Critic Clive Barnes was born in London in 1927. He spent two years in the Royal Air Force before receiving a scholarship to Oxford University. While there, he joined the Ballet Club, became editor of the quarterly journal Arabesque, and wrote for the journal Dance and Dancers. He was a dance and theater critic for The New York Times from 1965 to 1977 and The New York Post from 1978 until his death. He also wrote the Attitudes column for Dance Magazine from 1989 and contributed to the French magazine Ballet 2000 and the British magazine The Stage. He wrote or contributed to numerous books including Ballet in Britain since the War (1953), Frederick Ashton and His Ballets (1961), Dance Scene… U.S.A. (1967) and Nureyev (1982). He died due to complications of cancer on November 19, 2008 at the age of 81.