I like to imagine that if Gore Vidal had lived to see now, the book he might've written would've been titled, "I Told You So" . One of my truly missed people
I love to hear this man, for so many decades now. I am going back into the historical novels now because although I have found & read some excellent histories...especially on early America which I love reading about this new nation, there was such hope then, but no one writes like Gore! Mr. Vidal lived a long time, the best & the last of the finest writers. I hope I have time to read Saul Bellow, his old friend, much more too. Anyway, I go back all the time to the convenient appearances that we have now of Gore...thanks to all this new tech; pc's, devices to see & hear him. He is so wise, he never wastes a word and he could never be dull for a second. I wish he would have been a very, very excellent, successful governor in CA. in 1982. How awful that he ust lost that race after he got so many votes, there and in the N. Y. political race in 1960, his dear friend President Kennedy's year was the closest ever too, but K. did win his. We get clowns in public offices & men like Gore Vidal did not win. I am still upset that we never had this giant among men to work with Bobby & ack Kennedy. etc. Thank goodness we did (and here in 2022 & forever) will still have so much of him on video and the books, the wonderful books he left us.
This is a fitting tribute to Gore Vidal, and Melvyn Bragg deserves much praise for it. Here we see Vidal in old age but still sharp,, insightful, witty and original
I'm 63....I read Gore most of my life....as well as many other authors....Mailer, Hemingway, Plimpton, Cheever, Capote, Steinbeck, Eliot, Melville, Twain, and my personal favorite, Kurt Vonnegut - aside from Vonnegut, Gore Vidal has consistently been the most enjoyable and gratifying author, in my opinion. As if that weren't enough, he was a brilliant essayist, and also possessed one of the most devastating wits I've ever come across. Those authors who cast him in a bad light or disparaged him were so blatantly covetous of his abilities I'd often loudly laugh upon hearing their pathetic little barbs.... Where are the new greats?
Hey William, I have some shocking news about Gore that you probably didn't know, and the shocking news about Gore is, "HE WAS GAY" I bet you didn't know that did you!!!
So refreshing when the air is clear. Gore represents truth and reality, high culture and art. He is the counterbalance to the wee little ones who are destroying life and everything that is beautiful in the human condition. I wish he was still with us, especially now.
I'm still trying to search for the 1987 South Bank Show with Gore. Can't seem to find it anywhere. I saw Gore give a talk in Brighton, UK in 2009 and wonder if anyone filmed it. Glad you all like the show!!
Gore Vidal I leaarned so much true history from him of my home. One of our last true Intellectuals, and Literary Giants. Never, will we see his like again it depresses me that the novel is now truly dead.
very very sad today, a great man has passed and history along with the mindless masses will still take a while to realize how much sense he spoke througout a remarkable and unique life form an enlightened perspective.
Gore Vidal was a critic of American foreign policy. He wrote several books and countless essays on the subject. I'm not sure how his dying in his bed of old age renders his words invalid. How, in your eyes, should he have died in order to preserve his authenticity? Is there an unwritten rule that US critics should pass away from TB at the age of 25?
Gore moving back to Hollywood from Italy. I find it incomprehensible. But a delightful guest. I suspect Gore had personal issues, relationship issues in Italy, and as he did screenwriting (wrote the script for BEN HUR and television scripts), perhaps he wanted to be back in familiar surroundings, when he was young, energetic and made a great impact, to relive the gilded ambiance of those days. I like him. He was one of a kind, unique, brilliant, prophetic and honest. Classically trained. No one like him these days. We live in dark times now. Gore provided illumination.
I really appreciated Gore's honesty about nonsense like "gay identity" - sexual activity shouldn't define us. Plus it's very undignified to go around flaunting your sex habits in everyone's face - it is enough to end persecution and harassment.
Thank you very much indeed. when this first came out my Dad and I watched it, then my mother came home and the three of us rewatched it. It is that good. 2.04 his charm. 32-37 for sheer class. 46.50 that answer!
Imagine how distracting it must be to write American history while you have the most beautiful backdrop and setting of Ravello in Italy. What a lucky man!
The beauty of the show is slightly ruined by the announcement of 'Sarah Ferguson helps a family of overweight smokers next on ITV..' over the end credits! No wonder the South Bank Show was axed by ITV. The South Bank show, the only light ITV ever gave....
Normally in screen interviews the camera is focused solely on the interviewee, with the interviewer's voice heard in the background. But My Lord Bragg always has to make sure the camera gets himself in as well (best side.) Bragg is a very apt surname.
A brilliant man, really funny and biting with his impressions of his friends and enemies. Very biting about religious belief; I don't agree but his insight is dead on.
Whilst I didn't agree with everything he thought, his predictions almost all came true and his ability to see the long game (and indeed in this case, the long con) was uncanny. Htichens could have never been Vidal's successor, as when it came to politics, especially in his later years Hitchens was utterly wrong; his only saving grace was his anti-theistic views.
How prescient Gore was on the death of the novel and his legacy resting in his brilliant essays. Imagine his cutting critique of US politics today,, - the shambolic insurrection, the indictments of Trump et al. He'd make it funny and pitiful..
I think that Vidal and Mailer are helping NYT by mentioning them. They have still a terrible taste in reviewing books. Does anyone remember the name of the author praised by NYT in 48 when he published City and the Pillar? me neither
Wut an excellent human being to hav leave us, we can scarcely afford it, much love to the family and all of us for the leaving of this great clear sighted being. We must unite and confront the talentless hacks who are attempting to enslave this whole planet under their witless constructs of rabid capitalist warmongering psychosis
Yes the voice over at the end of the show; Just confirm's the point's Vidal was making about the idiot society we are part of the intelligent milnipulation of populare sensibilit'es by the media. He was talking about the USA. But he could have been talking about 52nd state(uk) When all a tv station in our era can offer viewer's is cheap senstionlist crap like the Duchess up North and Hitler in colour. No wonder the literature music film and tv drama of today is bland and over hyped.
+Srinivasvithal Mirmira Bush was so stupid yet he understood something the likes of you still don't understand- we're at war with a deadly foe that needs to be taken down with mercy, compassion or regret. Bush had many failings and shortcomings, but he was 100% correct on fighting Islamofascism, something Vidal and his supporters shamefully tried to make excuses for by blaming it on US foreign policy.
Ikallicrates 1. Iraq was in no way secular by 2003- well-known and internally-wanted Jihadists such as Abu Nidal, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were all in Iraq BEFORE the 2003 liberation. This is in addition to Hussein paying the familes of Palestinian Jihadists to attack Israel WITHIN pre-1967 boarders. Anyone that claims Iraq was secular in/by 2003 is utterly clueless. 2. Conspiratorial babbling about 'war for oil' has been conclusively proven wrong- if the US wanted oil from Iraq, the US would've done a deal with Iraq ala France, Germany Russia. Also, as of August 2013 Iraq's main oil trading partner has been China.
he's cool. smart too. but i saw him wishing his own demise. it's good maybe he's ready. maybe he's the soft entry distraction to the outer shell of the media matrix. if he's so indy, shouldn't he be ONLY in PRINT?
Much over-rated. His essays were very good. The rest mediocre. As a person....nasty, misanthropic, and endlessly impressed with his family background, which was only moderately interesting.
_"nasty, misanthropic"_ - Only when describing nasty misanthropes. I would say he was quite accurate and very succinct. _"endlessly impressed with his family background"_ - To know exactly where you're going _to,_ you need to know exactly where you came _from_ Be useful. Why does YT display a non-functional thumbsdown symbol?
He had every right to be bitter. He spent a lifetime railing against injustice even though he came from a very privileged family. If more people from his upbringing spotted and addressed inequality, society would be so much better. He was flawed, as all of us are, but at least he made his mark
I like to imagine that if Gore Vidal had lived to see now, the book he might've written would've been titled, "I Told You So" .
One of my truly missed people
This contrasts interestingly with Spike Milligan's "I told you I was ill."
Go buy the book "i told you so" by Gore Vidal....the four most wonderful words in the English language.
a very good teacher for me and the internet facilitated it
Oh Yes. I miss him to.
I could listen to this man all day,
Always great to hear from a person who is so well read! Thank you Mr. Vidal.
The greatest loss was felt when this brilliant and incisive of Historian;s life ended, His was the voice of freedom all his life!
I don't know he's an historian exactly (not a trained one anyway) more a journalist and commentator, as well as novelist
Gore Vidal, the best president we never had. We need him now.
I love to hear this man, for so many decades now. I am going back into the historical novels now because although I have found & read some excellent histories...especially on early America which I love reading about this new nation, there was such hope then, but no one writes like Gore! Mr. Vidal lived a long time, the best & the last of the finest writers. I hope I have time to read Saul Bellow, his old friend, much more too.
Anyway, I go back all the time to the convenient appearances that we have now of Gore...thanks to all this new tech; pc's, devices to see & hear him. He is so wise, he never wastes a word and he could never be dull for a second. I wish he would have been a very, very excellent, successful governor in CA. in 1982. How awful that he ust lost that race after he got so many votes, there and in the N. Y. political race in 1960, his dear friend President Kennedy's year was the closest ever too, but K. did win his. We get clowns in public offices & men like Gore Vidal did not win. I am still upset that we never had this giant among men to work with Bobby & ack Kennedy. etc.
Thank goodness we did (and here in 2022 & forever) will still have so much of him on video and the books, the wonderful books he left us.
This is a fitting tribute to Gore Vidal, and Melvyn Bragg deserves much praise for it. Here we see Vidal in old age but still sharp,, insightful, witty and original
I agree. It is a tremendous interview/discussion..Melvyn Bragg is superb and Goes Vidal was always brilliant.
I'm 63....I read Gore most of my life....as well as many other authors....Mailer, Hemingway, Plimpton, Cheever, Capote, Steinbeck, Eliot, Melville, Twain, and my personal favorite, Kurt Vonnegut - aside from Vonnegut, Gore Vidal has consistently been the most enjoyable and gratifying author, in my opinion.
As if that weren't enough, he was a brilliant essayist, and also possessed one of the most devastating wits I've ever come across. Those authors who cast him in a bad light or disparaged him were so blatantly covetous of his abilities I'd often loudly laugh upon hearing their pathetic little barbs....
Where are the new greats?
Hey William, I have some shocking news about Gore that you probably didn't know, and the shocking news about Gore is, "HE WAS GAY" I bet you didn't know that did you!!!
Are you kidding? He wrote a novel about it in the late 1940s. It's no secret.
It's wonderful to finally catch the full interview. This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
one of the 20ih century's great writers
So refreshing when the air is clear. Gore represents truth and reality, high culture and art. He is the counterbalance to the wee little ones who are destroying life and everything that is beautiful in the human condition. I wish he was still with us, especially now.
Superb interview. A great man.
So sad to wake up and hear of of Gore's death. WHAT a legacy though......
I love to hear him speak. So eloquent, but he seems so approachable and easy going. Absolutely adore his debates.
Thank you for posting this - it was delightful.
God Bless Him...what a true & great person.
There a few writers and political analysts I can stomach listening to. Vidal was one of the few.
I'm still trying to search for the 1987 South Bank Show with Gore. Can't seem to find it anywhere. I saw Gore give a talk in Brighton, UK in 2009 and wonder if anyone filmed it. Glad you all like the show!!
RIP, Mr Vidal...always a pleasure...
Gore Vidal I leaarned so much true history from him of my home.
One of our last true Intellectuals, and Literary Giants.
Never, will we see his like again it depresses me that the novel is now truly dead.
How much I wish I written him while, he was alive.
very very sad today, a great man has passed and history along with the mindless masses will still take a while to realize how much sense he spoke througout a remarkable and unique life form an enlightened perspective.
Great thinker and man who left his mark 👍
Gore Vidal was a critic of American foreign policy. He wrote several books and countless essays on the subject. I'm not sure how his dying in his bed of old age renders his words invalid. How, in your eyes, should he have died in order to preserve his authenticity? Is there an unwritten rule that US critics should pass away from TB at the age of 25?
a rare gem. His world seems gone. No one reads anything of value, basically.
Now it's TikTok and Instagram. The mighty have fallen
Vidal was one of the very few visionaries ever produced by the 'United States of Amnesia'
Just a shame he went completely loco post-September 11th, 2001.
maadmaestro He is the only one in the 20th c.
Except for Bugs Bunny:)
You can count on the fingers of one hand everyone in America that has matched Mr. Vidal.
You misspelled America, amnesia is NOUN a partial or total loss of memory. I think the current spelling is sociopathic
I haven't got the 1987 show I'm afraid. Really want to see it myself
RIP Gore. I Shall miss your carefull and measured speech.
Gore moving back to Hollywood from Italy. I find it incomprehensible. But a delightful guest. I suspect Gore had personal issues, relationship issues in Italy, and as he did screenwriting (wrote the script for BEN HUR and television scripts), perhaps he wanted to be back in familiar surroundings, when he was young, energetic and made a great impact, to relive the gilded ambiance of those days. I like him. He was one of a kind, unique, brilliant, prophetic and honest. Classically trained. No one like him these days. We live in dark times now. Gore provided illumination.
This was a great man! Please pay attention.
I really appreciated Gore's honesty about nonsense like "gay identity" - sexual activity shouldn't define us. Plus it's very undignified to go around flaunting your sex habits in everyone's face - it is enough to end persecution and harassment.
Thank you very much indeed. when this first came out my Dad and I watched it, then my mother came home and the three of us rewatched it. It is that good. 2.04 his charm. 32-37 for sheer class. 46.50 that answer!
Imagine how distracting it must be to write American history while you have the most beautiful backdrop and setting of Ravello in Italy. What a lucky man!
Luck hell, he earned it.
I wasn't inferring that he won the property on a roll of the dice. It's the other way around, Americana is living in exile from the rest of the world.
thanks for th post
An incredible genius
The beauty of the show is slightly ruined by the announcement of 'Sarah Ferguson helps a family of overweight smokers next on ITV..' over the end credits! No wonder the South Bank Show was axed by ITV. The South Bank show, the only light ITV ever gave....
Greatest writer and essayist. Political commentary realistic.
What's the opera name played at the end?
"Here comes a bad letter from Vidal Sassoon"
Me: LOL
yeah, thanks a lot
The last true man of American letters .
What would he say about today?...
Normally in screen interviews the camera is focused solely on the interviewee, with the interviewer's voice heard in the background. But My Lord Bragg always has to make sure the camera gets himself in as well (best side.) Bragg is a very apt surname.
Better than noddies.
@@tonyduncan9852 not really
@@splinterbyrd Meh.
RIP Gore
Glad Gore Vidal is back in the home where he belongs. Hollywood.
Gone..but GORE'S thoughts are as Potent as ever.
the distinguished event, Henry James on death. Vidal found that quote very note worthy.
18 May 2008
... We shall let 'why' linger a while longer in the wings.
That opening is fuckin trippy
Wow! At last an american intellectual who doesnt get on my nerves!
Melvyn Bragg.at his best - thanks.
the opening theme segment is a little much
How very dare you! That's the famous South Bank Show theme based on Paganini's 24th Caprice.
+PurushaDesa It's overdone. It goes on too long.
that man who helps Gore down the stairs, the cutie with the pony tail, is hot.
A brilliant man, really funny and biting with his impressions of his friends and enemies.
Very biting about religious belief; I don't agree but his insight is dead on.
Melvyn Bragg was surprised Gore was correct about the Military Industrial Complex?
Spartacus led his rebellion circa 73 BC.
Is it me or did Gore Vidal have enormous ears ?
All ears get larger as you age.
Its not you, its him!
Whilst I didn't agree with everything he thought, his predictions almost all came true and his ability to see the long game (and indeed in this case, the long con) was uncanny. Htichens could have never been Vidal's successor, as when it came to politics, especially in his later years Hitchens was utterly wrong; his only saving grace was his anti-theistic views.
Interviewer is just a bit too nice and solicitous for my tastes.
But he’s spot on about Bush being an evangelical.
How prescient Gore was on the death of the novel and his legacy resting in his brilliant essays.
Imagine his cutting critique of US politics today,, - the shambolic insurrection, the indictments of Trump et al. He'd make it funny and pitiful..
43:28 lol if only he'd lived to see Trump
I think that Vidal and Mailer are helping NYT by mentioning them. They have still a terrible taste in reviewing books. Does anyone remember the name of the author praised by NYT in 48 when he published City and the Pillar?
me neither
He was born at West Point, not "the nation's capital". . .
Maybe some implicit subversiveness if outright ignorance wasn't the case?
Repose toi papy t'as l'air très fatigué !!!
Wut an excellent human being to hav leave us, we can scarcely afford it, much love to the family and all of us for the leaving of this great clear sighted being.
We must unite and confront the talentless hacks who are attempting to enslave this whole planet under their witless constructs of rabid capitalist warmongering psychosis
That was class.Certainly a better performance than this one. ;)
Is that an academic's lie that wars are good for the economy?
for the WAR Economy
when you genocide the Elite
the Dumb Voters re elect any Psych Path
which Pre Sident
was not a Super Psycho Path...
Yes the voice over at the end of the show; Just confirm's the point's Vidal was making about the idiot society we are part of the intelligent milnipulation of populare sensibilit'es by the media. He was talking about the USA. But he could have been talking about 52nd state(uk)
When all a tv station in our era can offer viewer's is cheap senstionlist crap like the Duchess up North and Hitler in colour. No wonder the literature music film and tv drama of today is bland and over hyped.
W F Buckley called him a queer.
Vidal's 'Bush is stupid' status-quo thinking really hurt his credibility towards the end, he ceased to think analytically or coherently post-9/11.
+Matthew Singh-Dosanjh You actually believe that Bush is actually not stupid?
+Srinivasvithal Mirmira Bush was so stupid yet he understood something the likes of you still don't understand- we're at war with a deadly foe that needs to be taken down with mercy, compassion or regret. Bush had many failings and shortcomings, but he was 100% correct on fighting Islamofascism, something Vidal and his supporters shamefully tried to make excuses for by blaming it on US foreign policy.
Ikallicrates
1. Iraq was in no way secular by 2003- well-known and internally-wanted Jihadists such as Abu Nidal, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were all in Iraq BEFORE the 2003 liberation. This is in addition to Hussein paying the familes of Palestinian Jihadists to attack Israel WITHIN pre-1967 boarders. Anyone that claims Iraq was secular in/by 2003 is utterly clueless.
2. Conspiratorial babbling about 'war for oil' has been conclusively proven wrong- if the US wanted oil from Iraq, the US would've done a deal with Iraq ala France, Germany Russia. Also, as of August 2013 Iraq's main oil trading partner has been China.
I would have loved to see him debate ALEX JONES or PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, JEFF RENSE, GERALD CELENTE, JIM MARRS, DONALD TRUMP or JESSE VENTURA!
he's cool. smart too. but i saw him wishing his own demise.
it's good maybe he's ready. maybe he's the soft entry distraction
to the outer shell of the media matrix. if he's so indy, shouldn't he be
ONLY in PRINT?
He should have acknowledged his privilege. He's not Noble. He's not brilliant. Yes, he is a critic.
There certainly are some homosexual and heterosexual sensibilities and temperaments. They shouldn't determine who you are as a whole though
Every comment praises this mean, nasty grouch who made his fortune insulting people. He pissed in the soup and he is called an essayist.
"and he is called an essayist"
Probably due to all of his essays
Much over-rated. His essays were very good. The rest mediocre. As a person....nasty, misanthropic, and endlessly impressed with his family background, which was only moderately interesting.
_"nasty, misanthropic"_ - Only when describing nasty misanthropes. I would say he was quite accurate and very succinct.
_"endlessly impressed with his family background"_ - To know exactly where you're going _to,_ you need to know exactly where you came _from_
Be useful. Why does YT display a non-functional thumbsdown symbol?
the more privileged you are the less you have to lie....also the less you have to say
He died a very lonesome and bitter old man
He had every right to be bitter. He spent a lifetime railing against injustice even though he came from a very privileged family. If more people from his upbringing spotted and addressed inequality, society would be so much better. He was flawed, as all of us are, but at least he made his mark