In the second of three exclusive films for Times Online, Clive James talks about the figures who have shaped our culture. He starts with Evelyn Waugh - "Nobody ever wrote a more unaffectedly elegant English than Evelyn Waugh ," James says. "He stands at the height of English prose; its hundreds of years of steady development culminate in him." James is also bewitched by the multi-faceted talents of Some Like It Hot star Tony Curtis: "Apart from a physical beauty that was built to last, he had another gift that was rare and precious - he was a writer’s actor. When he spoke it the language came alive."

And then, finally, on to Margaret Thatcher. The lady may not have been for turning, but what was her legacy? "With her widely admired passion for good housekeeping, she could have opened Britain to the free market without dismantling its civilised institutions," says James.

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