Anthony Burgess on some Irish writers

Appearance on Raidió Teilifís Éireann in 1982.

[@joycejulep9115]

Thanks so much for posting this! I could listen to Antonio talk all day long

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

I've been listening to him, so to speak, for at least a decade and the sound never palls.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Sententious , opinionated bore ! Mistaken for a genius...

[@dengelke]

Love to see new content from this channel.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

Ah, Mr Engelke, you are too kind. Thanks for visiting In Search of Anthony Burgess.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Great combover ! Almost Scargillian....!

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

That had never occurred to me but you're right. Scargillian indeed.

[@dreamcatalogue]

Do you have the full interview to post?

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

I'm afraid not. Thanks for your visit to In Search of Anthony Burgess.

[@dreamcatalogue]

@@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess Thank you for your service. And long shall i continue to visit!!!!!!!

[@londoncalling151]

This interview needs serious study. Gaybo was infamous for his set-ups, here Burgess rises to the bait: 2 Irish smart Alecks, Gaybo the winner. Anthony Burgess. God rest them both.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

What was Gaybo's game exactly, and how was Burgess outfoxed?

[@londoncalling151]

@@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess Gaybo was like all upstarts: foxy, but nothing behind it. What the Yanks called a "Wiseguy", and still in Ireland we call a "Cute hoor". Gay Byrne was a cute hoor. If you listen closely and watch closely there are 2 things: the friendly disarming poise, and the terse statements disguised as questions. Gay Byrne did this with Bishop Casey's floozy to infamous effect, and Peeeee Flynn later on, both well late in Byrne's career. He had a "Wind them up and see how they go" shtick, but nothing else. Actually, I think Anthony Burgess already knows this, and uses it to his own advantage here. (Yes, Gay Byrne's morning radio show and the Late Late Show utterly influenced Ireland 1970-1990). How am I almost certain of this? Burgess was a big pal of Gus Martin at UCD, literally up the road from RTE. There's no doubt that Martin would have already verified Burgess' enquiries, for by then Gaybo was hugely important (He literally was one of the closest friends of Wogan, Eamonn Andrews and other, ahem, Irishmen who made good over in England). Burgess and Gus Martin in pubs round Donnybrook and Leeson Street, the type of men that in a different situation Heaney called "Sideways talkers". Genius, pure genius.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

@@londoncalling151 Very interesting!

[@JoeLondon-te3hf]

Gay Byrne used to invite guests on having reassured them that all would be light. The show was broadcast live, and Gaybo used that to his full advantage (The RD Laing interview, the Linehan interview, the Kennedy interview, the lover of Bishop Casey interview, just 4 from the early '90s that show him at his devious worst in this regard). Here he has Anthony Burgess nice and comfy and just fires names at him, no long sentences, just names. Burgess was no fool, but clearly Gaybo is trying to set him up here: early 1990s Ireland, literally the whole country watching, some English man criticising Irish writers. The fact that John Wilson Burgess was more Irish or English, or even Scotch or Welsh for that matter, is neither here nor there: Gaybo is trying to position him to get some sort of headline in the Sunday Press (Now long gone) or the Sunday World: 'English writer attacks Ireland' or some such bollix. Bear in mind that the Late Kate was broadcast from 9:30pm to 11:30pm on Saturday night at that time, when TV ruled, and the Sunday papers rolled the printing presses at 1am. Gaybo is definitely on manoeuvres here, just firing names at Burgess knowing that his TV audience are mostly non literary, heavy drinking Irish. John Anthony Wilson Burgess, Northern English to the core, had more Irishness in one hair of his head than Gay Byrne had in his head.

[@JoeLondon-te3hf]

I mean the Late Late.

[@louduva9849]

Behan killed a kid? I didn't know that.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

The bit at 1:51, yes.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

'He was responsible by putting a letter-bomb in a post-box of killing a small child.'

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

To be sure, Behan was guilty of many crimes, and was convicted of conspiracy to murder. He was a participant in a number of IRA bombing campaigns. I must say, though, that I hadn't heard the story of the letter-bomb and the small child.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

Yep, it's a good point, Mr Duva. I wonder if Burgess was mixing Behan up with someone else over this particular crime. On the other hand, perhaps Burgess was privy to information not widely known, or was speculating on what he perhaps thought were reasonable grounds.

[@InSearchOfAnthonyBurgess]

What Burgess says may or may not be true. However, what is certain is that Behan was arrested before he could bomb Liverpool docks.