Everything is Everything: A Memoir of Love, Hate & Hope

by Clive Myrie

'Infinitely more readable than the average journalism memoir, and decidedly more important.' - Sathnam Sanghera, The Times

'S o engaging. You feel as if he is talking to you, sharing ideas and thoughts, as if you were a friend.' - Yasmin Ahlibai-Brown

As a Bolton teenager with a paper round, Clive Myrie read all the newspapers he delivered from cover to cover and dreamed of becoming a journalist. In this deeply personal memoir, he tells how his family history has influenced his view of the world, introducing us to his Windrush generation parents, a great grandfather who helped build the Panama Canal, and a great uncle who fought in the First World War, later to become a prominent police detective in Jamaica.

He reflects on how being black has affected his perspective on issues he's encountered in thirty years reporting some of the biggest stories of our time (most recently from Ukraine), showing us how those experiences gave him a better idea of what it means to be an outsider. He tells of his pride in his roots, but his determination not to be defined by his background in dealing with the challenges of race and class to succeed at the highest level.

Moving, engaging, revealing, Everything is Everything is a story of love and hate - but also hope.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Audiobook, Biography, Memoir, Book Club, Journalism

320 pages, Paperback

Published January 21, 2025

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating read. Clive has, as a journalist and reporter for the BBC, been on the scene at most of the political and history-making events of the last 40 years. As a British-born son of Windrush parents, he has also experienced first hand the racism that still pervades the UK and USA. Clive tells stories of his time reporting on the war against terror in Afghanistan, and more recently the war to prevent Russia taking Ukraine. He tells us of his time in the USA, reporting on mass shooting after mass shooting, and his emotion when Barack Obama was elected as the USA’s first black President. This book has given me an insight into racism that no other book I’ve read on the subject has managed to, and it’s really well written and accessible.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotional autobiography growing up in North West England of Jamaican parents and his career with the BBC

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir from journalist & broadcaster Clive Myrie was a very entertaining read. He traces his life from growing up in Bolton to being a successful BBC reporter & beyond.
There are stories of his parents arriving in Britain in the 1960s & how they adapted to a new life, which at times was not at all easy. Myrie writes about many subjects, from racism & hatred to love & hope.
I found I could hear Clive Myrie's distictive voice in my head as I read & this was one of the most interesting memoirs I've read in a long time.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read .. Clive was born in same year as me and went to my uni and supports my football team but his world so much more different to mine ! This is more modern history than autobiography touching so many subjects up to windrush scandals, pandemic and Ukraine as he was obviously there ! Such great take downs of racism ! Thoroughly reccomend this book !

[Thomas Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memoirs and autobiographies can often be boring and drab, often sounding like a self-indulgent tale where the author/celebrity wants to share everything about their lives however unimportant. In Everything is Everything, Myrie manages to strike the perfect balance of sharing tales about his thrilling life but also showing how he fits into the wider jigsaw of the world. Interlacing personal stories with contemporary struggles in society, this is such an engaging read and vastly more exciting than many autobiographies I had read in the past.

[Ewan Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook

A strong autobiography written with Myrie’s passion for journalism, equality and the BBC at its heart. I wish there had been some more nitty gritty stories about his boots on the ground reporting from all over the world but the stories that were told were very enjoyable. I found his pride for his own background and where he comes from to be humbling.

[rose edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super interesting to read. He explores the major events that he reported on as well as the events that lead him to journalism. He talks about Windrush a lot as the son of people who moved to the UK around that time from Jamaica, which is a topic I love to read about.

He's done a lot in his career and it was really interesting to get that look into what was going through his head when he reported on Obama winning the presidential election or when he spent weeks inside the ICU during the peak of the pandemic.

I really recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about being a journalist (more specifically a foreign correspondent).

[Kayleigh Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books like this. Books that shine a light into my heritage as well as the authors. Reading about his parents being part of the Windrush generation, makes me think of my own grandad. The man who I wished had the knowledge and time in my life to ask him about that time of his life, before his passing.
This books makes me feel closer to the Caribbean side of me. Shock horror, we both have family in Jamaica, America and Canada 😂
I loved hearing about the authors many adventures. Great book!

[Adam Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this insightful read in to what has been a fascinating life so far. A honest, shocking and shameful account of one’s experience of racism, and how Clive has risen above that.

Interesting to learn about Clive’s career where he has been witness and reported on some of the biggest events in recent modern history.

[Nicki Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Kate Lovegrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Enlightening and charmingly written

[Thomas Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parts about his trips for the BBC were very enjoyable, I could have read a lot more of that. Lots of insight. The childhood stuff isn't too interesting for me but that's just my preference in terms of autobiographical writing.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“That identification for the marginalised has become more intense as I have got older. I am acutely touched by others’ misfortune. I have also developed a visceral hatred for the bully or the unforgiving, the cruel and the heartless. The more pain and suffering I see, the less desensitised I become.”
No need to add much to affirm that Clive Myrie is clearly a great human being.

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb!

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into it and i feel like i'm the only one. I have great admiration for him after this book and i did enjoy all this historical part, like his family history and all these events that he's covered but the way it was written just didn't connect with me at all.

[Steve G**** · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting post-war, (and continuing for some 20 years), the arrival in the UK of the Windrush generation and the struggles they faced whilst adjusting to a new country, an alien culture and extreme weather is only just starting to be understood.

This is a deeply personal biography and story of one such family. CM touches on some of the career defining, momentous, global news events he’s covered but I feel these are just a sub-theme or a useful segue into the main story of how the Myrie’s, and by extension himself, experienced, overcame and still deal with overt racism, not just in the UK but elsewhere.

CM has always come across as the consummate professional and thoroughly decent bloke and this is reflected in this well written book.

[Alan Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read, but don’t expect any fireworks.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this seemed a bit pedestrian and predictable. He covers the challenges of a black person growing up in 1970s Britain, the Windrush scandal, Obama’s inauguration, the Queen’s funeral and being the first black presenter of Mastermind. Whilst his experiences of racism make grim reading in places, we don’t really learn anything new.
That being said, I found myself with a lot more respect for him at the end of the book.

[Oma · Rating 1 out of 5]

the difference in the depiction of ukraine:ussr and israel :palestine tells me all i need to know. champions equality but then has blatant double standards. yeah no

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir, part personal commentary on the impact of world events he's reported on. Thought provoking and inspirational, one of the finest memoirs I've ever read.

[Tsk Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Am I Reading 38 – Everything is Everything by Clive Myrie

This book was a Xmas present from my son Finn, who, in common with Clive and myself attended the University of Sussex. Good old days. I’m a big fan of Clive Myrie and very appreciative of his style and witty performances on Have I Got News For You. A few years back I went with Suzanne to see him chair a discussion sponsored by the University of Sussex at the Royal Institution on Albemarle Street in The Theatre with its steeply ranked seats permitting clear views of what is happening and then for a glass of wine – such simple fun, very enjoyable.
Myrie is a straight-forward writer, as clear and erudite as his news broadcasts, and his journeys through Italy. A pleasure to read him. I am minded that when living in Canada, we still watched the BBC News and we saw Myrie in Iraq for the war, and while we thought it an elevation, I was worried that it might be the death of him, literally. I needn’t have worried; after initial reports he blossomed and survived.
I confess to being annoyed by typos: “… thought the English would look after her in the same the way …” Pg26 but the speed of the computer doesn’t eliminate error. A minor quibble.
Not a believer in God, he was deeply impressed by his mother’s faith and that of Nelson Mandela and squared his own circle of religious thoughts by trying “to subscribe to the so called Golden Rule, of Matthew 7, verse 12: ‘So in everything do to others what you would have them do to you.’” Pg35
I empathise with his first visit to Brighton, the shine and the colour after the northern dark. My other problem in 1969 wass my inability to be understood, heavy Yorkshire, and in corner shops I had to point at the cigarettes I wanted. I also had the interesting problem of my mother being shocked to see croquet being played on the lawn in front of the Library steps: she thought it “a bit posh” and certainly not what she expected of my choice of University.
I enjoyed his first trips abroad and his account of being embedded with 40 Commando and keeping in touch with them.
Cricket: which team do you support, England or the West Indies? A cultural definition and in 1976, a year of heat, the West Indies prevailed. “They showed us that we as a people were worth something in our own right. We were no longer simply appendages and adjuncts to the British and their empire. Looking back, I believe that year was seminal in the post-colonial life of Britain, helping to usher in an age of multi-culturalism that defined modern Britain and defined my life.” Pg132.
My dad would have been gripped by the Test series, but he died in January of that year 1976. The heat favoured the West Indies. It favoured my decision to replace the roof on our terraced house in Brighton, until it didn’t! My daughter was born two weeks after my dad died, the old one out, one in adage. One dies, one born. True for me at the time.
One of the most chilling sections is Myrie recounting his conversation with James Cameron who had two friends lynched, a fate he narrowly avoided. Pg161 And here’s an interesting fact, “It was not until as late as 2022 that President Joe Biden finally signed into law the legislation that made lynching a federal hate crime.” Pg163 It helps to bear facts like that in mind when considering recent events like Vance and Trump attacking Zelensky in the White House.
Myrie is dismissive of the “catchy NRA refrain: ‘The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.’ Whenever I hear that phrase, I am reminded of the Jonathan Swift essay, ‘Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting’, where he writes, ‘When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.’ It has always struck me that the geniuses are those ordinary Americans who believe in sensible gun controls and assault weapon bans, and the dunces are those who refuse, despite all the evidence.” Pg230 Commendable stuff. The saying is also the inspiration behind the posthumous 1980 novel A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
The finishing touch is grand. It follows Myrie’s discourse on being black in a white dominated country and the changes over the last thirty years. “I suppose ultimately this is what this book is really about. Survival and contentment in a sometimes unforgiving world, that’s more unstable now than at any time for a generation. Different people in different environments coping with the animosity of others. And all of us battling to find a life that is worthy of who we really are.” Pg313 I agree with that. My only hope is that in four years’ time Clive Myrie will write about Donald Trump’s second term. His clear assessment will be needed to unravel the mess that is Trump today.

Calder Tsk – 7.3.25

[George Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clive Myrie's second venture into long-form writing proves to be a success. Myrie, a well-known and longstanding figure in British international journalism, revisits his life through the lens of both his personal and working experiences.

An effortless read, the prose is easy to follow, and Myrie's writing style is forgiving—perhaps honed over thirty years of journalism. No complaints from me here.

Taking us through his formative years, we learn about the inner workings of Myrie's upbringing and the experiences as a working-class, British-born descendant of the Windrush generation. We gain insight into the makings of the man we have seen on our television screens over the past three decades. Myrie's heritage, Jamaican descent, is a weaving thread throughout the work. He adeptly explains the lived black British experience over the past six decades through his journalistic insights. The experience of his family as part of the Windrush generation weaves its way into his understanding of the Western World today, exploring topics such as George Floyd and the ensuing global protests through an acutely personal point of view.

Chapters could be described as slightly formulaic. Myrie likes to start by giving us a good punch of either love, sadness, fear, or regret, followed by the preceding anecdote before muddling his way back to where he started the chapter. This pattern is evident in a good chunk of the chapters. Nevertheless, the stories laid out for us within them are insightful, moving, and, at times, enthralling. His real-world experiences with traumatic conflicts, familial separation, and global pandemics give his work a true sense of authenticity that a non-journalist would surely struggle to convey.

The book loosely covers Myrie's life chronologically. It truly gains momentum when delving into his working life, covering conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, US presidential elections, and the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. The breadth of topics covered here is not to be sneezed at. This, alongside Myrie's ability to weave his own narrative into these globally defining events, presents a book with continually interesting personal insights.

The book also provides an open and honest view of certain topics such as the pandemic, the monarchy, and politics more generally. I was pleasantly surprised that, while not entirely revealing his thoughts and opinions, it was more than I had imagined coming from an active BBC journalist.

Given his love/hate relationship with America, I would appreciate seeing him publish more specifically on his experiences there and explore the juxtaposition of politics and race within the nation from a black British perspective.

Overall, it's not just a good surface-level journalistic book but a great autobiographical work offering profound insights into the lived black British experience. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in British journalism, black British history, or Western politics. I just wish he'd included his time presenting Have I Got News For You.

[Gisela Hafezparast · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and really interesting autobiography of Clive Myrie's life and work as a BBC journalist. I received this book as part of Sussex University's Big Read as Clive is an alumni of our university and we are very proud of his achievement. We do get two small mentions in the book, luckily favorable.

Clive is now very much a very respected member of British journalism and society, which considering he is the child of Jamaican Windrush immigrants, is a huge achievement in itself. It might not mean much to anybody outside of Britain, but he is now the third presenter of "Mastermind" which has been going for over 50 years and is a British institution! Huge achievement.

The book also follows his journalism, especially his long period of being a very courageous and trusted BBC foreign correspondent. You can feel the humanity in the man when he talks about what he has seen and helped us to understand. Very interesting especially is also when he describes how he fell in love with America and how he fell out of love over the past decade, especially when he describes the last election and what happened since.

What also comes through is his love for his family, especially his mum whom he admires quite understandably a lot. What a strong and loving women. And of course Katherine, the love of his life, familiar to all of us who watched his recent travel series of the Caribbean. Kathrine was not there, but the love of his life, clearly was always in his mind! What a man.

Highly recommend this book.

[Fern A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant autobiography! Biographies and memoirs often can be quite dry and dull reads but this was completely the opposite. The audiobook, read by Myrie himself, was difficult to put down and I find myself rearranging my day so that I could hear the end of the book. Clive Myrie has written of his childhood, career and the different political and current events he has reported on around the world. What I think makes Myrie excel as both a writer and a journalist is that in each situation he is in he both looks and finds the moments of humanity within it. Despite some horrific events he manages to find the small details of the everyday person, of the kindness and the hope and presents that which not only emphasis the overall story and horror but also brings the situation to a point in which people can empathise and really understand what realities face people caught up in events on the ground in each place. That is quite a skill and I can imagine is actually more difficult to do especially when having to report on wars, unrest and brutality. I know should I ever find myself in a conflict situation it would be Clive Myrie who I would want to be telling the story. A book I know I will think about again when watching reports on the news.

[Alva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other people's stories have a knack of carving out a place in our heads and hearts. Of settling there, of opening up our minds and emotions to something new, something not thought about too much before. Other people's stories belong inside of us - to make us stronger, to appreciate our sense of identity, place. Everything is Everything by Clive Myrie has become part of me. I have learned so much while reading this extraordinary story, not least the connection between the Irish and the Jamaicans. I never knew this! But this nugget of knowledge is a tiny part of a massive generational saga linking Jamaica and Britain, where Jamaican people travelled, contributed so much, cemented so much, suffered so much, lost so much. This is a story of one man telling his family story, his career story, his life to date story, and yet it doesn't feel like just reading another's story. It feels like an immersion in parts of history, an education in the best possible way. Everything is Everything was truly an everything book for me. Bravo! Clive Myrie.

[Ade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so much better on audio. It is a tale, an experience, a journey of Clive’s humble beginnings from Bolton to his foray as a BBC reporter/presenter.

Narrated by the author, the book explores his personal and professional experience as a black man, a journalist, a son, a brother, a husband and uncle.

The prologue was an exposè of the agony we put what we termed undesirables through. It was powerful. It is in the author’s words the intersection between the professional and the personal.

Also included were his parents’ experiences and the expectations they had when they moved as part of the Windrush generation to Britain.

I enjoyed listening to his various journalism journeys and I liked that he didn’t shy away from hard topics and stance was that of the quintessential human.

What I particularly liked about this book was that the author didn’t just make it about himself- he took a stand against discrimination against women, disabled people and members of the LGBTQ community.

It was eye opening and I will recommend this book over and over again.

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalists memoirs are often fascinating and here alongside Myrie’s reflections on his family experience of windrush era migration are reporting highlights. Reporting from Iraq, Ukraine, the Rohingya conflict and the election of Barack Obama to name but a few . Soberly, there is also reporting around ICU and mortuaries early into the Covid pandemic .

Alongside this are impassioned thoughts on gun control as Myrie reports from American shootings , and reflections on equality- progress is noted, but - the revelation that Myrie and other black BBC reporters had faeces mailed to them and death threats and anti woke insults shows how far there is still to go.

This is a great book to do on Audible as Myrie’s voice, which is known to me from mastermind and Have I Got news for a you mostly, is lovely to listen to.

[Gill James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have admired Clive Myrie as a journalist for quite a while, so I read this text with great interest. I found it very well written on the whole though it was a little repetitive in places and in some parts could have been tightened.
I was surprised at some of the anger he expressed as this doesn’t come out in his journalism; he shows so much pragmatism there and is amongst the best that the BBC offers.
Yet I share much of that anger: at Theresa’s May’s definition of a global citizen, at insidious and institutional racism that persists today and at how the Windrush generation have been treated. I actually don’t like the label ‘Windrush’: my teenage friends had names and I no more noticed the colour of their skin than I did the colour of their jumpers. Maybe less so: colourful jumpers were to be admired and commented on in the 1960s.
Myrie leaves us with some optimism and a hope that Generation Z will finally crack this problem.
It’s looking good: he now hosts Mastermind

[Spencer Feeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

He writes with great emotion about the racism he has seen and reported on across the world, from apartheid South Africa and a racially divided United States, to the streets of his home town of Bolton in the UK.
Here he is on the so-called 'cricket test' (ie who do you support when England are playing the West Indies): "those who believed in that cockamamie theory were driving at a deeper point; that Britain's post-war Caribbean immigrants must assimilate into British culture and assume the host nation's characteristics, rather than hold onto their own cultures and identities. . . the immigrant must change."
Of course, the issue of migrants assimilating the host nation's culture (or values) is now being hotly debated all over Europe, with significant political consequences.

[Lucy Bidwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very talented, likeable man who has broadcast a huge amount of history since the start of his career, up until the most recent Ukraine invasion.
We learn all about his Windrush generation parents, and how he sketches his own career path and identifies as a successful black man in journalism today.
A bit wild how big events like the Queen’s death are rehearsed for several years so they get it just right.
Also just massive respect for the dangerous situations journalists put themselves in to present the truth. Despite some faults, aren’t we lucky to have reliable news outlets in Britain? Who portray balanced reporting devoid of censorship?

Nb memoirs are less my thing - I wish I was more drawn in by non fiction …

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the explanation I will give if someone asks me why I prefer memoirs to autobiographies - that’s it but not quite.
Myries book is a reflective, raw, and personal look on some of the most documented conflicts and problems which faced the 21st century during his time as a BBC journalist.
However, my most favourite part about this book is the continuing theme of what growing up with parents from the Windrush generation was like and how that shaped his parents personalities in Britain and their relationships with their children.
A truly incredible memoir and one which will be enjoyable for all.