Publisher's synopsis
‘I was born in 1939. The other big event of that year was the outbreak of the Second World War, but for the moment that did not affect me.’
In the first instalment of Clive James’s memoirs we follow the young Clive on his journey from boyhood to the cusp of manhood, when his days of wearing short trousers are finally behind him. Battling with school, girls, various relatives and an overwhelming desire to be a superhero, Clive’s adventures growing up in the suburbs of post-war Sydney are hair-raising, uproarious and almost too good to be true…
Told with James’s unassailable sense of humour and self-effacing charm, Unreliable Memoirs is a hilarious and touching introduction to the story of a national treasure. A million-copy bestseller, this classic memoir is a celebration of life in all its unpredictable glory.
Clive James is the author of more than thirty books. As well as his four volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week was in June and North face of Soho, he has published collections of literary and television criticism, essays, travel writing, verse and novels.
As a television performer he has appeared regularly for both the BBC and ITV, most notably as writer and presenter of the Postcard series of travel documentaries. He helped to found the independent television production company Watchmaker and the Internet enterprise Welcome Stranger, one of whose offshoots is a multimedia personal website.
In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. His latest book is Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time published in April 2007.
