The erudite Clive James is clearly an intellectual in that he expects to be understood both in his prejudices and in his loves.

He sang the praises of Australia on stage, comparing his homeland to "Byzantium," and poor old England to "Ancient Rome, overrun by the Visigoths."

Of course, Mr James has made a fortune on Visigothic television over the years, and his comments added a slightly unsettling note on an otherwise convivial evening.

Mr James is well read, and Francine Stock was happy to let him demonstrate the breadth of his knowledge and his impressive ability to recite from memory.

He was spot on about Shakespeare, "you know where you are in English Literature, because the top guy was in early".

Mr James made interesting comments about how "lightning" only strikes most poets once or twice, with only the great ones continually charred and smoking.

He read Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold very well, and also Auden's love lyric Lay You Sleeping Head, My Love...

He admitted he had used the poem to chat up girls in Oz, before learning it was written to a man.

Australian poets were mentioned and quoted, and Francine Stock was clearly on the look out for chauvinism when Clive James mentioned "The Housewife Poets" of the Depression.

But she need not have worried. Mr James was there to quote his loves not his hates, and admitted that he "could not imagine poetry in Australia without women."

Clive James made his audience think, and wasn't afraid to provoke; and from this point of view, it was a memorable appearance.

Gary Bills-Geddes