Clive Alive

Well, it seems the recent talk of Clive James's impending demise was premature - at least according to Clive.
Let's hope he is indeed around and enjoying life as best he can for a few more years yet. But let's hope also that, before he does reach 'his terminus', he gives an interview in which he is free to talk about his life, work and thoughts in a much more unstructured way than tonight's Meeting Myself Coming Back allowed. Being chronologically structured and built around clips from the archives, tonight's interview was closer to This Is Your Life than Face To Face, and didn't allow much of a conversation - or indeed monologue - to develop. Clive was, as ever, great value, once he'd got the feel of the show, but all the time there was a frustrating sense of something much bigger and better fighting to get out. I hope some smart producer at Radio 4 - or, better, Radio 3 - was listening and sensing the potential for a great and memorable interview...