Author Topic: And Clive James  (Read 2240 times)

Wowbagger

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And Clive James
« on: 27 November, 2019, 04:22:44 pm »
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/nov/27/clive-james-writer-broadcaster-and-tv-critic-dies-aged-80

Interesting to see that the Graun made it their headline. That rather interesting. Why does Clive James' death deserve higher publicity than Jonathan Miller's?
Quote from: Dez
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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #1 on: 27 November, 2019, 04:24:48 pm »
I imagine it's because CJ was on telly more, and more recently than JM.
Rust never sleeps

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #2 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:06:52 pm »
That's sad.
I enjoy CJ's dry wit immensely.
Equally sad about JM.

caerau

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #3 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:17:15 pm »
He also wrote for the Guardian iirc (perhaps the Observer)?
Which makes him an alumnus.


They're dropping like flies today aren't they  :-\
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #4 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:30:36 pm »
They're dropping like flies today aren't they  :-\
And Gary Rhodes!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Wowbagger

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #5 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:35:18 pm »
He also wrote for the Guardian iirc (perhaps the Observer)?
Which makes him an alumnus.


They're dropping like flies today aren't they  :-\

Yes, I think he was a regular contributor at one time. I'd forgotten that.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #6 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:39:14 pm »
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/nov/27/clive-james-writer-broadcaster-and-tv-critic-dies-aged-80

Interesting to see that the Graun made it their headline. That rather interesting. Why does Clive James' death deserve higher publicity than Jonathan Miller's?

Because more people will know who Clive James was.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #7 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:49:32 pm »
They're dropping like flies today aren't they  :-\
And Gary Rhodes!

Though reports/misapprehensions of Clive Anderson's demise were premature - the presenter on Sky News earlier got her Clives mixed up by mentioning the Bee-Gees storming out of an interview (which happened to Clive Anderson, not Clive James).

Thread: https://twitter.com/Jamin2g/status/1199722750346174465/video/1
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

rogerzilla

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #8 on: 27 November, 2019, 05:59:56 pm »
  :'( RIP Clive
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #9 on: 27 November, 2019, 06:02:02 pm »
Unreliable Memoirs
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

Jaded

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #10 on: 27 November, 2019, 07:33:02 pm »
Some memorable quotes here.

Quote
On Barbara Cartland: "Twin miracles of mascara, her eyes looked like the corpses of two small crows that had crashed into a chalk cliff."

It is simpler than it looks.

Gattopardo

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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #11 on: 27 November, 2019, 07:46:20 pm »
Thought he had died a while back.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: And Clive James
« Reply #12 on: 27 November, 2019, 08:00:01 pm »
Thought he had died a while back.
He thought he was going to, but a new drug was tried and that gave him an extra decade.  He exceeded normal male life expectancy in the end!
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #13 on: 27 November, 2019, 08:17:22 pm »
Some memorable quotes here.

Quote
On Barbara Cartland: "Twin miracles of mascara, her eyes looked like the corpses of two small crows that had crashed into a chalk cliff."
Genius.

"A spear of snow pierced the azure blue sky..."

The opening line from one of his books, I forget which, it could be Unreliable Memoirs. It described the con trail of a jet crossing a cloudless sky but, for me, cast an increadibly strong image when I first read it aged 16 or so.

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #14 on: 27 November, 2019, 09:54:30 pm »
The genius of his lyric writing in tandem with Pete Atkin which gave Deep Purpose to my life in a younger version of me, can be found here https://www.peteatkin.com/

Here's a couple of examples, just because

Quote
Perfect Moments

Perfect moments have a clean design
Scoring edges that arrest the flow
Skis cut diamonds in the plump of snow
Times my life feels like a friend of mine

Perfect moments wear a single face
Variations on each other's theme
Renoir's mistresses in peach and cream
Rembrandt's mother in a ruff of lace

Perfect moments bear a single name
They're placed together though they never meet
Charlie Chaplin policing Easy Street
Charlie Parker playing My Old Flame

Perfect moments should redeem the day
Their teeming richness ought to be enough
To take the sting out of the other stuff
A perfect bitch it doesn't work that way


Quote
The Rider To The World's End

You simply mustn't blame yourself -- the days were perfect
And so were exactly what I was born to spoil
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the cinder causeway
From the furnace to the quarry
Through the fields of oil

And I left you with the sign of the Rider to the World's End
It was not the mark of Zorro
Written sharply on your forehead with a blade
Just a way of not turning up tomorrow
And of phonecalls never made

My time with you seemed readymade to last for always
And so was predestined to be over in a flash
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the fields of oil
Through the broken-bottle forest
To the plains of ash

And I left you with the sign of the Rider to the World's End
It was not the ace of diamonds
Or the death's-head of the Phantom on your jaw
Just a suddenly-relaxing set of knuckles
Never rapped against a door

You were more thoughtful for and fond of me than I was
And so were precisely what I can never trust
For I am the Rider to the World's End
Bound across the plains of ashes
To the molten-metal valleys
In the hills of dust


discography would be a place to start exploring,  should you be interested https://www.peteatkin.com/disworks.htm

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #15 on: 27 November, 2019, 11:46:30 pm »
I'm reminded of his 'Clive James on TV' show when I visit medical facilities. They have copies of 'Geographical' magazine, and there's a column by Vitali Vitaliev, who was his Soviet correspondent on that show. Intereresting to read his Wiki biog. He wrote a scathing review of a 'Bill Bryson' style of travelogue about Poland recently, pointing out that Bryson is an excellent stylist. Clive James was in many ways a precursor of Bryson, as his style was widely imitated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitali_Vitaliev

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #16 on: 28 November, 2019, 08:03:35 am »
There are so many great images in his books.  I particularly like his description of sitting in alaundrette sandwiched between two South Africans who were talking across him.

But what will stay with me most is his lyric for Flowers and Wine.

RIP Clive

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #17 on: 28 November, 2019, 08:30:43 am »
I read someone, [goodness knows where] that people are either 'radiators or drains'.
Clive James radiated warmth, no doubt.
World could do with a few more like him.
Garry Broad

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #18 on: 28 November, 2019, 08:46:23 am »


But what will stay with me most is his lyric for Flowers and Wine.

RIP Clive

I'm curious how you read it, for me part of the charm was its mutability between platonic and romantic.

Chris S

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #19 on: 28 November, 2019, 10:53:47 am »
He sure could turn a phrase.

"Even in moments of tranquillity, Murray Walker sounds like a man whose trousers are on fire."

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #20 on: 28 November, 2019, 03:10:22 pm »
He sure could turn a phrase.

"Even in moments of tranquillity, Murray Walker sounds like a man whose trousers are on fire."

"A spear of snow pierced an azure blue sky"

The opening line from one of his books - his description of a con trail against a cloudless sky.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: And Clive James
« Reply #21 on: 28 November, 2019, 11:10:00 pm »
Curiously, I can’t find any mention of my first recollection of seeing Clive James on the television. This must have been the late 1960s when he introduced “Cinema” on ITV.

Edit: at last, I found a reference.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/clive-james-death-obituary-writer-broadcaster-critic-tv-poet-australia-a9220711.html
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #22 on: 29 November, 2019, 11:07:35 am »


But what will stay with me most is his lyric for Flowers and Wine.

RIP Clive

I'm curious how you read it, for me part of the charm was its mutability between platonic and romantic.

I think the last line probably indicates that however much he is pretending it's platonic, he doesn't want it to be, and therein lies the deep regret:-

"I have never loved you more, see you anon...."

The Fortune Teller is terrific, too.  Edit: Actually called Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger?

All these lyrics are more than supported by Pete Atkin's wonderful music and performance.

fuzzy

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #23 on: 29 November, 2019, 11:21:29 am »
On Arnold Schwarzeneneneneneneger "He has a body like a condom full of walnuts"
On George Bush "Delivering the State of the Union? That bloke couldn't deliver pizza."
On life "Stop worrying. Nobody gets out of this world alive."

RIP Clive

Re: And Clive James
« Reply #24 on: 29 November, 2019, 11:36:11 am »
The latter owes more than a little to Hank Williams!