Clive James | |
|---|---|
 James in 2008 | |
| Born | Vivian Leopold James (1939-10-07)7 October 1939 Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 24 November 2019(2019-11-24) (aged 80) Cambridge,Cambridgeshire, England |
| Occupation |
|
| Alma mater | University of Sydney Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Notable works | Unreliable Memoirs Cultural Amnesia |
| Notable awards | Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 (includingClaerwen James) |
| Website | |
| clivejames | |
Clive JamesAO CBE FRSL (bornVivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic,journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.[1][2] He began his career specialising in literary criticism before becoming television critic forThe Observer in 1972, where he made his name for his wry,deadpan humour.
During this period, he earned an independent reputation as a poet andsatirist.[3] 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.
James was born Vivian Leopold James inKogarah, a southern suburb ofSydney. He was allowed to change his name as a child because "afterVivien Leigh playedScarlett O'Hara the name became irrevocably a girl's name no matter how you spelled it".[4] He chose "Clive", the name ofTyrone Power's character in the 1942 filmThis Above All.[5]
James' father, Albert Arthur James, was taken prisoner by the Japanese duringWorld War II. Although he survived theprisoner-of-war camp, he died when the AmericanB-24 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.[6] He was buried atSai Wan War Cemetery inHong Kong.[7] James would later state that his life's works originated in his father's death.[8]
James, an only child, was brought up by his mother (Minora May, née Darke), a factory worker, in the Sydney suburbs of Kogarah andJannali, living some years with his English maternal grandfather.[9][4][10]
He was educated atSydney Technical High School (despite winning abursary award toSydney Boys High School) and theUniversity of Sydney, where he read English and Psychology from 1957 to 1960, and became associated with theSydney Push, alibertarian intellectual subculture. At university, he contributed to the student newspaper,Honi Soit and directed the annualstudents' union revue. He graduated with aBachelor of Arts with Honours in English in 1961. After graduation, James worked for a year as an assistant editor for the magazine page atThe Sydney Morning Herald.[7]
In 1962, James emigrated to Britain, which became his home for the rest of his life.[11] During his first three years in London, he shared a flat with the Australian film directorBruce Beresford (disguised as "Dave Dalziel" in the first three volumes of James's memoirs), was a neighbour of Australian artistBrett Whiteley, became acquainted withBarry Humphries (disguised as "Bruce Jennings") and had a variety of occasionally disastrous short-term jobs: sheet metal worker, library assistant, photo archivist and market researcher.[12][13][7] During one summer holiday, he worked as a circusroustabout to save enough money to travel toItaly.[14]
In 1964, James gained a place atPembroke College, Cambridge, to read English literature.[15] Whilst there, he contributed to all the undergraduate periodicals, was a member and later President of theCambridge Footlights, and appeared onUniversity Challenge as captain of the Pembroke team, beatingSt Hilda's College, Oxford, but (according to him) losing toBalliol on the last question in a tied game.[15][16] His contemporaries at Cambridge includedGermaine Greer (known as "Romaine Rand" in the first three volumes of his memoirs),Simon Schama andEric Idle. Having, he claimed, scrupulously avoided reading any of the course material (but having read widely otherwise in English and foreign literature), James graduated with a2:1—better than he had expected—and began a PhD thesis onPercy Bysshe Shelley.[7]
James became the television critic forThe Observer in 1972, remaining in the role until 1982.[9]Mark Lawson described a James review as "so funny it was dangerous to read while holding a hot drink".[17][18][19] He was at times merciless and selections from the column were published in three books –Visions Before Midnight,The Crystal Bucket andGlued to the Box – and finally in a compendium,On Television.[20] He wrote literary criticism for newspapers, magazines and periodicals in Britain, Australia and the United States, including, among many others, theAustralian Book Review,The Monthly,The Atlantic,The New York Review of Books,The Liberal andThe Times Literary Supplement.[21]John Gross included James's essay "A Blizzard of Tiny Kisses" in theOxford Book of Essays (1992, 1999).[22]
The Metropolitan Critic (1974), his first collection of literary criticism, was followed byAt 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) andCultural Amnesia (2007), a collection of miniature intellectual biographies of over 100 significant figures in modern culture, history and politics.[23] A defence ofhumanism,liberal democracy andliterary clarity, the book was listed among the best of 2007 byThe Village Voice. Another volume of essays,The Revolt of the Pendulum, was published in June 2009.[24] He also publishedFlying Visits, a collection oftravel writing forThe Observer. Until mid-2014, he wrote the weekly television critique page in the "Review" section of the Saturday edition ofThe Daily Telegraph.[7]
James published several books of poetry, includingPoem of the Year (1983), a verse-diary;Other Passports: Poems 1958–1985, a first collection andThe Book of My Enemy (2003), a volume that takes its title from his poem "The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered".[25]
He published fourmock-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) andCharles Charming's Challenges on the Pathway to the Throne (1981), and one long autobiographical epic,The River in the Sky (2018).[26] During the 1970s he also collaborated on six albums of songs withPete Atkin and one album withJulie Covington:[27]
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 ownFelicity 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 entitledThe Lakeside Sessions: Volumes 1 and 2 was released in 2002 andWinter Spring, an album of new material written by James and Atkin was released in 2003.[27] This was followed byMidnight Voices, an album of remakes of the best Atkin/James songs from the early albums, and, in 2015, byThe Colours of the Night, which included several newly completed songs.[27]
James acknowledged the importance of theMidnight 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".[29]
In 2013, he issued his translation ofDante'sDivine Comedy. The work, adoptingquatrains to translate the original'sterza rima, was well received by Australian critics.[30][31] Writing forThe New York Times, Joseph Luzzi thought it often failed to capture the more dramatic moments of theInferno, but that it was more successful where Dante slows down, in the more theological and deliberative cantos of thePurgatorio andParadiso.[32]
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 atCambridge;North Face of Soho (2006); andThe 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 ofAlways Unreliable. James also wrote four novels:Brilliant Creatures (1983);The Remake (1987);Brrm! Brrm! (1991), published in the United States asThe Man from Japan; andThe Silver Castle (1996).[33]
In 1999,John Gross included an excerpt fromUnreliable Memoirs inThe New Oxford Book of English Prose.[34]John Carey choseUnreliable Memoirs as one of the 50 most enjoyable books of the 20th century in his bookPure Pleasure (2000).[35]
James developed his television career as a guest commentator on various shows, including as an occasional co-presenter withTony Wilson on the first series ofSo It Goes, theGranada Television pop music show. On the show when theSex 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."[36]
James subsequently hosted theITV showClive James on Television, in which he showcased unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing television programmes from around the world, notably the Japanese TV showEndurance. After his move to theBBC in 1988, he hosted a similarly formatted programme calledSaturday Night Clive (1989–1991), which began onBBC2 but was popular enough to move toBBC1 in 1991. It returned in 1994 on Sunday nights, under the titleSunday Night Clive.
In 1995 he set up Watchmaker Productions to produceThe Clive James Show for ITV, and a subsequent series launched the British career of singer and comedianMargarita Pracatan. James hosted one of the early chat shows onChannel 4 and fronted the BBC'sReview 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.[37]
In the mid-1980s, James featured in a travel programme calledClive James in... (beginning withClive James Live in Las Vegas) forLWT (nowITV) and later switched to theBBC, where he continued producing travel programmes, this time calledClive James's Postcard from... (beginning withClive James's Postcard from Miami) – these also eventually transferred to ITV. He was also one of the original team of presenters of the BBC'sThe Late Show, hosting a round-table discussion on Friday nights.[38]
His major documentary seriesFame in the 20th Century (1993) was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, in Australia by theABC and in the United States by thePBS 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."[39]
A fan ofmotor racing, James presented the1982,1984 and1986 officialFormula One season review videos produced by theFormula One Constructors Association (FOCA). He attended most F1 races during the 1980s and was a friend of former FOCA bossBernie Ecclestone. He also presentedThe Clive James Formula 1 Show forITV to coincide with their Formula One coverage in1997.[38]
In 2007, James started presenting theBBC Radio 4 seriesA Point of View,[40] with transcripts appearing in the "Magazine" section ofBBC News Online. In this programme James discussed various issues with a slightly humorous slant. Topics covered included media portrayal of torture,[41] young black role models[42] and corporaterebranding.[43] Three of James's broadcasts in 2007 were shortlisted for the 2008Orwell Prize.[44]
In October 2009, James read a radio version of his bookThe Blaze of Obscurity on BBC Radio 4'sBook of the Week programme.[45] In December 2009, James talked about theP-51 Mustang and other American fighter aircraft of World War II inThe Museum of Curiosity on BBC Radio 4.[46]
In May 2011, the BBC published a new podcast,A Point of View: Clive James, which features all sixtyA Point of View programmes presented by James between 2007 and 2009.[47]
He postedvlog conversations from his internet showTalking in the Library, including conversations withIan McEwan,Cate Blanchett,Julian Barnes,Jonathan Miller andTerry Gilliam. In addition to the poetry andprose of James himself, the site featured the works of other literary figures such asLes Murray andMichael Frayn, as well as the works of painters, sculptors and photographers such asJohn Olsen andJeffrey Smart.
In 2008 James performed in two eponymous shows at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe:Clive James in Conversation andClive James in the Evening. He took the latter show on a limited tour of the UK in 2009.[48]
In 1992, James was made a Member of theOrder of Australia (AM). This was enhanced to Officer level (AO) in the2013 Australia Day Honours. James was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to literature and the media.[49] In 2003 he was awarded thePhilip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literature. He receivedhonorary doctorates from the universities of Sydney andEast Anglia. In April 2008, James was awarded a Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting by the judges of theOrwell Prize.[50]
He was elected afellow of theRoyal Society of Literature in 2010.[51] He was an honorary fellow ofPembroke College, Cambridge (his alma mater).[52] In the2015BAFTAs, James received a special award honouring his 50-year career.[53] In 2014, he was awarded thePresident's Medal by theBritish Academy.[54]
James is celebrated with a plaque on theSydney Writers Walk onCircular Quay. It includes an excerpt onSydney Harbour fromUnreliable Memoirs.[55]
James's political views were prominent in much of his later writing. Whilecritical ofcommunism for its tendency towardstotalitarianism, he identified with the left for much of his life. In a 2006 interview inThe 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 thefree market has a mind."[56] In a speech given in 1991, he criticised privatisation, saying: "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."[57] In 2001, James identified as a liberalsocial democrat.[58]
His later views were more commonly aligned with the political right. James strongly supported the2003 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".[59] He also wrote that it was "official policy to rape a woman in front of her family" duringSaddam Hussein's regime and that women have enjoyed more rights since the invasion.[60] In 2017, James contributed a chapter to a book on climate change published by theInstitute of Public Affairs, advocatingclimate denialism.[61]
Describing religions as "advertising agencies for a product that doesn't exist", James was anatheist and saw it as the default and obvious position.[62][63] He was also a patron of theBurma Campaign UK, an organisation that campaigns for human rights and democracy in Burma.[64]
In 1968, at Cambridge,[65] James married Prudence A. "Prue" Shaw,[1] also Australian, a graduate of theUniversity of Sydney, theUniversity of Florence andSomerville College, Oxford. Shaw taught Italian language and literature at theUniversity of Cambridge, and atUniversity College London where, since retirement in 2003, she has beenemerita reader in Italian studies. She is the author ofReading Dante: From Here to Eternity andDante: The Essential Commedia.
James and Shaw had two daughters, one of whom is the artistClaerwen James.[66] In April 2012, the AustralianChannel Nine programmeA Current Affair ran an item in which the former model Leanne Edelsten admitted to an eight-year affair with James beginning in 2004.[67] Shaw evicted her husband from the family home following the revelation.[1] 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.[68]
After the death ofDiana, Princess of Wales, James wrote a piece forThe New Yorker entitled "Requiem", recording his overwhelming grief.[69][70] From then he mainly declined to comment about their friendship, apart from some remarks in his fifth volume of memoirs,Blaze of Obscurity.[71]
James was able to read, with varying fluency, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Japanese.[72] Atango enthusiast, he travelled toBuenos Aires for dance lessons and had a dance floor in his house.[62]
James was a fan of theSt George Dragons and wrote admiringly ofRugby League ImmortalReg Gasnier who was a schoolmate at Sydney Technical High School.[73] He guest presented one episode ofThe Footy Show in 2005.[74]
For much of his life, James was a heavy drinker and smoker. He recorded inMay Week Was in June his habit of filling ahubcap ashtray daily.[75][76][77] At various times he wrote of attempts, intermittently successful, to give up drinking and smoking.[78] He smoked 80 cigarettes a day for a number of years before giving up in 2005. (Prior to this, he had been successful in giving up smoking for 13 years, beginning in his early 30s.)[79]
In April 2011, after media speculation that he had suffered kidney failure,[80] James confirmed in June 2012 thatB-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia "had beaten him" and that he was "near the end".[81] He said that he was also diagnosed withemphysema andkidney failure in early 2010.[82]
On 3 September 2013, an interview with journalistKerry O'Brien,Clive James: The Kid from Kogarah, was broadcast by theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation.[83] 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.[83] James wrote the poem "Japanese Maple" which was published inThe New Yorker in 2014 and described as his "farewell poem".[84]The New York Times called it "a poignant meditation on his impending death".[85]
In a BBC interview withCharlie Stayt, broadcast on 31 March 2015, James described himself as "near to death but thankful for life".[86] In October 2015, he admitted to feeling "embarrassment" at still being alive thanks to experimental drug treatment.[87] Until June 2017, he wrote a weekly column forThe Guardian entitled "Reports of My Death...".[88] James died at his home in Cambridge on 24 November 2019.[89]
| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| The book of my enemy has been remaindered | 1983 | James, Clive (2 June 1983)."The book of my enemy has been remaindered".The London Review of Books.5 (10). | |
| 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 (3 June 2013)."Leçons de ténèbres".The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 16. p. 64. | |
| Rounded with a sleep | 2014 | James, Clive (16 March 2015)."Rounded with a sleep".The Times Literary Supplement.5810: 4. | |
| Star system | 2015 | James, Clive (16 March 2015)."Star system".The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 4. pp. 50–51. | |
| Visitation of the dove | 2015 | James, Clive (7 December 2015)."Visitation of the dove".The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 39. p. 50. | |
| Initial outlay | 2016 | James, Clive (January–February 2016). "Initial outlay".Quadrant.60 (1–2): 9. | |
| I was proud of these hands once | 2016 | James, Clive (January–February 2016). "I was proud of these hands once".Quadrant.60 (1–2): 49. | |
| Splinters from Shakespeare | 2016 | James, Clive (January–February 2016). "Splinters from Shakespeare".Quadrant.60 (1–2): 49. |
