Who was AA Gill? The Sunday Times restaurant critic and columnist dead from cancer aged 62
The celebrated writer revealed he had "an embarrassment of cancer, the full English" just three weeks before his death
Just three weeks after revealing he had been diagnosed with "an embarrassment of cancer, the full English", the celebrated food critic and writer AA Gill has died aged 62.
He used his Table Talk dining column in the Sunday Times to disclose his battle with the disease, writing candidly of how it had spread: "There is barely a morsel of offal that is not included.
"I have a trucker’s gut-buster, gimpy, malevolent, meaty, malignancy."
Gill was born in Edinburgh in 1954 to English parents, but moved south of the border when he was one – the 'AA' stands for Adrian Anthony.
He was privately educated at St Christopher School in Hertfordshire before moving to London to pursue his ambition of being an artist.
Gill studied at the renowned Central Saint Martins art college and Slade School of Art, and spent six years trying to forge an artistic career.
He began writing professionally in his thirties, despite having dyslexia, publishing his first piece for Tatler magazine under a pseudonym in 1991. Gill joined the The Sunday Times in 1993, where he stayed until his death.
There, he forged a reputation as one of the most acerbic, irreverent and influential of restaurant critics, and a columnist whose unflinching style often courted controversy.
In 2010, The Sunday Times revealed he had been the subjects of 62 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission in a five-year period.
In a statement to the newspaper's staff after his death, editor Martin Ivens described Gill as "the heart and soul" of the publication, and a "dazzling and fearless" writer.
He died the day before the Sunday Times magazine published his final piece, a cover feature he wrote about facing up to cancer.
Gill was married to Cressida Connolly, the daughter of the writer Cyril Connolly, then former Home Secretary Amber Rudd from 1990-1995. Gill and Rudd have two children from their marriage, Flora and Alasdair.
Following their divorce, he entered a relationship with former model and food consultant Nicola Formby, who he often referred to in his writing as "The Blonde" – their twins, Edith and Isaac, were born in March 2007.
In the same column that announced his cancer diagnosis, Gill revealed that he intended to marry his long-term partner. However, it is not yet known whether they were able to fulfil his wish.
A recovering alcoholic, who drank "all day, every day" until the age of 30, Gill spoke with typical candour of his experience of addiction, which also included him taking speed, acid and sometimes heroin.
"I was drinking all day, every day - to the point where I got alcoholic gastritis, which is throwing up all the time, and burst all the blood vessels in my eyes," he .
"I was four stone heavier, because I drank beer as well as whisky - sick, sweaty; you sweat all the time, you sweat urea."
The father-of-four's battle with drink was one of the reasons he said he felt he "hadn't been cheated of anything" when he was diagnosed with cancer.
He said: "Because of the nature of my life and the nature of what happened to me in my early life – my addiction – I know I have been very lucky."
Prior to his death, Gill spoke of his amazement at the public reaction that revealing his cancer had prompted.
“The reaction has been absolutely extraordinary,” he said. “I honestly had no idea what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect what happened.
"I have been contacted by well over 3,000 people, offering help, or support, people sharing their own stories, and a lot just saying ‘thank goodness someone is doing this."
“I have come to the conclusion that it is helping people. It is extraordinary that it has touched.”
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AA Gill dead aged 62 just weeks after revealing he had cancer
Top food writer AA Gill reveals he’s ‘got an embarrassment of cancer’