‘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’

Said the judges of the British Press Awards, in naming Clive James Critic of the Year for 1981. The Crystal Bucket offers a further selection of his inimitable TV criticism for the Observer.

‘C.J. didn’t get where he is today just by being funny. He is humane, liberal and compassionate … What he writes is always pertinent and always witty . . We own him a deep debt of gratitude’ Gavin Ewart, Listener

‘Few critics have a more unerring ear for woolliness and doubletalk or a more scathing and entertaining way of dealing with it’ Lesley Garner, Good Housekeeping

‘He is one of the most remarkable figures in British cultural life at the moment: a poet and gifted literary critic who is also genuinely liked by the mass audience’ Michael Mason, London Review of Books

‘One of the few columnists who make you laugh aloud … if there were angels he would be on their side: and that would certainly include Charlie’s Angels’ Melvyn Bragg, Sunday Times