Alasdair George S. Clayre (9 October 1935 – 10 January 1984) was a British man of many talents: author, broadcaster, singer-songwriter, and academic. He was educated at Oxford University and was a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Clayre took his own life in 1984 by jumping in front of a train.

Clayre was born in Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

 on 9 October 1935. He won a scholarship to Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

, where he became head boy, and a further scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 where, as an undergraduate, his intellect was compared to that of Isaiah Berlin

Isaiah Berlin

Sir Isaiah Berlin OM, FBA was a British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas of Russian-Jewish origin, regarded as one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century and a dominant liberal scholar of his generation...

. He graduated with a congratulatory first class degree - the highest class of degree awarded at Oxford (see British undergraduate degree classification

British undergraduate degree classification

The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...

) - and won a Prize Fellowship to All Soul's College - one of the highest academic honours in the United Kingdom.

Clayre recorded two albums of songs including many of his own compositions: Alasdair Clayre (Elektra Records

Elektra Records

Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....

) and Adam and the Beasts (Folkways Records

Folkways Records

Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...

). He also appears on the Elektra folk song compilation A Cold Wind Blows. His English translation of "La Colombe

La Valse à Mille Temps

La Valse à Mille Temps is Jacques Brel's fourth album. Also known as Jacques Brel 4 and American Début, the album was released in 1959 by Philips...

" (The Dove") by Jacques Brel

Jacques Brel

Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...

 has been recorded by Judy Collins

Judy Collins

Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...

 and Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

. Another of his compositions, Train Song, has been recorded by Vashti Bunyan

Vashti Bunyan

Vashti Bunyan is an English singer-songwriter. In 1970, Bunyan released her first album, Just Another Diamond Day. The album sold very few copies, and Bunyan, discouraged, abandoned her musical career...

, while Adam and the Beasts has been recorded by Barry Dransfield

Barry Dransfield

Barry Dransfield is an English folk singer, fiddler, cellist and guitarist. He has appeared as a session musician on numerous albums by other artists, and has released his own albums as well. Lord of All I Behold was voted Melody Maker folk album of the year...

.

He was married to Felicity Bryan

Felicity Bryan

Felicity Bryan is founder of Felicity Bryan Associates, a literary agency based in Oxford. She is co-founder of the Laurence Stern Fellowship on the Washington Post.Bryan, the second of three daughters of Paul Bryan and Betty Bryan, was brought up in Yorkshire...

 for six years from 1974.

Selected publications

• The Heart of the Dragon (London: Collins, 1984), 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 West
• 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)
• 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
• 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