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Antony Jay

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Sir Antony Jay
CVO CBE
Born
Antony Rupert Jay

(1930-04-20)20 April 1930
Paddington, London, England
Died21 August 2016(2016-08-21) (aged 86)
Occupations
  • Writer
  • broadcaster
  • director

Sir Antony Rupert Jay, CVO, CBE (20 April 1930 – 21 August 2016)[1] was an English writer, broadcaster, and director. With Jonathan Lynn, he co-wrote the British political comedies Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister (1980–88).[2] He also wrote The Householder's Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression (1972).

For his career as a broadcaster and in public relations, Jay received a knighthood in the 1988 New Year Honours.[3] He also wrote the BBC television documentary Royal Family and co-wrote Elizabeth R,[2] after which he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for personal services to the Royal Family in the 1993 New Years Honours list.

Early life and education

Jay was born in Paddington, London, the son of a character actor.[4] He was educated at St Paul's School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in Classics and comparative philology.

Career

After National Service in the Royal Signals, he joined BBC Television in 1955, and was a member of the team that launched the current affairs programme Tonight, of which he was editor from 1962–63. From 1963–64 he was Head of Television Talk Features, before leaving the BBC (on Wednesday 8th April 1964) to pursue a career as a freelance writer and producer. He was knighted in 1988 and remained a mordant observer of politics, including those of the broadcasters themselves. He was interviewed in the BBC TV documentary series Tory! Tory! Tory! and The Trap. Jay was a partner with John Cleese in the Video Arts training film production company.[5]

In 2007 Jay criticised the anti-establishment thinking of the BBC and similar media outlets such as The Guardian, claiming that the opinions of BBC staff "were at odds with the majority of the audience and the electorate".[6]

His 2008 report for the Centre for Policy Studies How to Save the BBC provoked fierce debate by advocating a radical reduction of the scale of the Corporation's activities.

Books

Jay was a prolific writer of books on management and business practices. His first best-seller, Management and Machiavelli (1967),[7] originally sold 250,000 copies worldwide. This was followed by his seminal analysis of how business really worked in the 20th century. Corporation Man (1971) [8] was described at the time as "a brilliant mixture of evolutionary theory drawn from such works as African Genesis and The Naked Ape".[citation needed] His Householders' Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression (1972) was adopted by the proletariat as the ultimate bible of dealing with bureaucracy.[citation needed][9]

Death

Jay died on 21 August 2016 at the age of 86.[10]

Family

Jay married Jill Watkins in 1957; they had four children.

References

  1. ^ "Birthdays today". The Telegraph. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2014. Sir Antony Jay, writer and producer, is 82
  2. ^ a b "A long reign and a lost republic". Inside Story. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  3. ^ "No. 51292". The London Gazette. 7 April 1988. p. 4089.
  4. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Video Arts sells out in pounds 25m deal". independent.co.uk. 5 January 1996. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Here is the news (as we want to report it)". The Daily Telegraph. 14 July 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  7. ^ Jay, Antony (1967). Management and Machiavelli. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0340026007.
  8. ^ Jay, Antony (1972). Corporation Man. London: Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-00678-1.
  9. ^ Jay, Antony (1972). The householder's guide to community defence against bureaucratic aggression: a report on Britain's government machine: presented to the British taxpayer, September 1972. London: Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-00799-3.
  10. ^ Bates, Stephen (23 August 2016). "Sir Antony Jay obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
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