Education
He was educated at Street Paul"s School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in classics and comparative philology.
He was educated at Street Paul"s School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in classics and comparative philology.
He wrote The Householder"s Guide to Community Defence Against Bureaucratic Aggression (1972). From 1963-1964 he was Head of Television Talk Features, before leaving the British Broadcasting Corporation to take up a career as a freelance writer and producer. Tory! Tory! and The Trap.
In 2007 Jay criticised the anti-establishment thinking of the British Broadcasting Corporation and similar media outlets such as The Guardian.
Almost anything that made the world a freer, safer and more prosperous place, you name it, we were anti lieutenant" In particular he criticised how the opinions of British Broadcasting Corporation staff "were at odds with the majority of the audience and the electorate". His 2008 report for the Centre for Policy Studies How to Save the British Broadcasting Corporation provoked fierce debate by advocating a radical reduction of the scale of the corporation"s activities.
He has written Management & Machiavelli and compiled the Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations.
He was knighted in 1988 and remains a mordant observer of politics, including those of the broadcasters themselves. He was interviewed in the British Broadcasting Corporation television documentary series Tory! He stated "we were not just anti-Macmillan. We were anti-industry, anti-capitalism, anti-advertising, anti-selling, anti-profit, anti-patriotism, anti-monarchy, anti-Empire, anti-police, anti-armed forces, anti-bomb, anti-authority.
After national service in the Royal Signals, he joined British Broadcasting Corporation Television in 1955, and was a member of the team that launched the current affairs programme Tonight, of which he was editor from 1962-1963.