Clive King obituary

"My friend Clive King, who has died aged 61 of heart failure, was an Irish writer, lyricist, journalist and script editor based in Scotland. His plays were performed in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. Born in Dublin, Clive was the eldest of the three children of Tommy King, who worked for Guinness, and his wife, Helen (nee Browne), a secretary. He attended Sandymount high school and in 1984 emigrated to London as part of an Irish exodus caused by recession and high unemployment."

"Into the late 1980s Clive worked as a journalist on computer magazines before deciding to take a degree in film, video and photographic arts at the University of Westminster, graduating in 1994. He followed up with an MA in screenwriting at the London College of Printing. Poster for Wee Free! musical, written by Clive King with Hilary Brooks Afterwards he returned to journalism with the Times as a picture editor and film feature writer, and in his spare time he wrote plays."

"In 1994 two of them, Turning On and Revving Up, were staged at the King's Head theatre in Islington, north London, and, in 1999, Tall Stories was performed at the Bird's Nest in Deptford, south-east London, while My Son the Sheik was put on at the Gielgud theatre a few months later. In 2001 Clive was hired as a script writer for Carlton Television on the relaunch of the TV soap Crossroads,"

Clive King was born in Dublin and was the eldest of three children. He emigrated to London in 1984 amid recession and high unemployment and because homosexuality remained illegal in Ireland. He worked as a journalist on computer magazines before earning a degree in film, video and photographic arts at the University of Westminster, followed by an MA in screenwriting. He returned to journalism with the Times while writing plays that were staged in London. He later wrote for television, including Crossroads, moved to Glasgow in 2003, and collaborated on musical theatre projects from 2006 onward.

Read at www.theguardian.com