FAREWELL TO TV LEGEND CLIVE JAMES AT 80
Clive James Author and broadcaster BORN OCTOBER 7, 1939 – DIED NOVEMBER 24, 2019, AGED 80
AUSTRALIAN writer, critic and broadcaster Clive James has died at the age of 80.
The star, who had with leukaemia, kidney failure and lung disease diagnosed almost 10 years ago, died at home in Cambridge on Sunday, his agent said yesterday.
A private funeral for family and close friends took place yesterday in the chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where James studied English literature in the Sixties.
“Clive died almost 10 years after his first terminal diagnosis, and one month after he laid down his pen for the last time,” said a spokesman for United Artists.
“He endured his ever multiplying illnesses with patience and good humour, knowing until the last moment that he had experienced more than his fair share of this ‘great, good world’.”
He said that James had been grateful to Addenbrooke’s Hospital staff for their care and kindness, “which unexpectedly allowed him so much extra time”.
His family also thanked the Arthur Rank Hospice at Home team for their help “which allowed him to die peacefully, surrounded by his family and his books”.
Tributes poured in for the star who leaves behind a wife, author Prue Shaw, and two children.
On Twitter, Stephen Fry wrote that James and theatre director Jonathan Miller, whose death was also announced yesterday, were “two heroes of mine growing up”.
“Each so wildly and profusely gifted in so many directions,” he said. “Very sorry to think they’re not in this world any more.”
BBC director general Tony Hall, said the “irreplaceable” James “was a clever, witty and thoughtprovoking broadcaster”.
Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan tweeted: “RIP Clive James, 80. A brilliantly funny man.” Musician Alison Moyet tweeted: “Ah, Clive James. You bright, beaming boy. Our loss.”
TV presenter Gaby Roslin said: “Clive James you were unique.You were incredibly kind to me and there will never be anyone quite like you. A very sad loss of a brilliant man.”
Pop star turned vicar, the Rev Richard Coles described James as “the best telly critic that ever there was, who once described Barbara Cartland’s face as looking like two crows that had crashed into the white cliffs of Dover.”
Born Vivian James in Kogarah, south of Sydney, in 1939, James moved to England in 1961 and rose to prominence as a literary critic and TV columnist. But not before he changed his name because “after Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O’Hara [it] became irrevocably a girl’s name, no matter how you spelt it,” he said in a memoir.
He went on to deliver wry commentary in shows including Clive James On Television which saw him introduce TV clips from around the world, most famously Japanese game show Endurance.
He became a regular voice on BBC Radio 4 and also recorded six albums with music producer Pete Atkin in the Seventies.
An atheist by conviction, James famously described religion as “an advertising agency for a product that does not exist”.
James first revealed news of his chronic illness in May 2011 when he wrote to The Australian Literary Review to explain why he could not write for them.
In recent years he even penned his own obituary. His final memoirs will be published next year.