From 1958, he was assistant editor of The London Magazine, founded by John Lehmann, which publishes poems, short stories and literary reviews.
This involved dispensing government grants, and Osborne, perhaps inevitably, given the nature of the position, became embroiled in the so-called "poetry wars" that took place during the 1970s.
He continued to write journalism on a wide variety of arts, leading to Vogue magazine dubbing him an uomo universale (universal man).
He also from early years in London wrote sleeve notes LP covers, and served on the editorial board of Opera magazine from 1970 to 1999.
His novelised versions of Black Coffee (1998), The Unexpected Guest (1999) and Spider's Web (2000), all originally by Agatha Christie, have proved enduringly popular with readers.
Osborne held an honorary doctorate from Griffith University, Brisbane, for services to the arts and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Professor Joseph Bristow, a Wilde scholar based at UCLA wrote "Constance presents us with a startling Wildean drama in an arresting style.