'It must be five years or more since a media group asked me to film an obituary for Clive James. I refused not because I didn’t believe his death was looming but because I thought I could talk about him when the time came, if need be. James, memoirist and interviewer extraordinaire, couldn’t be more conscious of the fact the announcement of his imminent death from leukaemia was premature. At the time it was based on the best information available.' (Introduction)