Alasdair Clayre

Clayre was born in Southampton, Hampshire on 9 October 1935.Date of birth given in death index for 1984. General Register Office, London. He won a scholarship to Winchester College, where he became head boy, and a further scholarship to Christ Church, OxfordThe Times obituary 13 January 1984 where, as an undergraduate, his intellect was compared to that of Isaiah Berlin. He graduated with a congratulatory first class degree - the highest class of degree awarded at Oxford (see British undergraduate degree classification) - and won a Prize Fellowship to All Souls College - one of the highest academic honours in the United Kingdom.{{cite book|last=Magill|first=Frank Northern|title=Magill's Literary Annual 1994|year=1994|isbn=0-89356-294-7|publisher=Salem Press Inc}}

Clayre recorded two albums of songs including many of his own compositions: Alasdair Clayre (Elektra Records) and Adam and the Beasts (Folkways Records). He also appears on the Elektra folk song compilation A Cold Wind Blows. His English translation of "La Colombe" (The Dove") by Jacques Brel has been recorded by Judy Collins and Joan Baez. Another of his compositions, Train Song, has been recorded by Vashti Bunyan (who also co-wrote the song),{{Cite web |title=Vashti - Train Song |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/4014729-Vashti-Train-Song |website=Discogs|date=20 May 1966 }} while Adam and the Beasts has been recorded by Barry Dransfield and Shusha Guppy.

Clayre married Felicity Bryan in 1974. They divorced in 1980.

Clayre took his own life in 1984 by jumping in front of a train in North London.{{cite journal |last=Goleman |first= Daniel|date=May 1996|title= Higher Suicide Risk for Perfectionists |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/01/us/higher-suicide-risk-for-perfectionists.html|accessdate= 8 April 2007}}

• The Heart of the Dragon (London: Collins, 1984),{{cite book| last=Clayre|first=Alasdair|title=The Heart of the Dragon|publisher=Collins Harvill|year=1984|isbn=0-00-272115-5}} based on a TV series he produced, wrote, directed and presented about China at a time when the country was just opening up to the WestSee [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088532/ IMDB entry for the series]
• Nature and Industrialisation: an Anthology (Oxford: Oxford University Press in association with the Open University, 1977)
• The Political Economy of Co-operation and Participation: a Third Sector (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980)
• Work and Play: Ideas and Experience of Work and Leisure (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974){{cite book|last=Clayre|first=Alasdair|title=Work and Play: ideas and experience of work and leisure|url=https://archive.org/details/workplayideasexp0000clay|url-access=registration|year=1975|publisher = Harper and Row}}
• The Impact of Broadcasting; or, Mrs Buckle's Wall is Singing (Salisbury: Compton Russell, 1973), which includes a foreword by Asa Briggs
• 100 Folk Songs and New Songs, a songbook which he compiled; some of the new songs are his own compositions{{cite book|last=Clayre|first=Alasdair|title=100 Folk Songs and New Songs|year=1968|publisher = Wolfe Publishing Ltd| isbn=0-7234-0049-0}}
• A Fire by the Sea (London: Calypso Press, 1965; 2nd edn Salisbury: Compton Russell, 1973), a book of poems
• The Window (n.p.: Cape, 1961)
• Dialogue (Newport: n.p., 1959), co-edited with P. Jay

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Category:1935 births

Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford

Category:British broadcasters

Category:Elektra Records artists

Category:English male singer-songwriters

Category:English singer-songwriters

Category:Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford

Category:Writers from Southampton

Category:People educated at Winchester College

Category:Suicides by train

Category:Suicides in Highgate, Greater London

Category:20th-century English singers

Category:1984 suicides

Category:1984 deaths

Category:20th-century English male writers

Category:20th-century British male singers

Category:Musicians from Southampton