Writer, satirist, broadcaster, and critic, born in Sydney, New South Wales, SE Australia. He studied at the universities of Sydney and Cambridge, and became television critic for the English newspaper The Observer. He has published several books of comment and criticism, including The Metropolitan Critic (1974) and Snakecharmers in Texas (1988). Other writing includes volumes of verse, such as Other Passports: Poems 1958–85 (1986), three volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs (1980, 1985, 1990), and the novel The Silver Castle (1996). His collected essays include As of This Writing: The Essential Essays, 1968-2002 (2003) and New Essays 2001-2005 (2005). His television programmes have been a combination of chat, humour, and commentary, and include Saturday Night Clive, as well as a series of ‘documentaries’ set in cities around the world, such as Clive James Live in Japan (1987).