Book Launch: "TELEVISION DOESN'T LIKE REBELS"

The Life of Brian Cleeve

Nearly two decades ago I started to research the life of Brian Cleeve. This would have been around Easter 2005, two years after Brian died.

Anyone below pension age reading this might not know who Brian Cleeve was. Back in the 1960s he was a big star on Irish television, not as famous as Gay Byrne perhaps, but a well-known name in his own right.

As a kid growing up in an inner city housing estate I would have recognised Brian Cleeve’s face and voice, but that was about it. We lived in different worlds and I never dreamed I would ever meet the man - or that he would change the course of my life

My research into Brian Cleeve’s life fed into a biography I self-published in 2007. Now I have revised that book in a new edition called Television Doesn’t Like Rebels. The title comes from Brian’s response when he was asked why he disappeared from Irish TV screens. But it was not just television. He could have said something similar about other aspects of his life, like his childhood in an English boarding school, or his time in Africa as a British army officer, or the life-altering crossroads he arrived at in 1977.

Brian Cleeve was always a rebel. A thoughtful and well-spoken rebel, but a rebel nonetheless.

I will be launching Television Doesn’t Like Rebels in Dublin, Ireland, and I would love you to be there. Indeed if any of your family members or colleagues would be interested they are very welcome to come along too.

The details are as follows:

Date: Friday November 22nd 2024

Start time: 5:30pm

End time: 7:00pm

Location: Shanganagh Park House, Shankill, Co. Dublin

The venue is within walking distance of the local DART station. If you drive, there is plenty of parking nearby. Shankill itself is just off the M50 (junction 16) and the N11/M11 (Loughlinstown roundabout).

The launch event is free. There will be soft drinks, nibbles, one or two speeches (and maybe a surprise). However space is limited so I’d like some idea of numbers beforehand.

If you think you will be able to make it I’d appreciate a heads-up by Friday November 8th 2024. You can let me know through Substack or contact me via my website: jpbruce.ie.

I hope to see you there.