Oz Clarke
Encyclopedia
Robert "Oz" Clarke is a British
wine
writer, television presenter and broadcaster.
with a brother and a sister. Clarke became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral
and subsequently won a choral scholarship to The King's School, Canterbury
. He later attended Pembroke College, Oxford
where he studied theology and psychology and became Common Room President. He played University hockey, was University punting champion, sang with Schola Cantorum, and acted with OUDS and the Oxford Revue at the Edinburgh Festival. He also captained the wine-tasting team.
Having grown up in Kent, Clarke played cricket for Babes of Kent schoolboys and supports Gillingham Football Club. He can be seen wearing a Gillingham F.C. scarf in Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas, broadcast prior to Christmas 2009 on BBC2.
, The National Theatre
, The Old Vic and Chichester
. In the West End
, he played with Michael Crawford in Billy at Drury Lane, sang Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd, played all the men in the Mitford Girls and General Peron in Evita. It was during this acting period that he was drafted in to the newly formed English Wine Tasting Team, who won competitions against France, Germany, and the USA, amongst others. This proved crucial for his career development.
When a wine expert dropped out of the new BBC show Food and Drink
, the acclaimed television producer Peter Bazalgette
allegedly shouted, 'Get me the actor who knows about wine'. They did, and Oz's career was about to make a shift away from theatre towards wine, but not out of showbiz. He and Jilly Goolden
became the voices and faces of wine in Britain for a generation.
He played the first person ever arrested by Superman in the 1978 film Superman, a terrorist in Superman II
, a Special Branch man in Who Dares Wins
, and Balthasar in Stuart Burge
's 1984 film of Much Ado About Nothing. He sang the baritone role - and Sam Gamgee's song - in the BBC adaptation
of Lord of the Rings, and recorded Stephen Oliver's A Man of Feeling for Granada TV.
.
In 1982, Clarke won the last World Wine Tasting Championship, making him reigning champion as the event has not yet been repeated.
Clarke has written several award-winning books, and is generally regarded as the New World champion who led Britain's wine revolution in the 1990s and 2000s, but he is also a passionate supporter of the Old World classics, in particular Bordeaux. Clarke appears on numerous radio and TV shows, including A Question of Taste and The Wine Programme for BBC Radio 4
. Recently he has made three successful BBCTWO TV series with James May
- Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure
in France and California, and Oz and James Drink to Britain
. The comedian Hugh Dennis
was later brought into this concept as Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas
was broadcast in 2009, and the later series, Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar
was broadcast over the Christmas period in 2010.
Clarke stated in Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure that he was banned from the Champagne region of France in the 1990s for having made statements suggesting that champagne was deteriorating in value while rising in price.
In November 2008 a survey by the wine industry consultancy firm Wine Intelligence was made public, having polled the views of more than 1,500 regular UK wine drinkers. Results show that Clarke was the most recognised wine critic in the UK. In 2009 he won the International Wine Challenge Personality of the Year award jointly with James May, in the same week as winning the Louis Roederer International Book of the Year for his book, Bordeaux. In 2010 he and James May won the TRIC Award for 'best documentary' (for Oz and James Drink to Britain). He was also awarded an Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Government.
Oz Clarke's written output is now published by Pavilion Books, an imprint of Anova Books
. In December 2010, he launched his very first 'apps' for use on Apple's iPhone
and iPad
, through Anova Digital: 'Oz Clarke's Best Wines 2011' and 'Oz Clarke's Xmas Wines'.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
writer, television presenter and broadcaster.
Biography
Clarke’s parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He was brought up near CanterburyCanterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
with a brother and a sister. Clarke became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
and subsequently won a choral scholarship to The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....
. He later attended Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...
where he studied theology and psychology and became Common Room President. He played University hockey, was University punting champion, sang with Schola Cantorum, and acted with OUDS and the Oxford Revue at the Edinburgh Festival. He also captained the wine-tasting team.
Having grown up in Kent, Clarke played cricket for Babes of Kent schoolboys and supports Gillingham Football Club. He can be seen wearing a Gillingham F.C. scarf in Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas, broadcast prior to Christmas 2009 on BBC2.
Acting career
After Oxford, Clarke started a career as a full-time actor and singer. His first job was at Northampton, followed by Sheffield, Manchester and Leicester. He then worked for the Royal Shakespeare CompanyRoyal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, The National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, The Old Vic and Chichester
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
. In the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, he played with Michael Crawford in Billy at Drury Lane, sang Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd, played all the men in the Mitford Girls and General Peron in Evita. It was during this acting period that he was drafted in to the newly formed English Wine Tasting Team, who won competitions against France, Germany, and the USA, amongst others. This proved crucial for his career development.
When a wine expert dropped out of the new BBC show Food and Drink
Food and Drink
Food and Drink was a long-running British television series on BBC Two between 1982 and 2001. It was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations....
, the acclaimed television producer Peter Bazalgette
Peter Bazalgette
Peter "Baz" Bazalgette is a British media expert who helped create the independent TV production sector in the UK and went on to be the leading creative figure in the global TV company Endemol....
allegedly shouted, 'Get me the actor who knows about wine'. They did, and Oz's career was about to make a shift away from theatre towards wine, but not out of showbiz. He and Jilly Goolden
Jilly Goolden
Jilly Goolden is a British wine critic, journalist and television personality.-Education:Goolden was educated at an independent convent school ,-Career:...
became the voices and faces of wine in Britain for a generation.
He played the first person ever arrested by Superman in the 1978 film Superman, a terrorist in Superman II
Superman II
Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
, a Special Branch man in Who Dares Wins
Who Dares Wins (film)
Who Dares Wins is a 1982 British film starring Lewis Collins, Judy Davis, Richard Widmark and Edward Woodward, directed by Ian Sharp. The title is the motto of the elite Special Air Service ....
, and Balthasar in Stuart Burge
Stuart Burge
Stuart Burge was an English film director, actor and producer.Educated at Felsted School, he originally trained as a civil engineer, but later began acting in theater in the 1940s, and became a director by 1948...
's 1984 film of Much Ado About Nothing. He sang the baritone role - and Sam Gamgee's song - in the BBC adaptation
The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)
In 1981 the UK radio station BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo instalments...
of Lord of the Rings, and recorded Stephen Oliver's A Man of Feeling for Granada TV.
Wine career
While performing in Sheila Hancock's Dandy Dick, he joined the Sunday Express as their first wine writer. He then became wine correspondent of The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
.
In 1982, Clarke won the last World Wine Tasting Championship, making him reigning champion as the event has not yet been repeated.
Clarke has written several award-winning books, and is generally regarded as the New World champion who led Britain's wine revolution in the 1990s and 2000s, but he is also a passionate supporter of the Old World classics, in particular Bordeaux. Clarke appears on numerous radio and TV shows, including A Question of Taste and The Wine Programme for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. Recently he has made three successful BBCTWO TV series with James May
James May
James Daniel May is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond....
- Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure
Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure
Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure is a BBC television programme of which two series have been broadcast. It is presented by wine expert Oz Clarke and motoring journalist James May , with Clarke aiming to educate May about wine while undertaking a road trip. The first season focused on France and...
in France and California, and Oz and James Drink to Britain
Oz and James Drink to Britain
Oz and James Drink to Britain is a BBC television series in which wine writer Oz Clarke and motor journalist James May travel through Britain and Ireland to discover the array of available alcoholic drinks...
. The comedian Hugh Dennis
Hugh Dennis
Peter Hugh Dennis is an English actor, comedian, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist, best known for his work with comedy partner Steve Punt. He is also known for his position as a permanent panelist on the TV comedy show Mock The Week...
was later brought into this concept as Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas
Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas
Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas is a BBC television programme in which wine personality Oz Clarke and comedian Hugh Dennis travel through Britain to sample a wide array of seasonal Christmas beverages, including whisky, winter ales, mulled wine, wassail, sloe gin, Buck's Fizz, Port wine and Sherry...
was broadcast in 2009, and the later series, Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar
Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar
Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar is a BBC television programme of which one series has been broadcast. It is presented by wine expert Oz Clarke and comedian and actor Hugh Dennis. In the series, Oz and Hugh travel around the UK collecting the best British drinks before selling them at a pub in Shustoke....
was broadcast over the Christmas period in 2010.
Clarke stated in Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure that he was banned from the Champagne region of France in the 1990s for having made statements suggesting that champagne was deteriorating in value while rising in price.
In November 2008 a survey by the wine industry consultancy firm Wine Intelligence was made public, having polled the views of more than 1,500 regular UK wine drinkers. Results show that Clarke was the most recognised wine critic in the UK. In 2009 he won the International Wine Challenge Personality of the Year award jointly with James May, in the same week as winning the Louis Roederer International Book of the Year for his book, Bordeaux. In 2010 he and James May won the TRIC Award for 'best documentary' (for Oz and James Drink to Britain). He was also awarded an Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Government.
Oz Clarke's written output is now published by Pavilion Books, an imprint of Anova Books
Anova Books
Anova Books is a UK-based publishing company founded in 2005, with the acquisition of the Chrysalis Books Group from the Chrysalis Group. Since its inception, the firm has acquired or created several other imprints...
. In December 2010, he launched his very first 'apps' for use on Apple's iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, through Anova Digital: 'Oz Clarke's Best Wines 2011' and 'Oz Clarke's Xmas Wines'.
Selected bibliography
- The Essential Wine Book (1988) ISBN 9780670807314
- Oz Clarke's Wine Guide [formerly Webster's Wine Guide] (published annually since the late 1980s, retitled Oz Clarke 250 Best Wines Wine Buying Guide, 2008–present) 2011 edition: ISBN 9781862058965
- Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Book (annually since 1993) Pavilion Books (2007–present) 2011 edition: ISBN 9781862058958
- Oz Clarke's New Classic Wines, Simon & Schuster (1991) ISBN 9780671696207
- Oz Clarke’s New Encyclopedia of French Wines, Simon & Schuster (1991) ISBN 9780671724566
- Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion, Little, Brown & Co (2004) ISBN 9780316728744
- Clarke and Spurrier’s Fine Wine Guide, Little, Brown & Co (1998 and 2001) ISBN 9780316647533
- Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Wine, Little, Brown & Co (1999 and 2003) ISBN 9780316851572
- Oz Clarke’s Introducing Wine, Little, Brown & Co (2000 and 2003) ISBN 9780316854504
- Oz Clarke's Wine Atlas, Little, Brown & Co/Pavilion Books (1995, 2002 and 2007) ISBN 9781862057821
- Vinopolis World Wine Guide, Little, Brown & Co (1999) ISBN 9780316852005
- Z Cards: Wine & Food Matcher, Wine Vintages. Wine Tasting, Wine Finder (2001)
- Oz Clarke's Grapes and Wines: A Guide to Varieties and Flavours, by Oz Clarke & Margaret Rand (2001, 2003, 2008) ISBN 9781862058354
- Sainsbury's Book of Wine, Sainsbury's (1987) ISBN 9781870604000
- Sainsbury’s Regional Wine Guides Series, Sainsbury's (1988)
- Sainsbury's Pocket Wine Guide, Sainsbury's (1993) ASIN B000RYL20
- Oz Clarke's Wine Companion to... – Bordeaux, Tuscany, Burgundy, California (1997)
- Microsoft Wine Guide (1995–2002, CD-ROM)
- Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, with Julie Arkell, BBC Books (2006) ISBN 9780563539001
- Oz Clarke Bordeaux, Pavilion Books (2006, 2009) ISBN 9781862058309
- Oz Clarke: 'Let me tell you about wine’ - A beginner’s guide to understanding and enjoying wine, Pavilion Books (2009) ISBN 9781862058651
- Oz and James Drink to Britain, with James May, Pavilion Books (2009) ISBN 9781862058460
Awards
- Youngest ever British Wine Taster of the Year 1973
- Captain of victorious England Wine Tasters Team 1980
- World Wine Tasting Championship (winner) 1982
- Wine Magazine Book of the Year 1984
- Wine Guild of the United Kingdom Wine Writer 1984 (Webster’s Wine Guide), 1989 (Sainsbury’s Book of Wine), 1992 (New Classic Wines)
- Winner of the International World Wine Tasting Championships, Los Angeles
- Glenfiddich Drink Award 1983 (journalism), 1989 (journalism), 1992 (New Classic Wines)
- André Simon Drink Book Award 1992 (New Classic Wines)
- James Beard Wine & Spirits Award 1992 (New Classic Wines)
- Julia Child Cookbook Award (Wine, Beer & Spirits) 1996 (Oz Clarke’s Wine Atlas)
- Le Prix Lanson 1997 (Wine Guide CD-ROM)
- Le Prix du Champagne Lanson Special Millennium Award 1999 (for outstanding contribution to wine education and communication during previous decade)
- Jacob’s Creek Silver Ladle 1999 (Wine Guide CD-ROM)
- Le Prix Lanson Wine Book of the Year 2002 (Grapes & Wines)
- Special Millennium Award, Le Prix du Champagne Lanson 1999
- Le Prix Lanson Annual Wine Guide of the Year 2004 (Pocket Wine Book)
- International Wine & Spirit Competition Communicator of the Year 2006
- Roederer International Wine Book of the Year 2009 (Bordeaux)
- International Wine Challenge Personality of the Year Award 2009: Oz Clarke and James May
- Gourmand Award for Wine Literature 2009 (Oz and James Drink to Britain)
- TRIC award for TV Arts/Documentary programme 2010 (Oz Clarke and James Drink to Britain TV series)
- Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole 2010