Critic AA Gill was fearless to very last
Writer hailed as ‘giant among journalists’ dies after brief battle with ‘full English’ of cancers
THE renowned restaurant critic AA Gill has died after a short battle with cancer. He was 62.
Revealing his illness in an interview last month — diagnosed only recently after family concerns about his rapid weight loss — the writer said it prompted his successful proposal to Nicola Formby, his partner of nearly a quarter of a century.
In a nod to his career as a food writer, Gill referred to his diagnosis as a “full English” of cancers.
His death was confirmed by the Sunday Times, for whom he was a long-standing columnist. He died yesterday morning.
Friends and colleagues on the newspaper were informed of his death by editor Martin Ivens, who described the celebrated critic — known to some by his first name Adrian — as “a giant among journalists”.
His final column will be featured in today’s edition of the Sunday Times.
In his memo to staff, Ivens said: “It is with profound sadness that I must tell you that our much-loved colleague Adrian Gill died this morning.
“Adrian was stoical about his illness, but the suddenness of his death has shocked us all.
“Characteristically he has had the last word, writing an outstanding article about coming to terms with his cancer in tomorrow’s Sunday Times Magazine.
“He was the heart and soul of the paper. His wit was incomparable, his writing was dazzling and fearless, his intelligence was matched by compassion.
“Adrian was a giant among journalists. He was also our friend. We will miss him.
“I know you will want to join me in sending condolences to Nicola Formby and his children.”
Journalists and colleagues also paid moving tributes to Gill, with Financial Times editor Lionel Barber hailing him as the “king of irreverent critics”.
Jay Rayner, The Observer’s restaurant critic, wrote on Twitter: “So sorry to hear about the death of AA Gill. He was a controversialist, sometimes outrageously so, but a kind man and a brilliant writer”, while Tim Shipman, political editor of the Sunday Times, said: “AA Gill, the writer who first made me buy the Sunday Times, the best of us for 30 years, has died. Very sombre mood in the office.”
Gill, who revealed that the news of his cancer prompted a successful proposal to Formby, said in a recent interview that he didn’t “feel he’d been cheated of anything”.
“I realise I don’t have a bucket list; I don’t feel I’ve been cheated of anything,” he said. “I’d like to have gone to Timbuktu, and there are places I will be sorry not to see again.
“But actually, because of the nature of my life and the nature of what happened to me in my early life — my [alcohol] addiction — I know I have been very lucky.”
Gill, a dyslexic who dictated his copy, joined the Sunday Times in 1993, after a brief spell writing “art reviews for little magazines”. According to Sunday Times writer Lynn Barber, “he quickly established himself as their shiniest star”.
Before he began writing for the Sunday Times, Gill had studied art at the Central Saint Martins College of Art of Design and the Slade School of Fine Art.
He was also an alcoholic who, at the age of 30, was told by doctors that he would be dead by Christmas if he didn’t stop drinking. He never drank again.
Gill wrote about his addiction in a memoir, Pour Me: A Life, published last year.
Former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil said he was “consumed with sadness and anger” at the death of his friend. Describing it as “unfair”, Neil said his friend was “taken from us far too soon”.
His columns were full of trademark wit and cynicism, and he was both feared and adored in the industry.
Although an alcoholic he would drink wine at the altar when taking communion “once or twice a year”.
Talking of his battle with dyslexia, he once said: “Dyslexics learn charm at school. You need it to get by. My son Beetle is quite dyslexic and he has more charm than an entire finishing school...”
Gill leaves nine-year-old twins, Isaac (also known as Beetle) and Edith, with Nicola Formby, and two grown-up children from his marriage to Amber Rudd, now the British Home Secretary.