Jonathan Miller was lured from his neurology studies by three Cambridge friends: Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Alan Bennett
onto a set or into a studio, Jonathan Miller made an instant impression. Part came from his height and gawkiness, the tweed jacket, the excessively angular elbows and knees . But he also drew attention because, as often as not, he had a book of neuroscience in his hand.
The point he was making was this. Science was hard, and needed constant application. But the sort of thing he spent five decades doing, putting on plays, making television documentaries, directing more than 50 operas, he could achieve with his left hand behind his back. Art was easy, ridiculously so. Most television was utter banality; most opera forgettable, vulgar and sentimental. So it took very little originality to make them memorable.
All those were great successes, cementing his reputation as the most brilliant mind on the British cultural scene, and yet even then he agonised over why he was doing this. He had meant to be a doctor, specifically a neurologist. Instead, probably out of weak-mindedness, he always said “yes” whenever anyone turned up at his door and asked if he would like to play.
Yet he should have stayed intentionally with medicine. First, because what he was doing was ephemeral, even when his “Rigoletto” and his “Mikado” were both in the repertoire for decades. By contrast, originality in medicine could bring lasting benefit. And second, because in science one was either right or wrong, and one’s work was peer-reviewed by people who at least knew the topic.
Did all this add up to a triumphant life? Many would have thought so. In moments of relaxation and satisfaction he would rock his long frame back and clasp his hands behind his head. But Wittgenstein’s nagging question remained: exactly what made the difference between “I lift my arms,” and “My arms go up”?"Intention and accident"
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