Clive James talks to Mark Lawson
One of the downsides of a free society is that there’s bound to be lots of things you don’t like in it. Not sure if that’s quite what he said but I think I’ve caught the gist of one of the gems from this BBC4 TV programme. It’s on again at midnight tomorrow so, if you’ve missed it, set your recorder now.
It’s odd to review a programme about a man who made his fame as the Observers TV critic in the 1970s. Odd and pointless, he had a readership tens of thousand times the size of mine. Because there were no VCRs he had to watch all three channels at once and scribble furious notes. I watched him from my VCR.....
He says he works too hard partly he thinks because his father was killed in a plane crash at the end of WWII and Clive has a compulsion not to waste his own years.
He’s done a lot but managed to remain worth listening to. He saved his money and doesn’t have expensive toys he says which is why he could retire early. On a more modest scale, so have I. But he’s still very, very busy. Some of what he’s up to is on his web site.
Go on, watch the programme.....
posted by Hughes Views @ 9:16 pm
2 comments
2 Comments:
I only caught the end of that programme and I was struck by the same phrase.
It was almost a throwaway comment but extremely thought-provoking, because almost by definition a free society will contain a lot you don't like but which everyone else is free to do.
It really reminded me that I need to be more tolerant, even of appalling ring-tones and James Blunt.
Hello Skuds - yes, he does a good line in almost throwaway comments. I agree with you about being more tolerant but silly ring tones? There must be limits even to tolerance!
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