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Clive James 'Embarrassed' He Is Still Alive

Clive James 'Embarrassed' He Is Still Alive

Clive James has confessed he feels "embarrassment" that he is still alive - one year after he predicted his imminent death from terminal leukaemia.

In a poem published last September, the Australian critic had "confidently stated" that by the time the leaves on his maple tree turned red for autumn, he would have passed away.

But writing in The Guardian, the 76-year-old admitted he had "written himself into a corner".

Mr James, who has been receiving cancer treatment for more than five years, explained: "Autumn came, the tree came red and I was still here, steadily turning red myself.

"Winter arrived, there has been a whole other summer, and now the maple is just starting to do its flaming thing all over again, with me shyly watching."

The acclaimed broadcaster is writing a series on living with leukaemia for the newspaper - and says an experimental chemotherapy drug is "holding back the lurgy".

Describing his condition now, Mr James added: "This supposedly fatal thing I've got doesn't hurt, and on the whole I feel more old than sick.

"Feeling old can have its own style. I shuffle quite dynamically. It can get tough, though, when you see the young fizzing with the same energy that you once wasted."

Many of Mr James's fans expressed delight on Twitter at his article in The Guardian, in which he also described watching the "frenzied climax" of The Great British Bake Off.