Antony Jay

2022-06-09T13:07:00Z

87.126.73.7: /* External links */ Added links

{{For|the actor|Tony Jay}}
{{short description|English writer, broadcaster, and director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sir Antony Jay
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CVO}}
| image = 
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Antony Rupert Jay
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1930|04|20}}
| birth_place = [[Paddington]], [[London]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2016|8|21|1930|04|20}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = {{hlist|Writer|broadcaster|director}}
}}
'''Sir Antony Rupert Jay''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CVO|sep=,|size=100%}} (20 April 1930 – 21 August 2016)<ref name=Birth>{{cite web|title=Birthdays today|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2012-4-20.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120426082521/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2012-4-20.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 26 April 2012 |work=The Telegraph|access-date=19 April 2014|date=20 April 2012|quote=Sir Antony Jay, writer and producer, is 82}}</ref> was an English writer, broadcaster, producer and director. With [[Jonathan Lynn]], he co-wrote the British political comedies ''[[Yes Minister]]'' and ''[[Yes Minister|Yes, Prime Minister]]'' (1980–88).<ref name=istory>{{cite news|title=A long reign and a lost republic|url=http://inside.org.au/a-long-reign-and-a-lost-republic/|access-date=15 August 2013|newspaper=Inside Story|date=19 April 2012}}</ref> He also wrote ''The Householder's Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression'' (1972).

For his career as a broadcaster and in [[public relations]], Jay received a knighthood in the [[1988 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=51292|date=7 April 1988|page=4089}}</ref> He also wrote the 1969 BBC television documentary ''[[Royal Family (documentary)|Royal Family]]'' and wrote a 1992 book about [[Elizabeth II]] called ''Elizabeth R'',<ref name=istory/> after which he was appointed a Commander of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] for personal services to the Royal Family in the [[1993 New Year Honours|1993 New Years Honours list]].

==Early life and education==
Jay was born in [[Paddington]], [[London]], the son of Ernest Jay, a [[character actor]], and Catherine (Hay) Jay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Joi9oMhmXK03KeBPbLGj4Q&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=9 June 2017|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref> He was educated at [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]] and [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]], graduating with first-class honours in Classics and [[comparative philology]].

==Career==
After [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|National Service]] in the [[Royal Signals]], he joined [[BBC Television]] in 1955, and was a member of the team that launched the current affairs programme ''[[Tonight (1957 TV series)|Tonight]]'', of which he was editor from 1962–63. From 1963–64 he was Head of Television Talk Features, before leaving the BBC (on Wednesday 8 April 1964) to pursue a career as a freelance writer and producer. In 'real politics' he rendered political services to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] of [[Margaret Thatcher]], which included writing speeches for leading politicians including [[Geoffrey Howe]].<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35264042 | title= Yes, Prime Minister: Still true to life after 30 years? | work=BBC News | first=Shaun | last=Ley | date=9 January 2016 | access-date=6 May 2021}}</ref> He was knighted in 1988 and remained a mordant observer of politics, including those of the broadcasters themselves. He was interviewed in the BBC TV documentary series ''[[Tory! Tory! Tory!]]'' and ''[[The Trap (television documentary series)|The Trap]]''. Jay was a partner with [[John Cleese]] in the [[Video Arts]] training film production company.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/video-arts-sells-out-in-pounds-25m-deal-1322504.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/video-arts-sells-out-in-pounds-25m-deal-1322504.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Video Arts sells out in pounds 25m deal|date=5 January 1996|work=The Independent|access-date=23 August 2016}}</ref>

==Views and advocacy==
Jay's political views were [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] and he was a supporter of [[market economy|market economics]].<ref name="hayward">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/antony-jay-dead-yes-minister-prime-minister-a7206016.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/antony-jay-dead-yes-minister-prime-minister-a7206016.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Antony Jay obituary: Co-creator of Yes Minister who gave disconcertingly real insight into the corridors of power |date=23 August 2016 |newspaper=[[The Independent]]|access-date=17 January 2019}}</ref> In 2007, he alleged [[anti-establishment]] thinking by the BBC and news media outlets such as ''[[The Guardian]]''. He said of his time working at the BBC: "We were not just anti-[[Harold Macmillan|Macmillan]]. We were anti-industry, anti-capitalism, anti-advertising, anti-selling, anti-profit, anti-patriotism, anti-monarchy, anti-Empire, anti-police, anti-armed forces, anti-bomb, anti-authority. Almost anything that made the world a freer, safer and more prosperous place, you name it, we were anti it."<ref name="hayward"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557406/Here-is-the-news-as-we-want-to-report-it.html|title=Here is the news (as we want to report it) |date=14 July 2007 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=26 February 2015}}</ref>

His 2008 report for the [[Centre for Policy Studies]], ''How to Save the BBC'', advocated the abolition of the [[Television licensing in the United Kingdom|licence fee]] and the television service being reduced to one channel.<ref name="hayward"/>

== Books ==
Jay was a prolific writer of books on management and business practices. His first best-seller, ''Management and Machiavelli'' (1967),<ref>{{cite book |last=Jay |first=Antony |title=Management and Machiavelli |url=https://archive.org/details/managementmachia0000jaya |url-access=registration |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |year=1967 |isbn=978-0340026007 }}</ref> originally sold 250,000 copies worldwide. This was followed by his seminal analysis of how business really worked in the 20th century. ''Corporation Man'' (1971)<ref>{{cite book |last=Jay |first=Antony |title=Corporation Man |publisher=Cape |location=London |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-224-00678-1 }}</ref> was described at the time as "a brilliant mixture of evolutionary theory drawn from such works as ''[[African Genesis]]'' and ''[[The Naked Ape]]''".{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} His ''Householders' Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression'' (1972) was adopted by the proletariat as the ultimate bible of dealing with bureaucracy.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Jay |first=Antony |title=The householder's guide to community defence against bureaucratic aggression: a report on Britain's government machine: presented to the British taxpayer, September 1972 |publisher=Cape |location=London |year=1972 |isbn = 978-0-224-00799-3 }}</ref>

== Death ==
Jay died on 21 August 2016 at the age of 86.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/23/sir-antony-jay-obituary |title=Sir Antony Jay obituary |first=Stephen |last=Bates |date=23 August 2016 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=23 August 2016}}</ref>

== Family ==
Jay married Jill Watkins in 1957; they had four children.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{worldcat id|id=lccn-n50-37848}}
*[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/23/sir-antony-jay-obituary Obituary in the Guardian newspaper 23 August 2016]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/23/sir-antony-jay-obituary Obituary in the Independent online newspaper 23 August 2016]
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/08/23/sir-antony-jay-co-author-of-yes-minister--obituary/ Obituary in the Telegraph newspaper 23 August 2016]
*[http://www.yesprimeminister.co.uk New West End play by Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn], yesprimeminister.co.uk
*[http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/departments/aa/pali/leadership/HOWTORUNAMEETING.PDF Article by Antony for the ''Harvard Business Review'']
*{{Internet Archive author |sname= Antony Jay }}
* {{IMDb name|0419572}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Antony}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:BBC television producers]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) people]]
[[Category:English television producers]]
[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London]]
[[Category:People from Paddington]]
[[Category:Royal Corps of Signals soldiers]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:Yes Minister]]
[[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]]
[[Category:20th-century British businesspeople]]

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Antony Jay