Clive James

Clive James
AO CBE
Born Vivian Leopold James
(1939-10-07) 7 October 1939
Kogarah, Sydney, Australia
Occupation Essayist, poet, broadcaster
Nationality Australian
Notable works

Cultural Amnesia

Unreliable Memoirs
Notable awards Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature
Spouse Prudence A. ("Prue") Shaw
Children Claerwen James
Lucinda James
Website
clivejames.com

Clive James AO CBE FRSL (born Vivian Leopold James, 7 October 1939) is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1962.[1]

Early life

James was born Vivian Leopold James in Kogarah, a southern suburb of Sydney. He was allowed to change his name as a child because "after Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O'Hara the name became irrevocably a girl's name no matter how you spelled it".[2] He chose "Clive", the name of Tyrone Power's character in the 1942 film This Above All.[3]

James's father was taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. Although he survived the prisoner of war camp, he died when the aeroplane returning him to Australia crashed in Manila Bay; he was buried at Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong. James, who was an only child, was brought up by his mother, a factory worker,[4] in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, after living some years with his English maternal grandfather.[2]

In Unreliable Memoirs, James says an IQ test taken in childhood put his IQ at 140.[5] He was educated at Sydney Technical High School (despite winning a bursary award to Sydney Boys High School) and the University of Sydney, where he studied English and Psychology from 1957 to 1960, and became associated with the Sydney Push, a libertarian, intellectual subculture. At the university, he edited the student newspaper, Honi Soit, and directed the annual Union Revue. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English in 1961. After graduating, James worked for a year as an assistant editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.

In early 1962, James moved to England, where he made his home. During his first three years in London, he shared a flat with the Australian film director Bruce Beresford (disguised as "Dave Dalziel" in the first three volumes of James' memoirs), was a neighbour of Australian artist Brett Whiteley, became acquainted with Barry Humphries (disguised as "Bruce Jennings") and had a variety of occasionally disastrous short-term jobs (sheet metal worker, library assistant, photo archivist, market researcher).

James later gained a place at Pembroke College, Cambridge, to read English literature. While there, he contributed to all the undergraduate periodicals, was a member and later President of the Cambridge Footlights, and appeared on University Challenge as captain of the Pembroke team, beating St Hilda's, Oxford but losing to Balliol on the last question in a tied game. During one summer vacation, he worked as a circus roustabout to save enough money to travel to Italy.[6] His contemporaries at Cambridge included Germaine Greer (known as "Romaine Rand" in the first three volumes of his memoirs), Simon Schama and Eric Idle. Having, he claims, 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 Ph.D. thesis on Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Career

Critic and essayist

James became the television critic for The Observer in 1972,[4] remaining in the job until 1982. Selections from the column were published in three books—Visions Before Midnight, The Crystal Bucket and Glued to the Box—and finally in a compendium, On Television.

He has written literary criticism extensively for newspapers, magazines and periodicals in Britain, Australia and the United States, including, among many others, The Australian Book Review, The Monthly, The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Review of Books, The Liberal and the Times Literary Supplement. John Gross 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 (2004), The Meaning of Recognition (2005) and Cultural Amnesia (2007), a collection of miniature intellectual biographies of over 100 significant figures in modern culture, history and politics. A defence of humanism, liberal democracy and literary clarity, the book was listed among the best of 2007 by The Village Voice.

Another volume of essays, The Revolt of the Pendulum, was published in June 2009.

He has also published Flying Visits, a collection of travel writing for The Observer.

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.

Poet and lyricist

James has 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."[7]

He has published four mock-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).

During the 1970s he also collaborated on six albums of songs with Pete Atkin:

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 [that] the music of Pete Atkin continues to rank high among the blessings of my life, and on my behalf as well as his I bless you all for your attention".

In 2013, he issued his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. The work, adopting quatrains to translate the original's terza rima, was well received by Australian critics.[8][9] Writing for the New York Times,[10] Joseph Luzzi thought it often fails to capture the more dramatic moments of the Inferno, but that it is 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 a hundred 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; 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 has also written 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 included an excerpt from Unreliable Memoirs in The New Oxford Book of English Prose. John Carey chose Unreliable Memoirs as one of the fifty most enjoyable books of the twentieth 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 on the first series of So It Goes, the Granada Television pop music show. On the show when the Sex Pistols 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".[11]

James subsequently hosted the ITV show Clive James on Television, in which he showcased unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing television programmes from around the world, notably the Japanese TV show Endurance. After his defection to the BBC in 1989, he hosted a similarly-formatted programme called Saturday Night Clive (1988–1990) which initially screened on Saturday evening, returning as Saturday Night Clive on Sunday in its second series when it changed screening day and then Sunday Night Clive in its third and final series. 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. James hosted one of the early chat shows on Channel 4 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 in Las Vegas) for LWT (now ITV) and later switched to BBC, where he continued producing travel programmes, this time called Clive James' Postcard from... (beginning with Clive James' 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, 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, in Australia by the ABC and in the United States by the PBS 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."

A well known fan of motor racing, James presented the 1982, 1984 and 1986 official Formula One season review videos produced by the Formula One Constructors Association, more commonly known as FOCA. James, who attended most F1 races during the 1980s and is a friend of FOCA boss Bernie Ecclestone, 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 to coincide with their Formula One coverage in 1997.

He famously described Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his body-building days, as looking like a 'a brown condom full of walnuts.'[12]

Summing up the medium, he has said: "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 series A Point of View, with transcripts appearing in the "Magazine" section of BBC News Online. In this programme James discussed various issues with a slightly humorous slant. Topics covered included media portrayal of torture,[13] young black role models[14] and corporate rebranding.[15] Three of James's broadcasts in 2007 were shortlisted for the 2008 Orwell Prize.[16]

In October 2009 James read a radio version of his book The Blaze of Obscurity, on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week programme.[17]

In December 2009 James talked about the P-51 Mustang and other American fighter aircraft of World War II in The Museum of Curiosity on BBC Radio 4.[18]

In late 2009, James returned to presenting A Point of View for BBC Radio 4 with a series of thirteen talks.

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 has posted vlog conversations from his internet show Talking in the Library, including conversations with Ian McEwan, Cate Blanchett, Julian Barnes, Jonathan Miller and Terry Gilliam. In addition to the poetry and prose of James himself, the site features the works of other literary figures such as Les Murray and Michael Frayn, as well as the works of painters, sculptors and photographers such as John Olsen and Jeffrey Smart.

Theatre

In 2008 James performed in two self-titled shows at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival: Clive James in Conversation and Clive James in the Evening. He took the latter show on a limited tour of the UK in 2009.

Honours

In 1992, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). This was upgraded to Officer level (AO) in the 2013 Australia Day Honours.

James was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to literature and the media.[19]

In 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature. He has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sydney and the East Anglia. In April 2008, James was awarded a Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting by the judges of the Orwell Prize.[20]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010.[21]

He is an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge (his alma mater).

In the 2015 BAFTAs, James received a special award honouring his 50-year career.

Personal life

In 1968, at Cambridge,[22] James married Prudence A. ("Prue") Shaw,[1] an emeritus reader in Italian studies at University College London and the author of Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity. James and Shaw have two daughters. In April 2012, the Australian Channel Nine programme A Current Affair ran an item in which the former model Leanne Edelsten admitted to an eight-year affair with James beginning in 2004.[23] Shaw threw her husband out of the family home following the revelation.[1] Prior to this, for most of his working life, James divided his time between a converted warehouse flat in London and the family home in Cambridge. He maintained a general policy of not talking about his family publicly, although he has made occasional self-deprecating comments in his various memoirs about some of his experiences of living in a house with three women.

After the death of his friend Diana, Princess of Wales, James wrote a piece for The New Yorker entitled "I Wish I'd Never Met Her", recording his overwhelming grief.[24] Since then he has mainly declined to comment about their friendship, apart from some remarks in his fifth volume of memoirs Blaze of Obscurity.

James' political views have been prominent in much of his later writing. While critical of communism for its tendency towards totalitarianism, he still identifies with the left. In a 2006 interview in The Sunday Times,[25] 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 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."[26]

Overall, James identifies as a liberal social democrat.[27] He strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying in 2007 that "the war only lasted a few days" and that the continuing conflict in Iraq was "the Iraq peace".[28] He has also written that it was "official policy to rape a woman in front of her family" during Saddam Hussein's regime and that women have enjoyed more rights since the invasion.[29] He is also currently a Patron of the Burma Campaign UK an organisation that campaigns for human rights and democracy in Burma.[30]

James has been noted for expressing views sympathetic to climate change scepticism.[31][32]

Describing religions as "advertising agencies for a product that doesn't exist", James is an atheist and sees this as the default and obvious position.[33][34]

James is able to read, with varying fluency, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Japanese.[35] A tango enthusiast, he has travelled to Buenos Aires for dance lessons and has a dance floor in his house which allows him to practise.[33]

Illness

For much of his early life, James was a heavy drinker and smoker. He recorded in May Week Was in June his habit of filling a hubcap ashtray daily.[36][37] At various times he wrote of attempts – intermittently successful – to give up drinking and smoking.[38] He admitted smoking 80 cigarettes a day for a number of years.[39] In April 2011, after media speculation that he had suffered kidney failure,[40] James confirmed that he was suffering from B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and had been in treatment for 15 months at Addenbrooke's Hospital.[41] In an interview with BBC Radio 4 in June 2012, James admitted that the disease "had beaten him" and that he was "near the end".[42] He said that he was also diagnosed with emphysema and kidney failure in early 2010.[43]

On 3 September 2013, a television interview, Clive James: The Kid from Kogarah, was broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) with James interviewed by journalist Kerry O'Brien.[44] The interview was filmed in the library of his old college at Cambridge University.[44]

In a BBC interview with Charlie Stayt, broadcast on 31 March 2015, James described himself as "near to death but thankful for life".[45] However, in October 2015 he admitted to feeling "embarrassment" at still being alive thanks to experimental drug treatment.[46]

Bibliography

Books

Year Genre Title Notes
1974 Non-fiction The Metropolitan Critic
1975 Poetry The Fate of Felicity Fark in the Land of the Media: a moral poem
1976 Poetry Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World
1976 Poetry Britannia Bright's Bewilderment in the Wilderness of Westminster
1977 Poetry Fan-mail: seven verse letters
1977 Non-fiction Visions Before Midnight: television criticism from the Observer 1972-76
1979 Non-fiction At the Pillars of Hercules
1980 Autobiography Unreliable Memoirs
1981 Poetry Charles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne
1981 Non-fiction The Crystal Bucket: television criticism from the Observer 1976-79
1982 Non-fiction From the Land of Shadows
1983 Fiction Brilliant Creatures
1983 Poetry Poem of the Year
1983 Non-fiction Glued to the Box: television criticism from the Observer 1979–82
1984 Non-fiction Flying Visits: Postcards from the Observer, 1976–83
1985 Autobiography Falling Towards England
1986 Poetry Other Passports: poems 1958–1985
1987 Fiction The Remake
1988 Non-fiction Snakecharmers in Texas: essays 1980–87
1990 Autobiography May Week Was in June
1991 Non-fiction Clive James On Television A one-volume edition of the television criticism books
1991 Fiction Brrm! Brrm! Released in the United States as The Man From Japan (1993)
1992 Non-fiction The Dreaming Swimmer: non-fiction, 1987–1992
1993 Non-fiction Fame in the 20th Century
1996 Fiction The Silver Castle
2003 Poetry The Book of My Enemy Poetry and lyrics
2004 Non-fiction Even as We Speak: New Essays 1993–2001
2005 Non-fiction The Meaning of Recognition: New Essays 2001–2005
2006 Autobiography North Face of Soho
2007 Non-fiction Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts
2009 Autobiography The Blaze of Obscurity
2009 Poetry Opal Sunset: Selected Poems 1958–2009
2009 Non-fiction The Revolt of the Pendulum: Essays 2005–2009
2011 Non-fiction A Point of View Reproductions of sixty BBC Radio 4 10-minute segments from 2007 to 2009
2012 Poetry Nefertiti in the Flak Tower
2013 Translation (Epic Poem) Dante's Divine Comedy Translation in quatrains, of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy
2014 Non-Fiction Poetry Notebook 2006–2014 Essays and collected columns on poetry
2015 Poetry Sentenced to Life
2015 Non-Fiction Latest Readings
2016 Non-Fiction Play All

List of poems

Title Year First published Reprinted/collected
Beachmaster 2009 James, Clive (April 2009). "Beachmaster". The Monthly. 
Early to bed 2013 James, Clive (April 2013). "Early to bed". Australian Book Review. 350: 25. 
Leçons de ténèbres 2013 James, Clive (June 3, 2013). "Leçons de ténèbres". The New Yorker. 89 (16): 64. 

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Robert McCrum "Clive James – a life in writing", The Guardian, 5 July 2013
  2. 1 2 James, C., Unreliable Memoirs, Pan Books, 1981, p. 29.
  3. ↑ "A Writer Whose Pen Never Rests, Even Facing Death". New York Times. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 Decca Aitkenhead "Clive James: 'I would have been an obvious first choice for cocaine death. I could use up a lifetime's supply of anything in two weeks'", The Guardian, 25 May 2009
  5. ↑ James, C., Unreliable Memoirs, Pan Books, 1981, p. 59.
  6. ↑ James, C.,'May Week Was In June', Jonathan Cape, 1990, p.49 .
  7. ↑ Garner, Dwight (24 July 2007). "The Book of My Enemy". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Peter Craven, 'Master craftsman's crowning glory,' at The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Peter Goldsworthy, 'Clive James's Dante is simply divine,' at The Australian, 1 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Joseph Luzzi,'This Could Be 'Heaven', or This Could Be 'Hell',' at New York Times, 19 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "The Observer, November 1976". Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  12. ↑ Clive James, 'The North Face of Soho,Pan Macmillan 2009 p.216.
  13. ↑ James, Clive (30 March 2007). "The clock's ticking on torture". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  14. ↑ "Young, gifted and black". BBC News Magazine. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  15. ↑ James, Clive (16 February 2007). "The name-changing fidgets". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  16. ↑ "Shortlist 2008", The Orwell Prize
  17. ↑ "Book of the Week – The Blaze of Obscurity". BBC. 19 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
  18. ↑ "Museum of Curiosity on Radio 4 web site". BBC. 25 December 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  19. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60009. p. 7. 31 December 2011.
  20. ↑ Stephen Brook (25 April 2008). "Hari and James take Orwell prizes". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2008.
  21. ↑ "Royal Society of Literature All Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  22. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  23. ↑ "Star's secret affair". ninemsn: A Current Affair. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  24. ↑ Clive James on Diana
  25. ↑ Appleyard, Bryan (12 November 2006). "Interview Clive James". The Times. London. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  26. ↑ "On the Eve of Disaster"
  27. ↑ Arts Today with Michael Cathcart 12/12/2001
  28. ↑ "Bill Moyers talks with Cultural Critic, Clive James.". Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  29. ↑ "Still looking for the western feminists". BBC News. 22 May 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  30. ↑ "The Burma Campaign UK: AboutUs". Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  31. ↑ "Programme 1: On Climate Change". clivejames.com. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  32. ↑ Monbiot, George (2 November 2009). "Clive James isn't a climate change sceptic, he's a sucker – but this may be the reason". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  33. 1 2 "Enough Rope with Andrew Denton – episode 84: Clive James (04/07/2005)". Retrieved 16 September 2008.
  34. ↑ "Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Clive James at the Edinburgh Book Festival". Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  35. ↑ Haynes, Deborah (12 May 2007). "Culture vulture". The Times. London. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  36. ↑ Clive James, May Week Was in June,(1990) Picador 1991 p.230'I also installed my ashtray: a hubcap off a Bedford van, it could hold the stubs of eighty cigarettes, so I only had to empty it once a day.'
  37. ↑ Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2006 p.141:'I smoked so much that I needed the hubcap of a Bedford van as an ashtray. I had found the hubcap lying in the gutter of Trumpington Street, and thought: 'That will make an ideal ashtray.'
  38. ↑ Smoking the Memory | clivejames.com In A Point of View he notes that this account of giving up smoking needed updating as he had gone back to it.
  39. ↑ "Smoking, my lost love". BBC News. 3 August 2007.
  40. ↑ "Clive James battles leukaemia"
  41. ↑ "I'm battling leukaemia, reveals broadcaster Clive James". London: Daily Mail. 30 April 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  42. ↑ "Clive James tells BBC "I am dying, I am near the end"". Belfast Telegraph. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  43. ↑ "Clive James: 'I'm getting near the end'". BBC News: Entertainment and Arts. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  44. 1 2 "Clive James – The Kid From Kogarah". ABC TV Arts ABC1. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  45. ↑ Clive James; Charlie Stayt (31 March 2015). Clive James 'near to death but thankful for life' (Video). London: BBC.
  46. ↑ "Clive James: 'Still being alive is embarrassing". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-05-29.

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