A. A. Gill
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Adrian Anthony Gill (28 June 1954 – 10 December 2016) was a British journalist, critic, and author. Best known for his food and travel writing, he was also a television critic, was restaurant reviewer of ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', wrote for '' Vanity Fair'', '' GQ'', and ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'', and published numerous books. After failing to establish himself as an artist, Gill wrote his first piece for ''
Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
'' in 1991 and joined ''The Sunday Times'' in 1993. Known for his sharp wit, and often controversial style, Gill was widely read and won numerous awards for his writing. On his death he was described by one editor as "a giant among journalists." His articles were the subject of numerous complaints to the
Press Complaints Commission The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Indep ...
.


Early life and education

Gill was born in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
to an English father,
Michael Gill George Michael Gill (10 December 1923 – 20 October 2005) was an English television producer and director responsible for creating documentaries for the BBC. Biography Gill was born in Winchester, Hampshire but was brought up in Canterbury ...
, a television producer and director, and a Scottish mother,
Yvonne Gilan Yvonne Janette Gilan (12 October 1931 – 14 June 2018) was a Scottish actress who is best known for her portrayal of Mme. Peignoir in ''Fawlty Towers'' (episode " The Wedding Party") and minor roles in both ''EastEnders'' and ''French Fields'' ...
, an actress. He had a brother, Nicholas. The family moved back to the south of England when he was one year old. In 1964, he appeared briefly in his parents' film ''
The Peaches ''The Peaches'' is a 1964 British short film, narrated by Peter Ustinov. In 1964 the film was the British choice for the Cannes Film Festival and is a sensual, surreal fantasy about a beautiful woman and her passion for peaches. The 15-minute ...
'' as a chess player. Gill was educated at the independent
St Christopher School, Letchworth St Christopher School is a boarding and day co-educational independent school in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. Established in 1915, shortly after Ebenezer Howard founded Letchworth Garden City, the school is a long-time prop ...
, Hertfordshire, and later recalled his experiences at the school in his book ''The Angry Island''. After St Christopher's, he moved to London to study at the
Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of t ...
and the
Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
, nurturing ambitions to be an artist. Following art school Gill spent six years " signing on, trying to paint, until one day he realised he wasn't any good". At the age of 30, having abandoned his ambitions in art, he spent several years working in restaurants and teaching cookery.


Writing

Gill began his writing career in his thirties, writing "art reviews for
little magazine In the United States, a little magazine is a magazine genre consisting of "artistic work which for reasons of commercial expediency is not acceptable to the money-minded periodicals or presses", according to a 1942 study by Frederick J. Hoffman, ...
s". His first piece for ''
Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...
'', in 1991, was an account of being in a detox clinic, written under the pseudonym Blair Baillie. In 1993, he moved to ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' where, according to
Lynn Barber Lynn Barber (born 22 May 1944) is a British journalist who has worked for many publications, including ''The Sunday Times''. Early life Barber attended Lady Eleanor Holles School in south-west London. While she was studying for her A-Levels she ...
, "he quickly established himself as their shiniest star". He continued to write for ''The Sunday Times'' until shortly before his death in 2016. Gill was also a contributing editor to '' Vanity Fair'' and '' GQ''. He wrote a series of columns for ''GQ'', on fatherhood and other subjects. He also wrote for ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'', where he served as an
agony uncle An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...
, "Uncle Dysfunctional". Collections of his travel writing were published as ''AA Gill is Away'' (2002), ''Previous Convictions'' (2006) and ''AA Gill is Further Away'' (2011), his ''Tatler'' and ''Sunday Times'' food writing as ''Table Talk'' (2007) and his TV columns as ''Paper View'' (2008). He wrote several books on individual restaurants and their cuisine – ''Ivy'' (1997), ''Le Caprice'' (1999), ''Breakfast at the Wolseley'' (2008) and ''Brasserie Zedel'' (2016). He also wrote two novels which were generally poorly reviewed – ''Sap Rising'' (1996) and ''Starcrossed'' (1999). ''Starcrossed'' was given the ''
Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by v ...
''s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. He wrote books studying England – ''The Angry Island'' (2005), and the United States – ''The Golden Door'' (2012). In 2014, Gill won an
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
Media Award, and a Women on the Move award for a series of ''
Sunday Times Magazine ''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing". ...
'' articles on refugees in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
,
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and
Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The ''comune'' of L ...
. In 2014, he also won the "Hatchet Job of the Year Award" for his scathing review of Morrisey's ''Autobiography''. In 2015 he published a memoir, ''Pour Me''. On his death, ''The Sunday Times'' editor
Martin Ivens Martin Paul Ivens (born 29 August 1958) is an English journalist and editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement''. He is a former editor of ''The Sunday Times''. Early life Ivens, who was born in Hampstead in North London, is the son of Michael Iv ...
described Gill as "the heart and soul of the paper" and "a giant among journalists".


Controversies

Gill's acerbic style led to several controversies and complaints from public figures during his career.


Wales

In 1997, in ''The Sunday Times'', Gill described the
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
as "loquacious dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls". His comments were reported to the
Commission for Racial Equality The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to address racial discrimination and promote racial equality. The commission was established in 1976, and disbanded in 2007 when its ...
and used as an example of what was described as "persistent anti-Welsh racism in the UK media" in a motion in the
National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...
. The CRE declined to prosecute, saying that Gill "had not meant to stir up racial hatred." Gill's comments led him to become the subject of the song "Little Trolls" by Welsh alternative rock band
Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...
, the B-side to their 2001 single " Ocean Spray". In the song, Manics' lyricist
Nicky Wire Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band, Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire s ...
reflects Gill's comments on the Welsh back at him, referring to him as a "Spiteful twisted unforgiven, sad and inverted and stunted, retarded ugly balding old man".


Isle of Man

Gill's feud with the
Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...
began in 2006 with a review of Ciappelli's restaurant in
Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
. Gill wrote that the island: The review was attacked in the
Tynwald Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...
, the Manx parliament, with
House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in ...
member
David Cannan John David Qualtrough Cannan (24 August, 1936 – 2022) was the Member of the House of Keys for Michael and Chairman of the Isle of Man Water Authority. He was the son of former Chaplain of the House of Keys, Rev Canon Charles Cannan. He was ...
demanding an apology for the "unacceptable and scurrilous attack". Gill made further comments regarding the Isle of Man in his ''Sunday Times'' column on 23 May 2010, when he described its citizens as falling into two types: "hopeless, inbred mouth-breathers known as Bennies" and "retired, small arms dealers and accountants who deal in rainforest
futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...
". His comments were made in the aftermath of
Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
's suggestion that drugs should be legalised in the Isle of Man. Gill added that "If … they become a hopelessly addicted, criminal cesspit, who'd care? Indeed, who could tell the difference?"


England

In February 2011, Gill described the county of
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
as "the
hernia A hernia is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. Various types of hernias can occur, most commonly involving the abdomen, and specifically the gr ...
on the end of England". In December 2013, his column just before New Year's Eve, was the result of a night on the beat in
Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...
and
Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...
and was heavily critical of both towns where Grimsby is "on the road to nowhere" and Cleethorpes is full of "hunched and grubby semi-detached homes".
Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner The Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by Humberside Police in the English Counties of East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern parts of ...
Matthew Grove Matthew Paul Grove (born May 1963) is a former Conservative Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner. Career Grove was the first person to hold the post of Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner, serving between November 2012 and May 2016. ...
described Gill as "A tweed-suited,
Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
-based writer, whose only experience of the North of England was his visit to Cleethorpes and his regular trips salmon fishing in Scotland".


Killing of a baboon

Gill reported in his ''Sunday Times'' column in October 2009 that he shot a
baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ba ...
dead, prompting outrage from
animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
groups. "I know perfectly well there is absolutely no excuse for this", he wrote, and that he killed the animal to "get a sense of what it might be like to kill someone, a stranger". He went on to state, " ey die hard, baboons. But not this one. A soft-nosed .357 blew his lungs out".


Clare Balding

In his review of
Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the ...
's 2010 ''Britain by Bike'' TV programme, Gill referred to the presenter as "a big
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
" and "a dyke on a bike". Gill's ''Sunday Times'' editor,
John Witherow John Witherow (born 20 January 1952) is a former editor of British newspaper ''The Times''. A former journalist with Reuters, he joined News International (now News UK) in 1980 and was appointed editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in 1994 and edito ...
, responded to Balding's complaint: "In my view some members of the gay community need to stop regarding themselves as having a special victim status and behave like any other sensible group that is accepted by society. Not having a privileged status means, of course, one must accept occasionally being the butt of jokes. A person's sexuality should not give them a protected status". Dissatisfied with the response, Balding's subsequent complaint to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was upheld: they considered use of the word "dyke" to have been "pejorative" and "used in a demeaning and gratuitous way". The PCC considered publication of Gill's piece to be "an editorial lapse" for which "the newspaper should have apologised at the first possible opportunity". In his defence, ''The Sunday Times'' pointed out that in the five years prior to Balding's, the PCC had received 62 complaints involving Gill but none had been upheld.


Mary Beard

Reviewing Mary Beard's
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
television series '' Meet the Romans'' in April 2012, Gill wrote that the academic "should be kept away from cameras altogether". Beard in response accused him of being "frightened of smart women" and suggested "maybe it's precisely because he did not go to university that he never quite learned the rigour of intellectual argument and he thinks that he can pass off insults as wit."


Personal life

Gill had severe
dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
and consequently dictated all of his writing. Gill was a
recovering alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
who stopped drinking at the age of 29. On 1 April 1984, he shared two bottles of vintage champagne with his father on the train to Wiltshire and checked into the
Clouds House Clouds House, also known simply as Clouds, is a Grade II* listed building at East Knoyle in Wiltshire, England. Designed by Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb for Percy Wyndham (1835–1911), Percy Wyndham and his wi ...
addiction treatment centre in
East Knoyle East Knoyle is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, in the south-west of England, just west of the A350 road, A350 and about south of Warminster and north of Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was the birthplace of the arch ...
. He followed an
Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
" 12-step plan" to recovery and, in tribute to the organisation, began using the name "A. A." Gill professionally. In a 2014 article in ''The Times'', Gill said that he had "continued to smoke about 60 a day" until the age of 48." From 1982 to 1983, Gill was married to the author Cressida Connolly. From 1990 to 1995, he was married to
Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fi ...
, a financial journalist who later became
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
and
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and P ...
. The couple had two children. He then had a long-term relationship with Nicola Formby, editor-at-large of ''Tatler'', for whom he left Rudd in 1995, and who appeared in his column as "The Blonde". They had twins born in 2007. Gill's younger brother Nick, a
Michelin-starred The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...
chef, disappeared in 1998, telling Gill: "I'm going away now . . . I'm not coming back." Gill spoke of his sadness at not knowing what happened to Nick, and wrote that he looked for him whenever he visited a new city.


Death

On 20 November 2016, Gill wrote in his ''Sunday Times'' column of his engagement to Formby, and also disclosed that he was suffering from "the full English" of
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. In his final article in the ''Sunday Times Magazine'', published on 11 December 2016, he disclosed that he had a primary lung tumour with
metastases Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
to his neck and pancreas, and detailed the medical treatment that he was receiving, with a commentary on his experiences as a
terminal cancer Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced ...
patient in the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
. Gill died in London on the morning of 10 December 2016, at the age of 62.


Bibliography

* ''Sap Rising'' (1996), Doubleday, * ''The Ivy: The Restaurant and Its Recipes '' (1999) with
Mark Hix Mark Ernest Hix is an English chef and restaurateur whose traditional English menus often feature foraged and local foods. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hix was based in London, but announced in January 2021 that he would be relocating to D ...
* ''Le Caprice'' (1999) with
Mark Hix Mark Ernest Hix is an English chef and restaurateur whose traditional English menus often feature foraged and local foods. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hix was based in London, but announced in January 2021 that he would be relocating to D ...
* ''Starcrossed'' (1999) * ''AA Gill is Away'' (2003) collection of travel writing. * ''The Angry Island: Hunting the English'' (2005) a book about England and the English. * ''Previous Convictions: Writing with Intent'' (2006) assignments from here and there. * ''Table Talk: Sweet And Sour, Salt and Bitter'' (2007) Selection of Gill's writing about food, taken from his Sunday Times and Tatler columns. * ''Breakfast at the Wolseley'' (2008) * ''Paper View: The Best of The Sunday Times Television Columns'' (2008) * ''AA Gill is Further Away'' (2011). Assorted travel writing. * ''The Golden Door: Letters to America'' (Published in the US as ''To America With Love'') (2012) * * ''Pour Me'' (2015). Reminiscences about alcoholism. *


References


Further reading

*
Talking table with AA Gill
– interview from ''Australian Gourmet Traveller'', Jan 2008 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Aa 1954 births 2016 deaths British male journalists Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in England People educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth The Sunday Times people Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Writers from Edinburgh Obscenity controversies in literature 20th-century British writers 21st-century British writers British restaurant critics English people of Scottish descent Scottish people of English descent British republicans Animal cruelty incidents