Bassett - In Two Minds: a Biography of Jonathan Miller

In Two Minds

IN
TWO MINDS

A Biography of Jonathan Miller

KATE BASSETT

First published in Hardback in 2012 by Oberon Books Ltd

First published in Paperback in 2014 by Oberon Books Ltd
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Copyright Kate Bassett, 2012, 2014

Kate Bassett is hereby identified as author of this work in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted her moral rights.

Excerpt from Burnt Norton from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot, copyright 1936 by Harcourt, Inc. and renewed 1964 by T. S. Eliot, reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Burnt Norton from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot, reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.

Excerpts from The Lord Chamberlains Papers British Library Board
(followed by the shelf mark).

1) Out of the Blue: MSS/Lord Chamberlains Plays/1954/33: date on card 1/6/54.

2) Between the Lines: MSS/Lord Chamberlains Plays/1955/32: date on card 26/5/55.

Excerpts from the National Theatre Archives reprinted with kind permission of The National Theatre.

Late Fragment by Raymond Carver. Copyright 1996, Tess Gallagher, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited.

Late Fragment from A New Path to the Waterfall. Copyright 1989 by the Estate of Raymond Carver. Used by permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

Late Fragment from All of Us by Raymond Carver, published by Harvill Press.
Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Limited.

Letter by Jonathan Miller written to Private Eye magazine Issue 19 (17/09/62) Pouves, pouves!
Reproduced by kind permission of Private Eye/Jonathan Miller.
Material from the St Pauls School archives reproduced with permission.
Quotes from The Complete Beyond the Fringe, 1987 Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller,
Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, reproduced by permission of Methuen.
Peter Cook Play from Consequences concept album by Godley and Crme.
Reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates.

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PB ISBN: 978-1-78319-089-8
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-84943-738-7

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CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Any unattributed photographs are from Jonathan Millers private collection.

For Martin,
for my parents,
and in memory of Jeremy Maule

There is no subject on which he has not touched, none on which he has rested. With an understanding fertile, subtle, expansive... few traces of it will perhaps remain. He lends himself to all impressions alike; he gives up his mind and liberty of thought to none... a general lover of art and science... the most impressive talker of his age.

William Hazlitt on Coleridge, The Spirit of the Age

And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on the earth.

Raymond Carver, Late Fragment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T O SAY THAT this biography has written itself would be a wild exaggeration. It has, of course, involved a mountain of work. However, literally hundreds of people have helped me along the way, making the process not just easier but profoundly enjoyable. First and foremost, Jonathan Miller has been enormously generous with his time, talking me through his life from his very earliest memories to the present day. The interviews he gave me are the most eloquent I have ever encountered, full of vivid images and humorous anecdotes, as well as being intellectually brilliant ranging across seemingly every subject under the sun. He was terrifically understanding when progress was slow. Furthermore, given his self-confessed sensitivity to criticism, he has been courageously trusting, declining to read and censor what I have written in the manner of an authorized biography. I cannot thank him enough. Researching his life has enriched mine.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to his family as well, especially to his wife Rachel who has been constantly welcoming and tolerant about recording sessions at the kitchen table microphones and notepads strewn among the coffee cups. Their son Tom Miller, a photographer, has been extremely kind, supplying some of his own images for the plates sections and pointing me to other sources. His brother William Millers wit and powers of description have enhanced this book too. He spoke to me about their father with great humour, frankness and affection.

I am also indebted to a huge number of Jonathan Millers friends, colleagues and other associated professionals as well as some acknowledged foes who have all given me insights and stories galore. A few of them, sadly, have now passed on, but I hope that I have not omitted anyone from this list of interviewees: Claudio Abbado; Pippa Ailion; Nelson Aldrich; Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon; Neil Ascherson, Horace Barlow; Desmond Barrit; John Barton; John Bassett; Ann Beach; Eric Beck; Alan Bennett; Michael Billington; the actor and satirist John Bird; Michael Blakemore; Michael Bogdanov; Sue Bond; Christopher Booker; Willie Botterill of the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children; Melvyn Bragg; Leslie Bricusse; John Bridges; Robert Brustein who was particulary magnanimous, taking a transatlantic phone call at an ungodly hour; John Burgess; Humphrey Burton; A. S. Byatt; Isabella Bywater who supplied me with photographs into the bargain. Likewise, thanks to my further interviewees: Patrick Carnegy for his observations and encouragement; George Christie; Susannah Clapp; John Cleese; Michael Codron; Michael Colgan; the writer Clare Colvin; Stephen Conroy; James Cornford; Michael Coveney who additionally shared illuminating material with me from his own archived files; Julian Crispin; Bernard Culshaw; Tony Cutler who went to the trouble of digging out a charming round-robin from his schooldays with Miller; Peter Davison; Richard Denton; William Donaldson; Freda Dowie; Ronald Dworkin; Mark Elder; Barbara Epstein; Peter Eyre; James Fenton; Carlos Fishman of the Portman Clinic; Rene Fleming; John Fortune; Christopher Foster; Michael Frayn; Clement Freud; Richard Gaddes; Peter Gallagher; Caroline Garland; Nicholas Garland who went out of his way to help, sending me extra material; Patrick Garland; Robert Gillespie; Jack Gold; Jill Gomez for her memories and her enthusiasm; Jack Goody; Robert Gore-Langton; Roger Graef; Richard Gregory; John Gross; Marit Gruson; Peter Hall; Terry Hands; Thomas Hampson; Michael Hastings; Charles Hazlewood; Stephen Hearst; David Heycock; Andrew Hilton; Robert Hinde; David Hinton; Jane Howell; Richard Hudson; Anne-Marie Huxstep (ne Mallik); Nicholas Hytner; Eric Idle; Michael Ignatieff; Leon S. Illis; Richard Ingrams; Anne James who has assisted on several fronts with documentary records of BBC programming as well as photographs; Jonathan James-Moore; Terry Johnson; Peter Jonas; Will Kerley; Karl Kirchwey; the splendid Eric Korn; Elisheva Landman; George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood; Roger Law; Tim Leggatt; Andrew Leigh; Anton Lesser; Naomi Lewis; Harvey Lichtenstein; Jean Liddiard; John Lubbock; Alastair Macauley; Charles Mackerras; Brian Marber; Cesare Mazzonis; Ian McDiarmid, Colin McGinn; Keith McNally; Zubin Mehta; Joseph Melillo; Diana and George Melly; Frank Middlemass; Robin Midgley; Jane Miller whose writings on Betty Miller suppled additional insights; Karl Miller; Sarah Miller who had partially investigated the family history and shared her findings with me unstintingly; also Hayley Mills; Rodney Milnes; Lee Minoff; David Mirvish; John Mordler; Elijah Moshinsky; Peter Nichols; Roger Norrington; Nicola Pagett; Tony Palmer; John Pardoe; Nicholas Payne; Norman and Johanna Platt who opened up Kent Operas archives for me; Piers Plowright who also sent me illuminating background material; Christopher Plummer; David Pountney; Tristram Powell; Enid Presoody; Philip Prowse; Dick Quinnell; Sophie Radice; Ruggero Raimondi; Frederic Raphael; Julian Rees; David Ritch; Nick Rhodes of the Nightingale Project; Patrick Robertson; David Roderick; Anton Rodgers; Ann Romyn, Hans-Dieter Roser who posted me several production videos; Garry Runciman; Barrie Rutter; Oliver Sacks, not only for his perceptiveness but also for his trove of letters; Erich Sergeant; Fiona Shaw; Alan Shotts; John Shrapnel; Robert Silvers; Michael Simmons; Denis Mack Smith; Susan Sontag; Charles Spencer; Julian Spiro; Maggie Stearns who shared her rehearsals diary with me; Karen Stone; Alan Strachan; Charles Sturridge; the opera critic Tom Sutcliffe; Janet Suzman; Judith Taylor (ne Mundlak); Eugene Thaw; Heather Thomas; Jeannie (also known as Haleem) Thomas; Nancy Thomas; Claire Tomalin; John Tomlinson; Patrick Uden who unearthed his production files and photographic records; Rosemary Vercoe; Rudolph Walker; Irving Wardle; Trevor Williams who retrieved vintage photographs too; Penelope Wilton; Lewis Wolpert who sent me additional recorded material; Michael Wood; and Stephen Wright.