Editing Jonathan Miller (section)

==Life and career==

=== Early life ===
Miller grew up in [[St John's Wood]], London, in a well-connected Jewish family. His father [[Emanuel Miller|Emanuel]] (1892–1970), who was of [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian]] descent and suffered from severe [[rheumatoid arthritis]], was a military psychiatrist and subsequently a paediatric psychiatrist at Harley House. His mother, [[Betty Miller (author)|Betty Miller]] (née Spiro) (1910–1965), was a novelist and biographer who was originally from [[County Cork]], Ireland. Miller had an elder sister, Sarah (died 2006) who worked in television for many years and retained an involvement with [[Judaism]] that Miller, as an [[atheist]], always eschewed. As a child Miller had a [[stammer]] and was [[attention-seeking]], compensating for his stammer by speaking in foreign accents. He also developed an astonishing talent for mimicry, including chickens and steamtrains. The young Miller was assessed by several [[child psychiatrist]]s, including [[Donald Winnicott]]. He had many sessions, as a teenager with the psychiatrist Leopold Stein. Miller enjoyed the sessions and said that they "simply conversed about philosophy and [[Hughlings Jackson]]'s early neurological theories".<ref name="truant"/>

Miller moved between several different schools prior to attending [[Taunton School]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bassett|first1=Kate|title=In Two Minds: a Biography of Jonathan Miller|date=2012|publisher=Oberon Books|page=336}}</ref> including for a time at the [[Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley]] (a [[Waldorf school]]) where he was taught by two of [[Ivy Compton-Burnett]]'s sisters and says of that time that he "never learnt anything at all".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Garland |first1=Nick |title=Johnathan Miller |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-oldie/20200201/281586652498999 |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=The Oldie |agency=PressReader.com |date=1 Feb 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Jonathan |title=Not the brightest child at school |url=https://www.webofstories.com/play/jonathan.miller/7;jsessionid=C439F0518783A019A04791D22FAA1291 |website=Web of Stories |access-date=30 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Miller concluded his secondary school education at [[St Paul's School, London]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2045941.stm|title=BBC NEWS – Entertainment – Miller: Master of all trades|publisher=BBC|date=14 June 2002}}</ref> where he developed an early (and ultimately lifelong) interest in the biological sciences. While at St Paul's School at the age of 12, Miller met and became close friends with [[Oliver Sacks]] and Sacks's best friend Eric Korn, friendships which remained crucial throughout the rest of their lives. In 1953, before leaving secondary school, he performed comedy several times on the BBC radio programme  ''Under Twenty Parade''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilmut|first1=Roger|title=From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980|date=1980|publisher=Eyre Methuen|page=2}}</ref> Miller studied [[natural science]]s and medicine at [[St John's College, Cambridge]] ([[MB BChir]], 1959), where he was a member of the [[Cambridge Apostles]] and one of cast’s three [[Granta]] cartoonist, before going on to train at [[University College Hospital]] in London.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

While studying medicine, Miller was involved in <!--"the"?: the university drama society and--> the [[Cambridge Footlights]], appearing in the revues ''Out of the Blue'' (1954) and ''Between the Lines'' (1955). Good reviews for these shows, and for Miller's performances in particular, led to his performing on a number of radio and television shows while continuing his studies; these included appearances on ''Saturday Night on [[BBC Light Programme|the Light]]'', ''[[Tonight (1957 TV series)|Tonight]]'' and ''[[Sunday Night at the London Palladium]]''. He qualified as a physician in 1959 and then worked as a hospital [[Foundation House Officer|house officer]] for two years, including at the [[Central Middlesex Hospital]] as [[house physician]] for [[gastroenterologist]] [[Francis Avery Jones]].

===1960s: ''Beyond the Fringe''===
[[File:Beyond the Fringe original cast.JPG|thumb|Miller (far right) in ''[[Beyond the Fringe]]'' on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], with (from left) [[Dudley Moore]], [[Alan Bennett]] and [[Peter Cook]]]]
Miller helped to write and produce the satirical  [[revue]] ''[[Beyond the Fringe]]'', which premiered at the [[Edinburgh Festival]] in August 1960. This launched, in addition to his own, the careers of [[Alan Bennett]], [[Peter Cook]] and [[Dudley Moore]]. Miller quit the show shortly after its move from London to [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in 1962, and took over as editor and presenter of the [[BBC]]'s arts programme ''[[Monitor (arts programme)|Monitor]]'' in 1965. The ''Monitor'' appointment arose because Miller had approached [[Huw Wheldon]] about taking up a place on the BBC's director training course. Wheldon assured him that he would "pick it up as he went along".{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

Miller's first experience of directing a stage play was for [[John Osborne]], whose ''[[Under Plain Cover]]'' he directed in 1962.<ref>Heilpern, John, ''John Osborne: A Patriot for Us'', 2007, Random House, pp.287.</ref> In 1964, he directed the play ''[[The Old Glory]]'' by the American poet [[Robert Lowell]] in New York City. It was the first play produced at the [[American Place Theatre]] and starred [[Frank Langella]], [[Roscoe Lee Brown]], and [[Lester Rawlins]]. The play won five [[Obie Awards]] in 1965 including an award for "Best American Play" as well as awards for Langella, Brown and Rawlins.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/154799-Robert-Lowells-Benito-Cereno-Begins-Off-Broadway-at-the-Flea-Sept-22|title=Robert Lowell's Benito Cereno Begins Off-Broadway at the Flea Sept. 22|work=Playbill}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://us.macmillan.com/theoldglory/RobertLowell|title=The Old Glory|author=Macmillan|work=Macmillan}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/index/1965/|title=New York News, Food, Culture and Events |work=The Village Voice}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanplacetheatre.org/history/brief|title=History in Brief // The American Place Theatre|publisher=americanplacetheatre.org|access-date=17 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817001323/http://www.americanplacetheatre.org/history/brief|archive-date=17 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He wrote, produced, and directed an adaptation for television of ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1966 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1966) for the BBC. He followed this with ''[[Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968 film)|Whistle and I'll Come to You]]'' (1968) starring [[Michael Hordern]], a television adaptation of [[M. R. James]]'s 1904 ghost story [['Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'|'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad']]. He produced a [[National Theatre Company]] production of ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' starring [[Laurence Olivier]]. He later resigned as associate director.

===1970s: Medical history and opera===
Miller held a research fellowship in the [[history of medicine]] at [[University College London]] from 1970 to 1973. In 1974, he also started directing and producing operas for [[Kent Opera]] and [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera|Glyndebourne]], followed by a new production of ''The Marriage of Figaro'' for [[English National Opera]] in 1978. Miller's other turns as an opera director included productions of ''[[Rigoletto]]'' (in 1975 and 1982) and the [[operetta]] ''[[The Mikado]]'' (in 1987).

Miller drew upon his own experiences as a physician, writer and presenter of the BBC television series ''[[The Body in Question]]'' (1978).<ref>Closing Credits</ref> The series was nominated for two 1979 [[BAFTA]]s: Best Factual Television Series and Most Original Programme/Series and caused some controversy for showing the dissection of a cadaver. For a time, he was a vice-president of the [[Campaign for Homosexual Equality]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Allan Horsfall and Ray Gosling |title=History of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality |url=http://www.gaymonitor.co.uk/chehistory2.htm |work=Gay Monitor |date=14 March 2006 |access-date=2 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207104030/http://www.gaymonitor.co.uk/chehistory2.htm |archive-date=7 December 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In 1971, he defended multiracial immigration to the UK at length with [[Enoch Powell]] on ''[[The Dick Cavett Show]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEPtyb9OHP8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/MEPtyb9OHP8| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Enoch Powell & Jonathan Miller Debate Issues Around UK Immigration &#124; The Dick Cavett Show|date=2 November 2020 |access-date=23 October 2021|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===1980s: Shakespeare and neuropsychology===
In 1980, Miller was persuaded to join the troubled ''[[BBC Television Shakespeare]]'' project (1978–85). He became a producer (1980–82) and directed six of the plays himself, beginning with a well-received ''[[Taming of the Shrew]]'' starring [[John Cleese]]. In the early 1980s, Miller was a popular and frequent guest on [[PBS]]' ''[[Dick Cavett Show]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Miller wrote and presented the BBC television series, and accompanying book, ''States of Mind'' in 1983 and the same year directed [[Roger Daltrey]] as Macheath, the outlaw hero of the BBC's production of [[John Gay]]'s 1728 [[ballad opera]], ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]''. He also became chair of [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]] board of directors.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} In 1984, he studied [[neuropsychology]] with Dr. Sandra Witelson at [[McMaster University]] in [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]], Ontario, Canada, before becoming a [[neuropsychology]] research fellow at the [[University of Sussex]] the following year.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

===1990s===
In 1990, Miller wrote and presented a joint BBC/Canadian production titled, ''[[Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language]]''. The four-part series looked into the acquisition of language, and complexities surrounding language production, with a special focus on sign language used by deaf people. This interest was contemporaneous with his friend Oliver Sacks' immersion in, and writing/publishing a book about Deaf Culture and deaf people entitled ''[[Seeing Voices]].''  Miller then wrote and presented the television series ''Madness'' (1991) and ''Jonathan Miller on Reflection'' (1998). The five-part ''Madness'' series ran on [[PBS]] in 1991. It featured a brief history of madness and interviews with psychiatric researchers, clinical psychiatrists, and patients in therapy sessions. In 1992, [[Opera Omaha]] staged the United States premiere of the [[Gioachino Rossini]]'s 1819 opera ''[[Ermione]]'', directed by Miller.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

===2000s: Atheism and return to directing===
In 2002 Miller directed Cosi fan tutte at Rønne Theater (1813) in Rønne, Bornholm in Denmark. In 2004, Miller wrote and presented a television series on [[atheism]] entitled ''[[Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief]]'' (more commonly referred to as ''Jonathan Miller's Brief History of Disbelief'') for [[BBC Four]], exploring the roots of his own atheism and investigating the history of atheism in the world. Individual conversations, debates and discussions for the series that could not be included due to time constraints were aired in a six-part series entitled ''[[The Atheism Tapes]]''. He also appeared on a BBC Two programme in February 2004, called ''What the World Thinks of God'' appearing from New York. The original three-part series aired on [[public television]] in the United States in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2007/04/17/pbs-to-air-disbelief-series/ |title = PBS to air 'Disbelief' series|first= Sam|last= Hodges|website=The Dallas Morning News|date = 17 April 2007}}</ref>

In 2007, Miller directed ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'' at [[Crucible Theatre|The Crucible, Sheffield]], his first work on the British stage for 10 years. He also directed [[Claudio Monteverdi|Monteverdi's]] ''[[L'Orfeo]]'' in Manchester and Bristol, and ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'' in Tokyo and gave talks throughout Britain during 2007 called ''An Audience with Jonathan Miller'' in which he spoke about his life for an hour and then fielded questions from the audience. He also curated an exhibition on camouflage at the [[Imperial War Museum]]. He appeared at the [[Royal Society of the Arts]] in London discussing humour (4 July 2007) and at the [[British Library]] on religion (3 September 2007).{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

In January 2009, after a break of 12 years, Miller returned to the [[English National Opera]] to direct his own production of ''[[La bohème]]'', notable for its 1930s setting. This same production ran at the [[Cincinnati Opera]] in July 2010, also directed by Miller.

===2010s===
[[File:Miller, Jonathan 2019.jpg|thumb|150px|Grave of Jonathan Miller in [[Highgate Cemetery]]]]
On 15 September 2010, Miller, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''[[The Guardian]]'', stating their opposition to [[Pope Benedict XVI]]'s state visit to the UK.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/harsh-judgments-on-pope-religion|title=Letters: Harsh judgments on the pope and religion|work=The Guardian|access-date=16 September 2010 | location=London | date=15 September 2010}}</ref> In April and May 2011, Miller directed Verdi's ''[[La traviata]]'' in [[Vancouver]], Canada,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.straight.com/article-389232/vancouver/verdi-without-vulgarity| title=Jonathan Miller's version of La Traviata is Verdi without the vulgarity|access-date=30 April 2011 | location = Vancouver, Canada | date=28 April 2011}}</ref> and in February and March 2012, Mozart's ''[[Così fan tutte]]'' in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/02/28/opera-review-cosi-fan-tutte-at-the-kennedy-center/ |title=Opera Review: "Così fan tutte" at the Kennedy Center |newspaper=Washingtonian |date=25 February 2012  |author=Sudip Bose |access-date= 27 November 2019}}</ref>

On 25 November 2015, the [[University of London]] awarded Miller an honorary degree in Literature.<ref>{{cite web|title=University of London conferred highest honours to exceptional individuals|url=http://www.london.ac.uk/5758.html|publisher=University of London|access-date=30 November 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208162527/http://www.london.ac.uk/5758.html|archive-date=8 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Personal life===
Miller married Rachel Collet in 1956. They had two sons and a daughter.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-jonathan-miller-whats-eating-the-doc-1570344.html|title= PROFILE : JONATHAN MILLER : What's eating the doc?|first=Geoffrey |last=Wheatcroft|newspaper= The Independent |date= 29 January 1995|access-date= 20 April 2019}}</ref> From 1961 to his death he lived on [[Gloucester Crescent]] in [[Camden Town]], north London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/culture/2013/01/jonathan-millers-life-happy-accidents|title=Jonathan Miller's life of happy accidents|work=New Statesman}}</ref> On 27 November 2019, Miller died at the age of 85, having been diagnosed with [[Alzheimer's disease|Alzheimer's]] in 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50574472|title=Jonathan Miller, director and humorist, dies at 85|website=BBC News|date=2019-11-27|access-date=2019-11-27|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/jonathan-miller-tragedy-behind-tv-show-never-made/?msockid=21cfe551e92b62fc06a9f065e8326375 | title=Jonathan Miller: The tragedy behind the TV show he never made | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=10 August 2021 | last1=Miller | first1=William }}</ref> His ashes were interred on the eastern side of [[Highgate Cemetery]], opposite the grave of [[Karl Marx]], on 21 October 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Jonathan |title=Highgate Cemetery |url=https://highgate.burialgrounds.co.uk/mapmanagement/#/memorialmanagement/1dc5735d-2aa8-4880-97be-c62ebf114487/gravestone/o/persons/6275a160-1166-427a-bbb5-d94eee01da35/de8e7934-97a4-47ea-ab1e-9e30f99daf39?tab=0 |website=Burial Grounds |access-date=2 December 2024}}</ref>