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Oliver James | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 October 1953 Marylebone, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Psychologist |
| Sub-discipline | Relational Psychoanalyst |
| Website | Author website |
Oliver James (born 26 October 1953) is a British psychologist, author, journalist, television producer and broadcaster.
James was educated at Eton College [1] [2] and Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating with a degree in Social Anthropology. He trained as a child clinical psychologist at the University of Nottingham, then worked for six years at the NHS Cassel Hospital in Richmond, London, in a clinical psychologist post. He was registered as a Relational Psychotherapist at the Bowlby Centre, and as a Chartered Psychologist at the British Psychological Society.[ citation needed ]
Speaking on Channel 4's 2013 "Psychopath Night", James described the credit crunch as a "mass outbreak of corporate psychopathy which resulted in something that very nearly crashed the whole world economy". [3]
As at 20 February 2024, James is not registered with either the Bowlby Centre or the British Psychological Society. [4] [5]
During his career in psychology, James has attracted controversy with his views on the nature versus nurture debate. [6]
Stuart J. Ritchie, a psychologist at the University of Edinburgh, wrote a strongly critical review of James's book Not In Your Genes. He described the book as a "straw man made flesh", "a compendium of psychological myths and legends", and "bending over backwards to avoid awkward conclusions". Ritchie wrote, "Few books risk such damage to the public understanding of science as those by Oliver James", and accused James of "scientific illiteracy". [7]
Ritchie described the book's thesis as "children are born with brains of soft clay, their mental makeup unaffected by genes and infinitely mouldable by their parents", and that "DNA has no effect on the mind or mental health, whereas parenting reigns supreme". Ritchie described a variety of evidence which contradicts this view. [7]
Ritchie also responded to a letter from James in The Psychologist magazine, [8] following which James and Prof Richard Bentall of the University of Liverpool engaged him in argument. [9] James responded to Ritchie's criticisms in an article in The Guardian in March 2016. [10]
James produced The Last Day episode of the Channel 4 documentary short TV series Short Stories, which was released on the 1 June 1990. [11] [12] It documented The Mail on Sunday on their final day working at Fleet Street. [11] [12]
James co-produced the Wot U Lookin At? (also known as Wot You Lookin At?) episode of Horizon with David Malone, which was released on the 24 May 1993. [13] [14] [15] It looks at the reasons for why men are seemingly violent, and why violence seems to be on the increase. [13] [14] [15]
James produced the Prozac Diary special episode of The Late Show, which was broadcast on the 1 May 1995. [16] [17] [18] It was broadcast as part of the States of Mind season. [16] [17] [18] It follows the creative artists Michael Bracewell, Alice Thomas Ellis, Alan Jenkins, and Bernard Sumner, over 4 weeks to see if or how the Prozac that they've been given to take, affects their creativity. [16] [17] [18]
James produced and presented the 7 episode talk show The Chair for BBC Two. [19] It was first broadcast on the 21 May 1997, starting with Vanessa Feltz as the first guest. [19] [20] [21] The other 6 guests included: Paul McKenna, [22] [23] Peter Mandelson, [24] [25] Patsy Palmer, [26] [27] Julian Clary, [28] [29] David Icke, [30] [31] and George Graham. [32]
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium. As of 2022, it is the ninth largest building in the world by usable volume. The exhibition was open to the public from 1 January to 31 December 2000. The project and exhibition were highly contentious and attracted barely half of the 12 million customers its sponsors forecasted, and so were deemed a failure by the press. All the original exhibition elements were sold or dismantled.
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.
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Joyce Robertson was a British psychiatric social worker, child behavioural researcher, childcare pioneer and pacifist, who was most notable for changing attitudes to the societally acceptable, institutionalised care and hospitalisation of young children, that was prevalent. In the late 1940s Robertson worked with Anna Freud first at the Well Baby Clinic and later in the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic. She was later joined by her husband James Robertson. In 1965, both of them moved to the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations to work with John Bowlby on the Young Children in Brief Separation project and the development of attachment theory. This was to research the mental state and psychological development of children who underwent brief separation from their parents. Later in her career, Robertson worked with her husband to produce a series of celebrated documentary films that highlighted the reaction of small children who were separated from their parents. These were shown in hospitals, foster care and state run hospitals. Later she was known for promoting the idea of foster care instead of residential nurseries.
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