Mark James Walter CameronCBE (17 June 1911 – 26 January 1985) was a British journalist and writer, in whose memory the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture is given.
Early life
Cameron was born in Battersea, London, of Scottish parentage. His father, William Ernest Cameron, was a barrister who wrote novels under the pseudonym Mark Allerton and his mother was Margaret Douglas (née Robertson) Cameron.
In 1952 Cameron wrote an obituary essay for The Illustrated London News, "The King Is Dead", about the death of King George VI. Cameron then spent eight years with the News Chronicle until the paper ceased publication, in 1960. In 1953 he visited Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné, in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon) and found flaws in the practices and attitudes of Schweitzer and his staff.[4] This was the subject of The Walrus and the Terrier, a BBC Radio 4Afternoon Play by Christopher Ralling, broadcast on 7 April 2008.[5]
In 1965, Cameron wangled his way into North Vietnam for interviews and photos (with photographer Romano Cagnoni) of Ho Chi Minh and its other leaders. His book Here Is Your Enemy was published in the United States, and his five-part series on North Vietnam was published in December 1965 in The New York Times, where it was edited by journalist Anthony Lewis.
Cameron also did illustration work, especially in his early career. Working in Scotland for D. C. Thomson, he prepared drawings for sensationalist items in Thomson's publications. He rebelled when asked to draw a picture of a murdered young girl, embellishing it with excess blood and grisly detail. Called to Thomson's office, he was rebuked merely for exposing her underwear.
Cameron became a broadcaster for the BBC after the war, writing and presenting such television series as Cameron Country, and numerous single documentaries. An unusual example was Edgar Wallace: The Man Who Made His Name, a television biography of the thriller writer and journalist. He was a frequent contributor to Up Sunday, a magazine show that featured him and other commentators talking to the camera about topics of interest to them. Cameron also wrote a radio play, The Pump (1973), based on his experience of open heart surgery, which won a Prix Italia award in 1973.[6] In his last years, he wrote a column for The Guardian. Cameron wrote two volumes of autobiography: Point of Departure, a chronicle of his life, and An Indian Summer, about his relationship with India, his marriage to his third wife, Moni, originally of Indian nationality, and his serious car accident and near death in Calcutta.
Personal life
Cameron's first wife, Elma, died in childbirth near the start of World War II. Before she died she gave birth to their daughter, also Elma (Eleanor Margaret).
He later married Elizabeth Marris (who already had a son, Desmond Roderic O’Conor, by a previous marriage to Denis O'Conor Don). He also had a son, Fergus, with Elizabeth.
In 1971 he married Moneesha ("Moni") Sarkar.[7]
James Cameron died of a stroke in his sleep on 26 January 1985. He was 73.
Wish You Were Here: The English at Play. London: Gordon Fraser, 1976. ISBN0-900406-70-4. Introduction and commentary by Cameron, photographs by Patrick Ward).
2016. Ian Pannell received the James Cameron Memorial Award. The Special Award went to David Walsh of The Sunday Times. The lecture was given by Gideon Rachman of The Financial Times.[11]
From 2017 onwards, City, University of London continued to host the James Cameron Memorial Lecture, but the prize was replaced with the Eric Robbins Prize.[12] The James Cameron Memorial Lecture was given by:
