Clive James: Goonnee

cullennz · 27th November 2019, 12:04 PM

Apologies a bit over long

Pretty amazing dude really

Sad

Good innings though

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2...james-obituary

Quote:

Guardian:Clive James obituary

The writer and broadcaster Clive James, who has died aged 80, once wrote a poem about visiting his father’s grave at the Sai Wan war cemetery in Hong Kong. His father, Albert, who had survived a PoW camp and then forced labour in Japan, died when the plane bringing him home crashed in Taiwan, and James later described this as the “defining event” in his life. The poem, My Father Before Me, ends:

Back at the gate, I turn to face the hill,
Your headstone lost again among the rest.
I have no time to waste, much less to kill.
My life is yours; my curse, to be so blessed.

James, who was six when Albert died, spent much of his subsequent life as a poet, essayist and broadcaster producing articles and song lyrics, many poetry collections and volumes of critical essays, four novels and five books of memoirs, as well as hosting umpteen television shows. That fever of busyness was to compensate not only for his father’s death, but for how his mother’s life fell apart on being widowed. “I am trying to lead the life they might have had,” he said in 2009. “It’s a chance to pay them back for my life. I don’t like luck; I’ve had a lot of it.”

Edited by Agatha:

Trimmed for rule 4; please visit the link given to read the entire obituary.

lionking · 27th November 2019, 01:55 PM

He got leukaemia and failed kidneys 10 years ago, so to survive to 80 is amazing. To be honest I thought he was already dead.

A great man.

Elaedith · 27th November 2019, 02:09 PM

That is sad. I always liked his writing.

Agatha · 27th November 2019, 02:19 PM

Sad news.

Darat · 27th November 2019, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Elaedith

That is sad. I always liked his writing.

His poetry was crap.

Guybrush Threepwood · 27th November 2019, 02:22 PM

Very sad, he's wanged his donger in the kedgeree for the last time.

Guybrush Threepwood · 27th November 2019, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Darat

His poetry was crap.

How would you know? You think all poetry is crap.

You do have a point, it wasn't his greatest skill.

Darat · 27th November 2019, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Guybrush Threepwood

How would you know? You think all poetry is crap.

You do have a point, it wasn't his greatest skill.

That is how I know his poetry was crap!

cullennz · 27th November 2019, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by Darat

His poetry was crap.

Personally have never trusted poets who can't write rhymey style.

It is like they are only making half the effort

bluesjnr · 27th November 2019, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Darat

His poetry was crap.

He was always very complimentary about you.

Norman Alexander · 27th November 2019, 02:49 PM

Farewell, the Kogarah Kid!

a_unique_person · 27th November 2019, 03:30 PM

Too bad he had to be a vocal and influential global warming denier.

cullennz · 27th November 2019, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

Too bad he had to be a vocal and influential global warming denier.

The "Yin" to Greta's "Yang"

smartcooky · 27th November 2019, 07:38 PM

"its....... Jerry Hall !!!!"

a_unique_person · 27th November 2019, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by smartcooky

"its....... Jerry Hall !!!!"

I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist.

Norman Alexander · 27th November 2019, 09:41 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist.

That seemed to be late in his existence, when a bunch of us tend to get crusty and staid in our opinions.

Also, it appears clear Clive was harking back through rose-coloured glasses to the sparkly bright blue days of his yoof on the Sydney beaches. Those days are now fairly rare; the beaches of his memories are fast disappearing. He was wrong; his targets of climate skepticism were right. So it was more like he could not accept the impermanence of his memories.

Also, get off my lawn, mate.

smartcooky · 27th November 2019, 11:32 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist.

"Its... Jerry Hall" is the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of Clive James, or whenever his name gets mentioned.. For some reason, that particular episode stuck with me. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember my ribs began to ache while I was watching!

Robin · 27th November 2019, 11:35 PM

Originally Posted by Guybrush Threepwood

Very sad, he's wanged his donger in the kedgeree for the last time.

After the man is gone, the Private Eye taunts live on.

bluesjnr · 28th November 2019, 01:21 AM

Magarita Pracatan!

Worm · 28th November 2019, 02:15 AM

I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but his first volume of memoirs - 'Unreliable Memoirs' - is one of my favourite books, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

bluesjnr · 28th November 2019, 05:54 AM

Originally Posted by Worm

I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but his first volume of memoirs - 'Unreliable Memoirs' - is one of my favourite books, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

I'd quite forgotten that I'd read that years ago and found it a very enjoyable read.

smartcooky · 29th November 2019, 01:49 AM

I've heard a lot of names and descriptions for Arnold Schwarzenegger; "the Austrian Oak", "Arnie", "Schwarzy" and "The Governator", but Clive James' description of him tops the lot...

"a brown condom full of walnuts"

cullennz · 29th November 2019, 02:47 AM

Have complete understanding for the trim mods.

And good pick for the paragraph

angrysoba · 29th November 2019, 02:54 AM

Originally Posted by smartcooky

"a brown condom full of walnuts"

I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was.

cullennz · 29th November 2019, 03:07 AM

Originally Posted by angrysoba

I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was.

Balded Aussie idiot climate change denier, I would imagine

Mind you he probably hasn't got much longer given the 'roids.

Darat · 29th November 2019, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by angrysoba

I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was.

Who?

angrysoba · 29th November 2019, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by angrysoba

I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was.

Originally Posted by Darat

Who?

I expect so.

Originally Posted by cullennz

Mind you he probably hasn't got much longer given the 'roids.

Nah, he looks well enough to me.

Robin · 29th November 2019, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist.

At least his climate stance ensured he got a big write up in the Murdoch press, they called him a 'giant'.

If he had said climate change was real they would have limited it to a sentence buried on page 8 "Former television critic Olive James dies at 80"

IsThisTheLife · 29th November 2019, 04:00 PM

I never stopped to wonder why I hadn't heard from or about him for so many years, didn't know he was so ill, for so long. Poor bastard.

Back in the early 1970's my dad often used to drive up to the West End in the small hours of Sunday to get the Sunday Times and Observer, and I vividly remember the laughs I got from James's TV reviews, this from c. age twelve on [ETA which isn't trying to paint myself as precocious, just that the man had a relaxed Aussie wit, and a way of putting it in written words that anyone (of any age) can enjoy].

Many years later I read many of the same columns again, compiled in The Crystal Bucket, they were still FAF.

IsThisTheLife · 29th November 2019, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by bluesjnr

Magarita Pracatan!

Reflexive LoL.

IsThisTheLife · 29th November 2019, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by smartcooky

I've heard a lot of names and descriptions for Arnold Schwarzenegger; "the Austrian Oak", "Arnie", "Schwarzy" and "The Governator", but Clive James' description of him tops the lot...

"a brown condom full of walnuts"

... who "talks like he's got a mouthful of marbles"

27th November 2019, 01:55 PM	#2
lionking In the Peanut Gallery Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 44,712	He got leukaemia and failed kidneys 10 years ago, so to survive to 80 is amazing. To be honest I thought he was already dead. A great man.
	__________________ A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Sir Winston Churchill

27th November 2019, 02:09 PM	#3
Elaedith Muse Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 938	That is sad. I always liked his writing.
Elaedith Muse Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 938

27th November 2019, 02:19 PM	#4
Agatha Winking at the Moon Moderator Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 13,058	Sad news.
	__________________ Why can't you be more like Agatha? - Loss Leader

27th November 2019, 02:20 PM	#5
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 88,420	Originally Posted by Elaedith That is sad. I always liked his writing. His poetry was crap.
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

27th November 2019, 02:24 PM	#8
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 88,420	Originally Posted by Guybrush Threepwood How would you know? You think all poetry is crap. You do have a point, it wasn't his greatest skill. That is how I know his poetry was crap!
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

27th November 2019, 02:22 PM	#6
Guybrush Threepwood Trainee Pirate Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: An Uaimh Posts: 2,751	Very sad, he's wanged his donger in the kedgeree for the last time.

27th November 2019, 02:23 PM	#7
Guybrush Threepwood Trainee Pirate Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: An Uaimh Posts: 2,751	Originally Posted by Darat His poetry was crap. How would you know? You think all poetry is crap. You do have a point, it wasn't his greatest skill.

27th November 2019, 02:25 PM	#9
cullennz Embarrasingly illiterate Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 17,438	Originally Posted by Darat His poetry was crap. Personally have never trusted poets who can't write rhymey style. It is like they are only making half the effort
	__________________ I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. With today’s Internet technology we should be able to tell within 72-hours if a potential gun owner has a record. Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.102 , Jul 2, 2000

27th November 2019, 02:44 PM	#10
bluesjnr Professional Nemesis for Hire Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Not where I should be. Posts: 7,117	Originally Posted by Darat His poetry was crap. He was always very complimentary about you.
	__________________ Thanks for bringing the list of [your] cards to our attention, we will try to be more vigilant in future - Zooterkin If it helps, I'm in favor of suspending you, too - Loss Leader

27th November 2019, 02:49 PM	#11
Norman Alexander Philosopher Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 6,431	Farewell, the Kogarah Kid!
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

27th November 2019, 03:30 PM	#12
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 41,318	Too bad he had to be a vocal and influential global warming denier.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it. Hobbes

27th November 2019, 03:54 PM	#13
cullennz Embarrasingly illiterate Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 17,438	Originally Posted by a_unique_person Too bad he had to be a vocal and influential global warming denier. The "Yin" to Greta's "Yang"
	__________________ I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. With today’s Internet technology we should be able to tell within 72-hours if a potential gun owner has a record. Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.102 , Jul 2, 2000

27th November 2019, 07:38 PM	#14
smartcooky Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 12,896	"its....... Jerry Hall !!!!"
	__________________ "You can't promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing-off corrupt people!" - George Kent on Day one of the Trump Impeachment Hearings If you don't like my posts, my opinions, or my directness then put me on your ignore list. This will be of benefit to both of us; you won't have to take umbrage at my posts, and I won't have to waste my time talking to you... simples! !

27th November 2019, 09:01 PM	#15
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 41,318	Originally Posted by smartcooky "its....... Jerry Hall !!!!" I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it. Hobbes

27th November 2019, 09:41 PM	#16
Norman Alexander Philosopher Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 6,431	Originally Posted by a_unique_person I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist. That seemed to be late in his existence, when a bunch of us tend to get crusty and staid in our opinions. Also, it appears clear Clive was harking back through rose-coloured glasses to the sparkly bright blue days of his yoof on the Sydney beaches. Those days are now fairly rare; the beaches of his memories are fast disappearing. He was wrong; his targets of climate skepticism were right. So it was more like he could not accept the impermanence of his memories. Also, get off my lawn, mate.
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

27th November 2019, 11:32 PM	#17
smartcooky Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 12,896	Originally Posted by a_unique_person I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist. "Its... Jerry Hall" is the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of Clive James, or whenever his name gets mentioned.. For some reason, that particular episode stuck with me. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember my ribs began to ache while I was watching!
	__________________ "You can't promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing-off corrupt people!" - George Kent on Day one of the Trump Impeachment Hearings If you don't like my posts, my opinions, or my directness then put me on your ignore list. This will be of benefit to both of us; you won't have to take umbrage at my posts, and I won't have to waste my time talking to you... simples! !

27th November 2019, 11:35 PM	#18
Robin Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 11,017	Originally Posted by Guybrush Threepwood Very sad, he's wanged his donger in the kedgeree for the last time. After the man is gone, the Private Eye taunts live on.
	__________________ The non-theoretical character of metaphysics would not be in itself a defect; all arts have this non-theoretical character without thereby losing their high value for personal as well as for social life. The danger lies in the deceptive character of metaphysics; it gives the illusion of knowledge without actually giving any knowledge. This is the reason why we reject it. - Rudolf Carnap "Philosophy and Logical Syntax"

28th November 2019, 01:21 AM	#19
bluesjnr Professional Nemesis for Hire Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Not where I should be. Posts: 7,117	Magarita Pracatan!
	__________________ Thanks for bringing the list of [your] cards to our attention, we will try to be more vigilant in future - Zooterkin If it helps, I'm in favor of suspending you, too - Loss Leader

28th November 2019, 02:15 AM	#20
Worm Illuminator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Dundee Posts: 3,038	I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but his first volume of memoirs - 'Unreliable Memoirs' - is one of my favourite books, and I can thoroughly recommend it.
	__________________ "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" Isaac Asimov Not all cults are bad - I've joined a cult of niceness

28th November 2019, 05:54 AM	#21
bluesjnr Professional Nemesis for Hire Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Not where I should be. Posts: 7,117	Originally Posted by Worm I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but his first volume of memoirs - 'Unreliable Memoirs' - is one of my favourite books, and I can thoroughly recommend it. I'd quite forgotten that I'd read that years ago and found it a very enjoyable read.
	__________________ Thanks for bringing the list of [your] cards to our attention, we will try to be more vigilant in future - Zooterkin If it helps, I'm in favor of suspending you, too - Loss Leader

29th November 2019, 01:49 AM	#22
smartcooky Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 12,896	I've heard a lot of names and descriptions for Arnold Schwarzenegger; "the Austrian Oak", "Arnie", "Schwarzy" and "The Governator", but Clive James' description of him tops the lot... "a brown condom full of walnuts"
	__________________ "You can't promote principled anti-corruption action without pissing-off corrupt people!" - George Kent on Day one of the Trump Impeachment Hearings If you don't like my posts, my opinions, or my directness then put me on your ignore list. This will be of benefit to both of us; you won't have to take umbrage at my posts, and I won't have to waste my time talking to you... simples! !

29th November 2019, 02:47 AM	#23
cullennz Embarrasingly illiterate Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 17,438	Have complete understanding for the trim mods. And good pick for the paragraph
	__________________ I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. With today’s Internet technology we should be able to tell within 72-hours if a potential gun owner has a record. Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.102 , Jul 2, 2000

29th November 2019, 02:54 AM	#24
angrysoba Philosophile Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 25,901	Originally Posted by smartcooky "a brown condom full of walnuts" I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was.
	__________________ "The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist. Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and the evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before." "Evolution and Ethics" T.H. Huxley (1893)

29th November 2019, 03:07 AM	#25
cullennz Embarrasingly illiterate Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 17,438	Originally Posted by angrysoba I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was. Balded Aussie idiot climate change denier, I would imagine Mind you he probably hasn't got much longer given the 'roids.
	__________________ I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. With today’s Internet technology we should be able to tell within 72-hours if a potential gun owner has a record. Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.102 , Jul 2, 2000

29th November 2019, 06:37 AM	#26
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 88,420	Originally Posted by angrysoba I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was. Who?
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

29th November 2019, 07:17 AM	#27
angrysoba Philosophile Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 25,901	Originally Posted by angrysoba I wonder what Arnie's nickname for Clive James was. Originally Posted by Darat Who? I expect so. Originally Posted by cullennz Mind you he probably hasn't got much longer given the 'roids. Nah, he looks well enough to me.
	__________________ "The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist. Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and the evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before." "Evolution and Ethics" T.H. Huxley (1893)

29th November 2019, 03:16 PM	#28
Robin Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 11,017	Originally Posted by a_unique_person I saw that. He was very entertaining and intelligent, great sense of humour. It was very disappointing when he started blabbing on about climate like he actually knew more about it than a scientist. At least his climate stance ensured he got a big write up in the Murdoch press, they called him a 'giant'. If he had said climate change was real they would have limited it to a sentence buried on page 8 "Former television critic Olive James dies at 80"
	__________________ The non-theoretical character of metaphysics would not be in itself a defect; all arts have this non-theoretical character without thereby losing their high value for personal as well as for social life. The danger lies in the deceptive character of metaphysics; it gives the illusion of knowledge without actually giving any knowledge. This is the reason why we reject it. - Rudolf Carnap "Philosophy and Logical Syntax"

29th November 2019, 04:00 PM	#29
IsThisTheLife Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 427	I never stopped to wonder why I hadn't heard from or about him for so many years, didn't know he was so ill, for so long. Poor bastard. Back in the early 1970's my dad often used to drive up to the West End in the small hours of Sunday to get the Sunday Times and Observer, and I vividly remember the laughs I got from James's TV reviews, this from c. age twelve on [ETA which isn't trying to paint myself as precocious, just that the man had a relaxed Aussie wit, and a way of putting it in written words that anyone (of any age) can enjoy]. Many years later I read many of the same columns again, compiled in The Crystal Bucket, they were still FAF.
	__________________ "There is no sin except stupidity." Last edited by IsThisTheLife; 29th November 2019 at 04:11 PM.

29th November 2019, 04:03 PM	#30
IsThisTheLife Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 427	Originally Posted by bluesjnr Magarita Pracatan! Reflexive LoL.
	__________________ "There is no sin except stupidity."

29th November 2019, 04:14 PM	#31
IsThisTheLife Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 427	Originally Posted by smartcooky I've heard a lot of names and descriptions for Arnold Schwarzenegger; "the Austrian Oak", "Arnie", "Schwarzy" and "The Governator", but Clive James' description of him tops the lot... "a brown condom full of walnuts" ... who "talks like he's got a mouthful of marbles"
	__________________ "There is no sin except stupidity."