Sir Antony Rupert Jay, (20 April 1930 – 21 August 2016) was an English writer and broadcaster. With

Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Adam Lynn (born 3 April 1943) is an English film director, screenwriter, and actor. He directed the comedy films '' Clue'', '' Nuns on the Run'', '' My Cousin Vinny'', and '' The Whole Nine Yards''. He also co-created and co-wrote the ...

, he co-wrote the British political-satirical comedies ''

Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes f ...

'' and '' Yes, Prime Minister'' (1980–88). He also wrote ''The Householder's Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression'' (1972). For his career as a broadcaster and in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

, Jay received a knighthood in the 1988 New Year Honours. He also wrote the 1969 BBC television documentary ''

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

'' and wrote a 1992 book about

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

called ''Elizabeth R'', after which he was appointed a Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

for personal services to the royal family in the 1993 New Years Honours list.

Early life and education

Jay was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the son of Ernest Jay, a

character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...

, and Catherine (Hay) Jay. He was educated at St Paul's School and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, graduating with first-class honours in Classics and comparative philology.

Career

After

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

, he joined

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

in 1955, and was a member of the team that launched the current affairs programme ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'', of which he was editor from 1962 to 1963. From 1963 to 1964 he was Head of Television Talk Features, before leaving the BBC (on 8 April 1964) to pursue a career as a freelance writer and producer. In politics he rendered political services to the Conservative Party of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, which included writing speeches for politicians including

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to ...

. 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''. Jay was a partner with

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

in the

Video Arts Video Arts is a UK-based video production company which produces and sells soft-skills training programmes, e-learning courses and learning platforms. Video Arts also distributes third-party titles. The company was founded in 1972 by John C ...

training film production company.

Views and advocacy

Jay's political views were

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

and he was a supporter of

market economics A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mar ...

. In 2007, he alleged

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

thinking by the BBC and news media outlets such as ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. He said of his time working at the BBC: "We were not just anti- 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." His 2008 report for the

Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a centre-right think tanks, think tank and advocacy group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," lo ...

, ''How to Save the BBC'', advocated the abolition of the

licence fee A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts or the possession of a television set. In some countries, a licence is also required to own a radio or rece ...

and the television service being reduced to one channel.

Books

Jay wrote books on management and business practices. His first best-seller, ''Management and Machiavelli'' (1967), originally sold 250,000 copies worldwide. This was followed by an analysis of how business really worked in the 20th century. ''Corporation Man'' (1971) was described at the time as "a brilliant mixture of evolutionary theory drawn from such works as '' African Genesis'' and ''

The Naked Ape ''The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal'' is a 1967 book by English Zoology, zoologist and ethology, ethologist Desmond Morris that looks at humans as a species and compares them to other animals. ''The Human Zoo (book), The Hum ...

''". His ''Householders' Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression'' was published in 1972.

Death

Jay died on 21 August 2016 at the age of 86.

Family

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

References

External links

Obituary in the Guardian newspaper 23 August 2016Obituary in the Independent online newspaper 23 August 2016

Obituary in the Telegraph newspaper 23 August 2016New West End play by Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
yesprimeminister.co.uk
Article by Antony for the ''Harvard Business Review''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Antony 1930 births 2016 deaths 20th-century English writers Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge BBC television producers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Conservative Party (UK) people English television producers English television writers Knights Bachelor People educated at St Paul's School, London People from Paddington Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Writers from the City of Westminster Yes Minister 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century English businesspeople Military personnel from the City of Westminster English satirists British television show creators British satirical television show creators