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(Message started by: Kevin Cryan on Today at 06:35)

Title: Clive this week's "Talking in the Library&
Post by Kevin Cryan on Today at 06:35
Extract from Mark Wright's Square Eyes blog which is posted to this week's The Stage Blogs, TV Today (http://www.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2007/10/square_eyes_811_october.php).


Clive James Talking in the Library (Wednesday 7.30pm, Sky Arts)

This is like a comfy pair of slippers. Clive James having a pleasant chat with somebody new each week. This week it turns out to be Nick Hornby, who I’ve worshipped quietly ever since High Fidelity got me through a particularly traumatic break-up. Nice.



Kevin Cryan

Title: Re: Clive this week's "Talking in the Library
Post by Kevin Cryan on Today at 20:50
Will Hodgkinson (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/arts/author/will_hodgkinson/profile.html) previewed this particular episode episode in The Guardian Guide on Saturday the 6th of October.


Clive James Talking in the Library – Nick Hornby
7.30pm Sky Arts

Clive James’s genial series of conversations with writers arrives at the author of Fever Pitch, High Fidelityand A Long way Down, who carved his niche as the voice of everyday British enthusiasm with a kind of low-level despair. James has a tendency to talk about himself more than is strictly necessary, but Hornby is quietly sharp. He comments on the truism that, knowing they probably can’t sing or play the saxophone, everyone thinks he can write a book.


And this is Sloan Freer* in the Television section The Guardian’s sister paper, The Observer, the very next day.

CLIVE  JAMES IN THE LIBRARY
SKY ARTS 7.30PM

Writer Nick Hornby gets cosy with James and, although he’s not quiet as intellectually stimulating as some other of his host’s earlier guests, he remains affable and entertaining. Unsurprisingly the Fever Pitch novelist’s chat concentrates on music, literature and football, giving illuminating insights into how they have shaped him as a person. As usual, it’s the laid-back intimacy that makes the programme work, proving that celebrity interviewing doesn’t have to be tacky or sensational to engage.


Kevin Cryan

*"Sloan Freer is a freelance film and music journalist, with a passion for the weird and wonderful. She started her career in 1991, covering film for regional press and BBC radio, before re-locating to London to edit magazines for the video industry. Since then she has contributed to assorted publications, including The Observer magazine, Total Film, The Face, Bizarre, Q, Kerrang! and Rip & Burn. She also reviews movies for Channel4.com and writes publicity material for several major film companies". Radio Times Film Reviewers (http://www.radiotimes.com/content/filmreviewers/)

PS. Sloan Freer is, it would seem, a very big fan of the show - I have mentioned some of the nice things she had to say before (http://www.peteatkin.com/cgi-bin/mv/YaBB.cgi?board=news;action=display;num=1091553124;start=35#35).

Title: Re: Clive this week's "Talking in the Library
Post by Ian Chippett on 10.10.07 at 11:18
<<...Hornby is quietly sharp. He comments on the truism that, knowing they probably can’t sing or play the saxophone, everyone thinks he can write a book. >>

Quietly sharp, I don't doubt, but a bit uncertain about pronouns. I can accept  "everyone thinks that they can write a book" although "everyone thinks that he can write a book" is probably more correct but one shouldn't use both in the same sentence.

Ian C


Title: Re: Clive this week's "Talking in the Library
Post by Kevin Cryan on 10.10.07 at 12:25
Hi Ian,

I'd have to check whether this error should be attributed to Hornby, to Hodgkinson,  or to my careless transcription of the piece.

Kevin Cryan

Title: Re: Clive this week's "Talking in the Library
Post by Kevin Cryan on 10.10.07 at 21:09
All right, I have to own up to one bit of carelessness. "He comments on the truism that, knowing they probably can’t sing or play the saxophone, everyone thinks he can write a book." should have read "He comments on the truism that, knowing they probably can’t sing or play the saxophone, everyone thinks they can write a book".

As I was deliberately typing the piece as it was printed in The Guardian, the correction of the main clause must have been the result of an subconscious impulse which prevented me from typing "they" close to "everyone thinks".

By the way, I will not have the time until the weekend to find out whether Hornby says "they" or not. So,  if someone does find out before I do, please let me know.  


Kevin Cryan




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