Australian-born critic and broadcaster Clive James has died at the age of 80.
The star of The Clive James Show was diagnosed with leukaemia, kidney failure and lung disease almost 10 years ago.
He died at home in Cambridge on November 24 and a private funeral attended by family and close friends took place in the chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge on Wednesday.
Racing driver Damon Hill, actor Anthony Edwards, and drag queen Lily Savage with Clive James before a recording of his chat show 'Monday Night Clive' in 1999. Source: AAP
A statement on behalf of his family, released by his agents, said: "Clive died almost ten years after his first terminal diagnosis, and one month after he laid down his pen for the last time.
"He endured his ever-multiplying illnesses with patience and good humour, knowing until the last moment that he had experienced more than his fair share of this 'great, good world'.
"He was grateful to the staff at Addenbrooke's Hospital for their care and kindness, which unexpectedly allowed him so much extra time. His family would like to thank the nurses of the Arthur Rank Hospice at Home team for their help in his last days, which allowed him to die peacefully and at home, surrounded by his family and his books."
James first revealed the news of his illness in May 2011, when he had already been ill for 15 months, when he wrote to The Australian Literary Review to explain why he could not write for them.
A multi-talented cultural critic
James, a big name in British television and radio in the 1980s, was influential in media circles and won awards for journalism and broadcasting.
His often coarse, dead-pan style peaked in popularity in the 1980s with the show "Clive James on Television", in which he lampooned clips of absurd international television shows, in particular a Japanese contest called "Endurance".
Clive James in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Source: AAP/Mary Evans Picture Library
He wrote a newspaper column titled "Reports of My Death" in The Guardian after being diagnosed with leukaemia in 2010.
In 2016, he said his longevity after announcing his illness was "embarrassing".
As comfortable writing about low-brow as well as intellectual culture, his self-deprecating book on his early years, "Unreliable Memoirs", was a bestseller reprinted dozens of times.
'He was so funny about it'
Barrister Geoffrey Robertson says his creative talent was remarkable.
"He was a quick-witted and hilarious dissector of the vanities of the time, and the stupidities often of tabloid television," he told SBS News.
"And he was so funny about it. He had such a quick wit that he became a necessary to watch him in the late 20th century. And even though he disappeared from television in the last 10 years, particularly with his illness, he was present through his poetry."
Queen Elizabeth greets Australian author Clive James at Buckingham Palace in 2006. Source: AAP
Mr Robertson said it was his body of work towards the end of the life that was some of his best.
He maintained his writing and he wrote about his own struggle with mortality in a way that gave other people the courage - and indeed because of the remarkable treatment that he got - he was able to live for years beyond.
"And he made jokes about it. But that was a way of coping with death - writing through it. And that was I think very courageous."
His book "Cultural Amnesia", comprising short essays about more than 100 people who fascinated him - including writers Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka, filmmaker Federico Fellini and musicians from Duke Ellington to Erik Satie - testified to the breadth of his cultural and intellectual interests.
'Wonderful memories'
Award-winning British composer Howard Goodall says Clive James made an impression.
"Such a clever, poetic, cheeky yet thoroughly sincere man," he wrote on Twitter.
Others also paid tribute.
Margarita Pracatan, the Cuban singer James helped make a household name, said she would always remember his "intelligence... talent and beautiful way of living".
British former racing driver Damon Hill thanked his friend for "the wonderful memories."
His razor sharp wit was something friends and fans said they would not soon forget.
James acted as informal adviser to Britain's Prince Charlesand his ex-wife Diana, something he wrote about in a searingly honest portrayal of their friendship and the phenomenon of Diana's popularity after her death in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
Vivian Leopold James was born in Sydney in 1939, changing his name to Clive as a child. He moved to England in 1962 and, after graduating from Cambridge University, remained there for the rest of his life.
James taught himself French by reading the novels of Marcel Proust with a dictionary, joking that he "might have forgotten to say it took me 15 years". He also spoke Russian, Japanese, German and Italian.
Additional reporting: AAP, Reuters.
