For many people, Clive James will always be a TV presenter first and foremost, and a writer second -- this despite the fact that his adventures with the written word took place before, during and after his time on the small screen. Nevertheless, for those who remember clips of Japanese endurance gameshows and Egyptian soap operas, Clive reinventing the news or interviewing Hefner and Hepburn, Polanski and Pavarotti, Clive's 'Postcards' from Kenya, Shanghai and Dallas, or Clive James Racing Driver, Clive's rightful place does seem to be right there -- on the box, in our homes, and almost one of the family. However you think of him, though, and whatever you remember him for, The Blaze of Obscurity is perhaps Clive's most brilliant book yet. Part Clive James on TV and part Clive James on TV, it tells the inside story of his years in television, shows Clive on top form both then and now, and proves -- once and for all -- that Clive has a way with words ... whatever the medium.

Nearly 30 years ago, James wrote a refreshingly candid book that made no claims to be accurate, precise, or entirely truthful, only to entertain. Long unavailable in the U.S., "Unreliable Memoirs" is being made available to American readers.

The first instalment of his famed autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs is a hilarious and touching introduction to the life of the author, broadcaster, critic and poet, Clive James. 'It is one of the most tender, frank and, above all, funny accounts of growing up I have ever read' –Michael Parkinson In the first instalment of James's memoirs we follow the young Clive on his journey from boyhood to the cusp of manhood, when his days of wearing short trousers are finally behind him. Battling with school, girls, various relatives, the local wildlife, and an overwhelming desire to be a superhero, Clive's adventures growing up in the suburbs of post-war Sydney are a hair-raising and uproarious evocation of a lost world. I was born in 1939. The other big event of that year was the outbreak of the Second World War, but for the moment that did not affect me . . . 'James cannot find it within himself to write a dull paragraph' – The Times With an introduction from P.J. O'Rourke, journalist, satirist and author of Holidays in Hell. Unreliable Memoirs is the first book of memoir from Clive James. Continue his story with Falling Towards England.

From Fleet Street to the television, North Face of Soho is the fascinating and hilarious fourth volume of memoir from much-loved author, poet and broadcaster Clive James. '[James] delivers his gags with honed elegance' – Sunday Times It is 1968. Newly married, dressed in the style of the times ('a frenzy of bad judgement'), Clive James is leaving the cloistered world of Cambridge academia and setting his sights once again on the lights of literary London. Luckily for him and us, this crack at the big city would go rather better than last time. Still writing songs, directing sketch shows and trying to break into the movie business, with very mixed success, Clive eventually lands a weekly TV column at the Observer, finds his metier and rapidly becomes a household name. Credited with inventing a genre, Clive turns his attention to the previously critically disregarded medium of television to comment on the entire culture. Through the Seventies and early Eighties, from Fleet Street to Hollywood, from Russian department stores to Paris fashion shows, this is the hilarious, entertaining and honest story of a life lived to the full. North Face of Soho is the fourth book of memoir from Clive James. Continue his story with The Blaze of Obscurity.

The author reflects on his latest readings, and re-readings, undertaken after being diagnosed with terminal leukemia, combining thoughts on old favorites and new discoveries with personal musings on living and dying.

“A loving and breezy set of essays” on today’s most addictive TV shows from “an incisive and hilarious critic” (Slate). Television is not what it once was. Award-winning author and critic Clive James spent decades covering the medium, and witnessed a radical change in content, format, and programming, and in the very manner in which TV is watched. Here he examines this unique cultural revolution, providing a brilliant, eminently entertaining analysis of many of television’s most notable twenty-first-century accomplishments and their not always subtle impact on modern society—including such acclaimed serial dramas as Breaking Bad, The West Wing, Mad Men, and The Sopranos and the comedy 30 Rock. With intelligence and wit, James explores a television landscape expanded by cable and broadband and profoundly altered by the advent of Netflix, Amazon, and other cord-cutting platforms that have helped to usher in a golden age of unabashed binge-watching. “James loves television, he loves the winding stories it tells and that we share them together. Play All is a late love letter to the medium of our lives.”—Sunday Times “Large-brained and largehearted, and written with astonishing energy.”—The New York Times Book Review “Witty and insightful musing on popular and critically acclaimed series of the past two decades.”—Publishers Weekly

A hilarious journey through the life and television of the 1970s and 80s, this nostalgic time capsule collects the treasured columns of Clive James. 'The funniest writer in Britain' – Sunday Times Clive James is the man who created TV criticism as a genre, bringing to it all the breadth of reference, intelligence and delight that he brought to more conventionally highbrow art forms. At a time when there were only three TV channels in the UK, and a primetime show might gather a simultaneous audience of 20 million people, he was commenting on the hitherto overlooked major cultural phenomenon of the era. From the Olympics to the fall of Richard Nixon, from the Eurovision Song Contest to the rise of Thatcher, from endless Star Trek reruns to the election of Reagan, and from Charlie's Angels to Michael Foot's Labour Party, Clive James's inimitable commentary brought sense and humour to his huge audience. In Clive James On Television are collected all three volumes of the brilliant, uniquely Jamesian humour that saw hundreds of thousands of devoted fans turn to his column each Sunday morning. It is together a hilarious, insightful portrait of the time – whether or not you were there the first time around. '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' – British Press Awards, on Clive James (Winner, Critic of the Year 1981) This book combines the three volumes of Clive's collected columns: Visions Before Midnight, The Crystal Bucket and Glued To The Box. Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His much loved, influential and hilarious television criticism is available both in three individual volumes and collected in Clive James On Television. Praise for Clive James: 'The perfect critic' – A.O. Scott, New York Times 'There can't be many writers of my generation who haven't been heavily influenced by Clive James' – Charlie Brooker 'A wonderfully witty and intelligent writer' – Verity Lambert