Clive launches scathing attack on lust for fame

Television critic and author Clive James has launched a scathing attack on the thirst for fame that is fuelling the reality television phenomenon.

Speaking to a national conference of commercial radio stations on Australia’s Gold Coast, London-based James suggested that celebrity-obsessed tabloid newspapers and reality shows were making people famous for doing nothing.

“If you ask people what they would like to do with their lives, they say they’d like to be famous or on television,” James said. “They don’t say what for and they have nothing to offer. If you want to be famous, urinate on the shoe of someone who is famous.”

James, who has hosted TV shows in Britain and written poetry and an acclaimed memoir, cited the example of Rebecca Loos, who became a minor personality after claiming to have had sex with her former boss, soccer star David Beckham.

“Rebecca sold her story and is now a TV star,” he said. ”We can’t go on like this. Our best hope is that the celebrity culture is discrediting itself.

"We should help it on its way downhill and do our best to get back to a state where fame, if we have to have it, is at least dependent on some kind of achievement.”

James said he pulled the plug on his own television career after realising he was gaining fame simply for being on television.

“I fired myself from the small screen and tried to find a path back to normality,” he said.

But James said the proliferation of reality television shows could end up making instant fame seem mundane.

“They become less and less interesting,” James said. “If people want to be somebody, they should do something first.”