Jonathan Miller and Clive James, RIP
Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:49 pm
This week has seen the death of two of Britain's cultural leviathans. There are few left who could stand alongside them. Melvyn Bragg would be one, nobody else springs immediately to mind.
Jonathan Miller brightened the dawn of political satire in this country at a time when the world shifted on its pivot. He then educated the viewing public, often drawing on his training as a doctor. He invigorated European opera. That's three lifetimes of pinnacle achievement in parallel.
Clive James carried a distinctive voice into his newspaper criticism columns, performance, songwriting, novels, autobiography and his lifelong craft of poetry, each of which was clearly his own. In any of those areas he had few who drew comparison.
Jonathan Miller brightened the dawn of political satire in this country at a time when the world shifted on its pivot. He then educated the viewing public, often drawing on his training as a doctor. He invigorated European opera. That's three lifetimes of pinnacle achievement in parallel.
Clive James carried a distinctive voice into his newspaper criticism columns, performance, songwriting, novels, autobiography and his lifelong craft of poetry, each of which was clearly his own. In any of those areas he had few who drew comparison.