Clive James AM (born October 10, 1939) in Kogarah, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is an expatriate Australian writer, poet, essayist, critic, and commentator on popular culture.

Sydney

Born in Sydney, Australia as Vivian James, 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". His father was taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II and, although he survived the POW camp, died when the plane returning him to Australia crashed. James, who was an only child, was therefore brought up by his mother in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah. He was educated at Sydney Technical High School (despite winning a bursary to the more prestigious Sydney Boys High School) and the University of Sydney where he became associated with the Sydney Push, a libertarian, intellectual sub-culture. After graduating, James worked for The Sydney Morning Herald.

London and Cambridge

In late 1961 James moved to England, which he has now made his home. After a number of years spent in London, during which time he shared a flat with the Australian film director Bruce Beresford, was a neighbour of Australian artist Brett Whitely, became acquainted with Barry Humphries, and had a variety of (sometimes disastrous) short term jobs (sheet metal worker, librarian, photo archivist, market researcher), he was able to gain a place at Pembroke College, Cambridge to read English Literature. Whilst there, he was a member (and, at one point, President) of the Cambridge Footlights and also appeared on University Challenge as captain of the Pembroke team. His contemporaries at Cambridge included Germaine Greer and Eric Idle.

Career

He worked as a television critic for The Observer between 1972 and 1982, and subsequently hosted the ITV show Clive James on Television, in which he showcased unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing television programs from around the world, notably the Japanese TV show "Endurance". James hosted one of the early chat shows on Channel 4 and fronted the channel's 'Review of the Year' programmes. For several years in the late 1980s and 1990s, he hosted the BBC's New Year's Eve celebrations. Unreliable Memoirs, an account of his early life in Australia, was published in 1980. This was followed by two further volumes of autobiography: Falling Towards England (1985), which covered his London years, and May Week was in June (1990), which dealt with his time at Cambridge.

One of his most famous quotations concerning television is: "Anyone afraid of what he thinks television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world."

During the seventies he collaborated on six albums of songs with Pete Atkin:

* Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger (1970),
* Driving Through Mythical America (1971),
* A King At Nightfall (1973),
* The Road Of Silk (1974),
* Secret Drinker (1974), and
* Live Libel (1975).

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. 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.

James has 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."

"The Book of My Enemy", a collection of poems published in 2003, includes the lyrics to 53 Atkin/James songs.

In the mid-1980s, James featured in a travel program 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 programs, this time called Clive James' Postcard from... (beginning with Clive James' Postcard from Miami). The 1980s also witnessed James presenting a number of the official Formula One season review videos. His style of witty narration was popular with fans.

James is also one of a select few who act as occasional consultants to Prince Charles. In an article following the death of Princess Diana, with whom he enjoyed a friendship of sorts, he described how, as one of Charles' "outer circle" of consultants, he may be asked to make himself available on a day's notice to share his views on a special subject, which in his case is popular culture. Notwithstanding Charles's image in the media, James has described him as a thoughtful man who will make an excellent King.

He is married to Prue Shaw and they have two daughters, Claerwen and Lucinda. In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, in 1999 an honorary Doctor of Letters of Sydney University and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. He has now completed a new volume of memoirs entitled North Face of Soho which will be published in October of 2006.

                       

Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_James