books of poetry, including ''Poem of the Year'' (1983), a verse-diary; ''Other Passports: Poems 1958–1985'', a first collection; and ''The Book of My Enemy'' (2003), a volume that takes its title from his poem "The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered".
He published four
mock-heroic
Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works either put a fool in the role of the hero or exaggerate the heroic ...
poems – ''The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media: a moral poem'' (1975), ''Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World'' (1976), ''Britannia Bright's Bewilderment in the Wilderness of Westminster'' (1976) and ''Charles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne'' (1981) – and one long autobiographical epic, ''The River in the Sky'' (2018).
During the 1970s he also collaborated on six albums of songs with
Pete Atkin
Pete Atkin (born 22 August 1945) is a British singer-songwriter and radio producer, notable for his 1970s musical collaborations with Clive James and for producing the BBC Radio 4 series, '' This Sceptred Isle''.
Early life
Born in Cambridge, ...
:
* ''Beware of the Beautiful Stranger'' (1970)
* ''Driving Through Mythical America'' (1971)
* ''A King at Nightfall'' (1973)
* ''The Road of Silk'' (1974)
* ''Secret Drinker'' (1974)
* ''Live Libel'' (1975)
Atkin and James toured together to promote both the final album – a "contractual obligation" collection consisting of parodies and humour numbers written over the years - and James's own ''Felicity Fark'' epic poem. James wrote the album sleeve notes, which mostly linked the songs with thinly disguised jibes at popular artists and trends. On stage James both read from his poem, and introduced the album songs. Despite the success of the tour, there were no more recordings by Atkin, who pursued other opportunities and eventually became a BBC radio producer.
A revival of interest in the songs in the late 1990s, triggered largely by the creation by Steve Birkill of an Internet mailing list "Midnight Voices" in 1997, led to the reissue of the six albums on CD between 1997 and 2001, as well as live performances by the pair. A double album of previously unrecorded songs written in the seventies and entitled ''The Lakeside Sessions: Volumes 1 and 2'' was released in 2002 and ''Winter Spring'', an album of new material written by James and Atkin was released in 2003. This was followed by ''Midnight Voices'', an album of remakes of the best Atkin/James songs from the early albums, and, in 2015, by ''The Colours of the Night'', which included several newly completed songs.
James acknowledged the importance of the ''Midnight Voices'' group in bringing to wider attention the lyric-writing aspect of his career. He wrote in November 1997, "That one of the midnight voices of my own fate should be the music of Pete Atkin continues to rank high among the blessings of my life".
In 2013, he issued his translation of
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
's ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
''. The work, adopting
quatrain
A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines.
Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...
s to translate the original's
terza rima
''Terza rima'' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rhy ...
, was well received by Australian critics. Writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Joseph Luzzi thought it often failed to capture the more dramatic moments of the ''Inferno'', but that it was more successful where Dante slows down, in the more theological and deliberative cantos of the ''Purgatorio'' and ''Paradiso''.
Novelist and memoirist
In 1980 James published his first book of autobiography, '' Unreliable Memoirs'', which recounted his early life in Australia and extended to over 100 reprintings. It was followed by four other volumes of autobiography: ''Falling Towards England'' (1985), which covered his London years; ''May Week Was in June'' (1990), which dealt with his time at
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
; ''North Face of Soho'' (2006); and ''The Blaze of Obscurity'' (2009), concerning his subsequent career as a television presenter. An omnibus edition of the first three volumes was published under the generic title of ''Always Unreliable''. James also wrote four novels: ''Brilliant Creatures'' (1983); ''The Remake'' (1987); ''Brrm! Brrm!'' (1991), published in the United States as ''The Man from Japan''; and ''The Silver Castle'' (1996).
In 1999,
John Gross
John Gross FRSL (12 March 1935 – 10 January 2011) was an eminent English man of letters. A leading intellectual, writer, anthologist, and critic, ''The Guardian'' (in a tribute titled "My Hero") and ''The Spectator'' were among several pub ...
included an excerpt from ''Unreliable Memoirs'' in ''The New Oxford Book of English Prose''. John Carey chose ''Unreliable Memoirs'' as one of the 50 most enjoyable books of the 20th century in his book ''Pure Pleasure'' (2000).
Television
James developed his television career as a guest commentator on various shows, including as an occasional co-presenter with
Tony Wilson
Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4.
As a co-founder of ...
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
pop music show. On the show when the
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...
made their TV debut, James commented: "During the recording, the task of keeping the little bastards under control was given to me. With the aid of a radio microphone, I was able to shout them down, but it was a near thing ... they attacked everything around them and had difficulty in being polite even to each other".
James subsequently hosted the
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
show ''
Clive James on Television
''...on Television'' or ''...on TV'', is a long-running late night television programme on ITV. The programme, which was made first by LWT and then Granada Productions, featured a number of clips from unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing ...
'', in which he showcased unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing television programmes from around the world, notably the Japanese TV show ''
Endurance
Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...
''. After his move to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
in 1988, he hosted a similarly-formatted programme called ''Saturday Night Clive'' (1989–1991), which began on
BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
but was popular enough to move to
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
in 1991. It returned in 1994 on Sunday nights, under the title ''Sunday Night Clive''.
In 1995 he set up Watchmaker Productions to produce ''The Clive James Show'' for ITV, and a subsequent series launched the British career of singer and comedian
Margarita Pracatan
Margarita Pracatan (born Margarita Figueroa; 11 June 1931 – 23 June 2020) was a Cuban-born novelty singer, who became well-known in the 1990s when she performed regularly on Clive James' TV show in Britain.
Biography
Margarita Figueroa was bor ...
. James hosted one of the early chat shows on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
and fronted the BBC's ''Review of the Year'' programmes in the late 1980s (''Clive James on the '80s'') and 1990s (''Clive James on the '90s''), which formed part of the channel's New Year's Eve celebrations.
In the mid-1980s, James featured in a travel programme called ''Clive James in...'' (beginning with ''Clive James Live in Las Vegas'') for
LWT
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
(now
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
) and later switched to
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, where he continued producing travel programmes, this time called '' Clive James's Postcard from...'' (beginning with ''Clive James's Postcard from Miami'') – these also eventually transferred to ITV. He was also one of the original team of presenters of the BBC's ''
The Late Show The Late Show may refer to:
Books
* ''The Late Show'' (book), a 2017 book by Michael Connelly
Film
* ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film
* ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl
Music
* ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Loc ...
'', hosting a round-table discussion on Friday nights.
His major documentary series '' Fame in the 20th Century'' (1993) was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, in Australia by the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and in the United States by the
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
network. This series dealt with the concept of "fame" in the 20th century, following over a course of eight episodes (each one chronologically and roughly devoted to one decade of the century, from the 1900s to the 1980s) discussions about world-famous people of the 20th century. Through the use of film footage, James presented a history of "fame" which explored its growth to today's global proportions. In his closing monologue he remarked, "Achievement without fame can be a rewarding life, while fame without achievement is no life at all."
Clive also participated as a contestant on the 42nd episode of Japanese game show ''
Takeshi's Castle
is a Japanese game show that aired between 1986 and 1990 on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). It features the Japanese comedian Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi) as a count who owns a castle and sets up difficult physical challeng ...
'' and made a short documentary about it.
A well known fan of
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
, James presented the , and official
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
season review videos produced by the
Formula One Constructors Association
The Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) was an organization of the chassis builders (constructors) who design and build the cars that race in the FIA Formula One World Championship. It evolved from the earlier ''Formula 1 Constructors ...
, more commonly known as FOCA. James, who attended most F1 races during the 1980s and was a friend of former FOCA boss
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns ...
, added his own humour to the reviews which became popular with fans of the sport. He also presented ''The Clive James Formula 1 Show'' for
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
to coincide with their
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
coverage in .
He summed up the medium in the introduction to ''Glued to the Box'': "Anyone afraid of what he thinks television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world."
Radio
In 2007, James started presenting the
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
series ''A Point of View'', with transcripts appearing in the "Magazine" section of
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...
. In this programme James discussed various issues with a slightly humorous slant. Topics covered included media portrayal of torture, young black role models and corporate
rebranding
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
. Three of James's broadcasts in 2007 were shortlisted for the 2008
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...
.
In October 2009, James read a radio version of his book ''The Blaze of Obscurity'' on BBC Radio 4's ''
Book of the Week
''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...
'' programme. In December 2009, James talked about the
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
and other American fighter aircraft of World War II in ''The Museum of Curiosity'' on BBC Radio 4.
In May 2011, the BBC published a new podcast, ''A Point of View: Clive James'', which features all sixty ''A Point of View'' programmes presented by James between 2007 and 2009.
He posted
vlog
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...
conversations from his internet show ''Talking in the Library'', including conversations with
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...
,
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received nu ...
,
Julian Barnes
Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' Art ...
,
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...
and
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...
. In addition to the poetry and
prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
of James himself, the site featured the works of other literary figures such as Les Murray and
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the Mo ...
, as well as the works of painters, sculptors and photographers such as
John Olsen
John Wayne Olsen, AO (born 7 June 1945) is a former Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, C ...
and
Jeffrey Smart
Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions".
Smart was born and educated ...
.
Theatre
In 2008 James performed in two eponymous shows at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
: ''Clive James in Conversation'' and ''Clive James in the Evening''. He took the latter show on a limited tour of the UK in 2009.
Famous lines
He famously described
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
, in his bodybuilding days, as looking like "a brown condom full of walnuts".
He described the outfit
Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...
wore in her 1989 music video of "
If I Could Turn Back Time
"If I Could Turn Back Time" is a song by American singer and actress Cher from her 1989 nineteenth studio album '' Heart of Stone''. It was released as the album's lead single in July 1989, by Geffen Records. The song was written specifically f ...
" as a "Dress-less Evening Strap".
He described
Murray Walker
Graeme Murray Walker (10 October 1923 – 13 March 2021) was an English motorsport commentator and journalist. He provided television commentary of live Formula One coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV between 1997 and 2001 ...
, the motor-racing commentator, as "talking as if his trousers are on fire".
He described the voice of Greek singer
Demis Roussos
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...
of "having the sound of a Chihuahua caught in a revolving Dalmatian".
He described the romantic novelist
Barbara Cartland
Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland, (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) published as Barbara Cartland was an English writer, known as the Queen of Romance, who published both contemporary romance, contemporary and historical romance novels, the lat ...
as having "Twin miracles of mascara, her eyes looked like the corpses of two small crows that had crashed into the white cliffs of Dover." He also used to call the Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
by the female name "Yasmin Arafat".
The origins of his famous remark "Whoever called snooker 'chess with balls' was rude but right" are set out by Edward Winter in his article "Clive James and Chess".
Honours
In 1992, James was made a Member of the
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
(AM). This was enhanced to Officer level (AO) in the
2013 Australia Day Honours The 2013 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2013 by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce.
The Australia Day Honours, the first major honours list for a calendar year, are announced on Australia Day (26 January) every ye ...
. James was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
honorary doctorates
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
from the Universities of Sydney and
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
. In April 2008, James was awarded a Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting by the judges of the
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...
.
He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
in 2010. He was an Honorary Fellow of
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...
(his alma mater). In the
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
BAFTAs
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...
, James received a special award honouring his 50-year career. In 2014, he was awarded the President's Medal by the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
.
James is celebrated with a plaque on the
Sydney Writers Walk
The Sydney Writers Walk is a series of 60 circular metal plaques embedded in the footpath between Overseas Passenger Terminal on West Circular Quay and the Sydney Opera House forecourt on East Circular Quay.
The plaques were installed to honour ...
on
Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...
. It includes an excerpt on
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
from ''Unreliable Memoirs''.
Political views
James's political views were prominent in much of his later writing. While
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
al of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
for its tendency towards
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
, he identified with the left for much of his life. In a 2006 interview in ''The Sunday Times'', James said of himself: "I was brought up on the proletarian left, and I remain there. The fair go for the workers is fundamental, and I don't believe the
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
has a mind." In a speech given in 1991, he criticised privatisation: "The idea that Britain's broadcasting system—for all its drawbacks one of the country's greatest institutions—was bound to be improved by being subjected to the conditions of a free market: there was no difficulty in recognising that notion as politically illiterate. But for some reason people did have difficulty in realising that it was economically illiterate too." In 2001, James identified as a liberal
social democrat
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
.
His later views were more commonly aligned with the political right. James strongly supported the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, saying in 2007 that "the war only lasted a few days" and that the continuing conflict in Iraq was "the Iraq peace". He also wrote that it was "official policy to rape a woman in front of her family" during
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
's regime and that women have enjoyed more rights since the invasion.
In 2017, James contributed a chapter to a book on climate change published by the
, advocating climate denialism.
Describing religions as "advertising agencies for a product that doesn't exist", James was an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
and saw it as the default and obvious position.
He was also a patron of the
Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) founded in 1991 is a London-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that aims to achieve the restoration of basic human rights and democracy in Burma (also known as Burma, Myanmar). BCUK campaigns on behalf of the Bur ...
, an organisation that campaigns for human rights and democracy in Burma.
Personal life
In 1968, at Cambridge, James married Prudence A. "Prue" Shaw, also Australian, a graduate of the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, the
University of Florence
The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.
History
The first universi ...
and
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...
. Shaw taught Italian language and literature at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, and at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
where, since retirement in 2003, she has been emeritus reader in Italian studies. She is the author of ''Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity''. James and Shaw had two daughters, one of whom is the artist
Claerwen James
Claerwen Laura James (born October 1970) is a British painter.
Early life
James is the daughter of the Australian journalist Clive James and his wife, the scholar Prudence "Prue" Shaw. James studied zoology at the University of Oxford.
Career ...
. In April 2012, the Australian Channel Nine programme ''
A Current Affair
''A Current Affair'' may refer to:
* ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network
* ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...
'' ran an item in which the former model Leanne Edelsten admitted to an eight-year affair with James beginning in 2004. Shaw evicted her husband from the family home following the revelation.Robert McCru "Clive James – a life in writing" ''The Guardian'', 5 July 2013 Before this, for most of his working life, James divided his time between a converted warehouse flat in London and the family home in Cambridge.
After the death of
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
, James wrote a piece for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' entitled "Requiem", recording his overwhelming grief. From then he mainly declined to comment about their friendship, apart from some remarks in his fifth volume of memoirs, ''Blaze of Obscurity''.
James was able to read, with varying fluency, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Japanese. A
tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
enthusiast, he travelled to
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
for dance lessons and had a dance floor in his house.
James was a lifelong fan of the
St George Dragons
The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...
Reg Gasnier
Reginald William "Reg" Gasnier (12 May 1939 – 11 May 2014) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australian national rugby league team, Australia in a then ...
who was a schoolmate at Sydney Technical High School. He guest presented one episode of '' The Footy Show'' in 2005.
Health and death
For much of his life, James was a heavy drinker and smoker. He recorded in ''May Week Was in June'' his habit of filling a
hubcap
A hubcap or hub cap is a decorative disk on an automobile wheel that covers at minimum the central portion of the wheel, called the hub. An automobile hubcap is used to cover the wheel hub and the wheel fasteners to reduce the accumulation o ...
ashtray daily. At various times he wrote of attempts – intermittently successful – to give up drinking and smoking. He smoked 80 cigarettes a day for a number of years before giving up in 2005. He had also given up, for 13 years, from his early 30s.
In April 2011, after media speculation that he had suffered kidney failure, James confirmed in June 2012 that
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). Early on, there are typically no symptoms. Later, non-painful lymph node swelling, feeling tired, fever, nigh ...
"had beaten him" and that he was "near the end". He said that he was also diagnosed with
emphysema
Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...
and
kidney failure
Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
in early 2010.
On 3 September 2013, an interview with journalist Kerry O'Brien, ''Clive James: The Kid from Kogarah'', was broadcast by the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
. The interview was filmed in the library of his old college at Cambridge University. In the extended interview, James discussed his illness and confronting mortality. James wrote the poem "Japanese Maple" which was published in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' in 2014 and described as his "farewell poem". ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it "a poignant meditation on his impending death".
In a BBC interview with
Charlie Stayt
Charles Jeffaries "Charlie" Stayt (born 19 June 1962) is a British newsreader and broadcaster. He is a journalist with the BBC as a presenter for ''BBC Breakfast''. In October 2015, he admitted to feeling "embarrassment" at still being alive thanks to experimental drug treatment.
Until June 2017, he wrote a weekly column for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' entitled "Reports of My Death...".
James died on 24 November 2019 at his home in Cambridge.
Bibliography
This is a partial bibliography of his works.
Non-fiction
*
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*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Memoirs
*
*
*
*
*
Novels
*
*
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*
Poetry
Epics
*
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Collections
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*
*— (2020). ''The Fire of Joy: Roughly 80 Poems to Get by Heart and Say Aloud''. ISBN 978-1529042085.
Translations
*In quatrains.
List of poems
See also
* ''
Clive James on Television
''...on Television'' or ''...on TV'', is a long-running late night television programme on ITV. The programme, which was made first by LWT and then Granada Productions, featured a number of clips from unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing ...
* , includes a video section of James's recorded video interviews with artists, writers, filmmakers and actors at the other end of the sofa at his London home.
*
*
"Interfacing With Clive James" Brendan Bernhard in ''
The New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...
Leicester Mercury
The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...
Australians for Constitutional Monarchy
Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) is a group that aims to preserve Australia's current constitutional monarchy, with Charles III as King of Australia. The group states that it is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation whose rol ...
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...