Clive Marsh

My guest this week is Clive Marsh, Head of the Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Leicester. Clive, who was born into a Liverpudlian working class family, shares his earliest memories, which include playing with bricks on a floor and eating a rotten apple.

We talk about how different it was to grow up in a pre-student loan world where we received grants to go to university, and how his parents sheltered him from financial anxiety, before discussing the various kinds of sports that Clive was into as a child. He used to play cricket and football and followed Liverpool FC, and we learn why he was once physically sick en route to a match. He also remembers the red velvet plushness of the Odeon Cinema in Liverpool.

In his teenage years Clive discovered the Times newspaper film reviews and he reflects on how he has been reading critical film reviews for 45 years.

Pop music was crucial in Clive’s upbringing, especially through Radio Luxembourg which he used to listen to under the bed covers. Through the grammar school system Clive was into classical music.

We talk about Clive’s Christian upbringing in the Plymouth Brethren and the skills it taught him and Clive tells us why he hated RE at school. Clive wanted to be an interpreter and initially planned to study German and Russian at university but ended up studying German and Biblical Studies at Bangor. He talks about how exhilarating it was to meet people there from many different Christian denominations.

Clive then shares with us his political affiliations especially at Oxford where he did his PhD, e.g. when he worked for a homeless shelter. Clive joined the SDP and later the Labour Party, and he reflects on how in the early 1980s you were irresponsible if you didn’t vote.

His memories are positive on the whole, but Clive discusses his awareness of how painful British society can be which belies the fact that he has made it to the top of his profession as a Professor. He talks about whether he has fulfilled the dreams he had when he was young, back when he had the desire to be a pathologist or a great cricketer.

In the final part of the interview we discover whether Clive, who has been in theological education for the last 30 years as a lay person, is still in touch with friends from his past and why he thinks that we will only do well in the future if we do some serious reflection on the past.

Please note: Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Clive Marsh and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.