There will be no deathbed conversion for Clive James. The author and poet, who is terminally ill with emphysema and leukemia, gave an extraordinary interview to Channel 4 News on Friday, telling the broadcaster that lingering on his own mortality would be "indulgent."
While discussing his latest collection of poems entitled "Sentenced To Life," James said: "I don't mope around the house all day thinking 'oh my god, tomorrow I'll be dead.' I'm too busy watching Game of Thrones."
Echoing his late friend Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011, he said: “You’re lucky to have had a life. That’s not even to say blessed because that brings God into it and God has no leg to stand on.” The 75-year-old Australian added: “As one approaches the end one does see things with a new clarity."