The Crystal Bucket

Description

'His contribution to the art and enjoyment of TV criticism over the past ten years has been immense. His work is deeply perceptive, often outrageously funny and always compulsively readable' Thus the judges of the British Press Awards, in naming Clive James Critic of the Year for 1981. The Crystal Bucket offers a further selection of his inimitable 'visions before midnight ...' 'C.J. didn't get where he is today just by being funny. He is humane, liberal and compassionate ...What he writes is always pertinent and always witty . . We own him a deep debt of gratitude' Gavin Ewart, Listener 'Few critics have a more unerring ear for woolliness and doubletalk or a more scathing and entertaining way of dealing with it' Lesley Garner, Good Housekeeping 'He is one of the most remarkable figures in British cultural life at the moment: a poet and gifted literary critic who is also genuinely liked by the mass audience' Michael Mason, London Review of Books 'One of the few columnists who make you laugh aloud ...if there were angels he would be on their side: and that would certainly include Charlie's Angels' Melvyn Bragg, Sunday Times

Clive James is the author of more than forty books. As well as essays, he has published collections of literary and television criticism, travel writing, verse and novels, plus five volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week Was In June, North Face of Soho and The Blaze of Obscurity. As a television performer he appeared regularly for both the BBC and ITV, most notably as writer and presenter of the Postcard series of travel documentaries. His book Cultural Amnesia was widely noticed in all the English-speaking countries and is currently being translated into Chinese. His popular Radio 4 series A Point of View has been published in volume form. In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. He holds honorary doctorates from Sydney University and the University of East Anglia. In 2012 he was appointed CBE.