Psychiatrist in the Chair: The Official Biography of Anthony Clare by Brendan Kelly and Muiris Houston
Hardback published in large print Merrion Press 5th November 2020
ISBN 978-1785373299
Born in Dublin in 1942, Anthony Clare was the best known psychiatrist of his generation. His BBC Radio 4 show, in the psychiatrist’s chair which ran from 1982 to 2001, brought him international fame and changed the nature of broadcast interviews forever. Famous interviewees included Stephen Fry, Anthony Hopkins, Spike Millligan, Maya Angelou and Jimmy Savile, each of whom yielded to Clare’s inimitable gentle yet probing style.
Clare made unique contributions to the demystification and practice of psychiatry, most notably through his classic book Psychiatry in Dessent 1976. This book, the first, official biography of this much loved figure, examines the man behind these achievements: the debater and the doctor, the writer and the broadcaster, the public figure and the family man. Using extensive public and family records, and new interviews with family, friends and colleagues, the author asks: Who was Anthony Clare, really? Was there just one Anthony Clare, or many? What drove him? And what is to be learned from his life, his career, and his unique, sometimes controversial legacy to our understanding of the mind?
This book is published on the anniversary of Anthony Clare ‘s death on the 28th October 2007, this is the remarkable story of a remarkable person. This is a compelling story of the psychiatrist who made discussions about mental health mainstream.
My review
I was hooked into this book.
The interview
Who Was Anthony Clare?
It was the first interview that I got me hooked into this book with in August 1996, BBC Radio 4 Anthony Clare interviewed Uri Geller, the Israeli magician, psychic and spoon-bending illusionist. Geller had done thousands of interviews. But this interview was different. This time Geller was interviewed by Irish psychiatric Anthony Clare who had an extraordinary gift for communication, exceptional well within human psychology and human behaviour. Uri Geller recounted tales of his extraordinary childhood and dramatic life spy along with his ability to bend spoons and read people’s minds to Anthony Clare. But Anthony Clare didn’t know what to believe.
The interview
Anthony Clare: And what is your explanation? Do you know how it’s done? If it’s not magic, how is it done?
Uri Geller: I have no explanation.
This was gripping radio, elegant, erudite, entertaining. It helped that Anthony Clare was clearly impressed by Uri Geller and that he could bend keys with his mind. But the real magic came from Anthony Claire’s openness to Geller’s performance and persona, Anthony Clare’s willingness to express his bafflement at what he saw, and Anthony Clare’s endless curiosity about people not only about people who could bend spoons with their minds, but about everyone whom Anthony Clare encountered in his media and medical careers.
The book is delightful with Anthony Clare’s to question all sorts of people like Uri Geller, Ann Widdecombe and many more interesting
This is a lovely book also takes readers through his Anthony Clare’s childhood and Education. There some special photographs of Anthony Clare with his family and his wife.
The Contents of Chapters
1. Who Was Anthony Clare?
2. The Making of a Pyschiarist (1966-76
3. Writer: Pyschiatry in Dissent (1976)
4. Psychiatrist, Scientist, Professor (1976-89)
5. Broadcaster: In the Psychiatrist’s Chair (1982-2001)
6. Return to Ireland (1989)
7.Work, Life and the Crisis in Masulinity (1989-2007)
8. The Psychiatrist in the Chair
October 2007
About the authors
Brendan Kelly is Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry and author of Hearing Voices: The History of Psychiatry in Ireland (IAP, 2016) and Coping with Coronavirus (Merrion Press, 2020).Muiris Houston is a medical writer and health strategist, a specialist in occupational medicine, Adjunct Professor of Narrative Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and writer-in-residence at Evidence Synthesis Ireland, at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is a columnist with the Medical Independent and The Irish Times. Muiris is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the University of Sydney. He is an honorary fellow of the faculty of pathology of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.
Muiris Houston is a medical writer and health strategist, a specialist in occupational medicine, adjunct Professor of Narrative Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and writer in residence at Evidence Synthesis Ireland, at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is a columnist with the Medical Independent and The Irish Times. Muiris is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the University of Sydney. He is an honorary fellow of the faculty of pathology of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.
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