In a somewhat similar vein, antipodean James was perhaps getting his seasons mixed up when he stated that in Vienna: "in spring you can drink Heurige Wein in the gardens" (5).

James offers an interesting mix of good and bad guys, and it makes for a good overview of all that went wrong in the 20th century, especially from the intellectual angle.In the absence of an intelligible argument, or through line, in a volume that never quite dispels the suspicion that the author is frugally recycling some ancient intellectual compost, James and his editors have resorted to a helpful alphabetical arrangement, in which the essential link is its author's autodidactic fervour. The disproportion of gravy to beef makes Cultural Amnesia a wonderful book for a long afternoon in a left-bank cafe, or a transatlantic plane ride, but perverse and sometimes baffling to fans who might have been hoping for a Jamesian summation." - Robert McCrum, The Observer Clive James — writer, TV broadcaster and critic — dies aged 80 ABC News, 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.

a b "Enough Rope with Andrew Denton – episode 84: Clive James (04/07/2005)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 October 2008 . Retrieved 16 September 2008. So while the focus is on some aspect of the person's life and work in a majority of the cases, James occasionally leaves them far behind and offers something completely different: the Thomas Browne leads to a discussion of arriving at book titles, Terry Gilliam leads to torture, and Heinrich Heine to fan letters. Trinca, Helen (20 March 2013). Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John. Text Publishing. p.134. ISBN 978-1-921961-13-7. Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2006 p.141:'I smoked so much that I needed the hubcap of a Bedford van as an ashtray. I had found the hubcap lying in the gutter of Trumpington Street, and thought: 'That will make an ideal ashtray.'On 3 September 2013, an interview with journalist Kerry O'Brien, Clive James: The Kid from Kogarah, was broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. [85] The interview was filmed in the library of his old college at Cambridge University. In the extended interview, James discussed his illness and confronting mortality. [85] James wrote the poem "Japanese Maple" which was published in The New Yorker in 2014 and described as his "farewell poem". [86] The New York Times called it "a poignant meditation on his impending death". [87] He described Murray Walker, the motor-racing commentator, as "talking as if his trousers are on fire". [48] One stupendous starburst of wild brilliance' - Simon Schama, historian and author of The Power of Art