A. A. Gill | |
---|---|
Born | Adrian Anthony Gill 28 June 1954 Edinburgh, Scotland |
Died | 10 December 2016 London, England |
(aged 62)
Occupation | Columnist, author |
Spouse |
Cressida Connolly (m. 1982; div. 1983) Amber Rudd (m. 1990; div. 1995) |
Partner | Nicola Formby (1995–2016) |
Children | 4 |
Adrian Anthony "A. A." Gill (28 June 1954 – 10 December 2016) was a British writer and critic. Best known for food and travel writing, he was The Sunday Times' restaurant reviewer as well as a television critic. He also wrote for Vanity Fair, GQ and Esquire, and published numerous books. Gill wrote his first piece for Tatler 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.
Gill was born in Edinburgh to English parents. His father was television producer and director Michael Gill and his mother was actress Yvonne Gilan. He had a brother named 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 as a chess player.
Gill was educated at the independent St Christopher School in Letchworth, 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 and the Slade School of Art, 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.
Gill began his writing career in his thirties, writing "art reviews for little magazines". His first piece for Tatler, 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 where, according to Lynn Barber, "he quickly established himself as their shiniest star".