Journalism
Clive James
Critic, broadcaster and poet
Born 1939 · Died 2019
Photo: Brian Aris · Public domain
«All I can do is turn a phrase until it catches the light.»
Clive James was a television critic, broadcaster, memoirist and poet whose writing combined serious literary judgement with genuine comedy. His memoir Unreliable Memoirs is one of the best-selling Australian books ever published.
Key achievements
- Television critic for The Observer for a decade
- Translated Dante's Divine Comedy into English verse, 2013
- President of the Cambridge Footlights comedy club
Universities
Sydney, New South Wales
Took a degree in psychology in 1961 and edited the student newspaper Honi Soit.
Cambridge, England
Read English at Pembroke College and was president of the Footlights comedy club.
Facts
- He learned Russian in his sixties in order to read Russian poetry in the original, and later translated Dante.
- He edited the Sydney student newspaper and later ran the Cambridge Footlights, a rare double.
- He continued publishing poetry and criticism for a decade after being told his leukaemia was terminal.