how to: Academy: A.A. Gill, Conway Hall

A.A. Gill is among the country’s best-loved columnists. His Sunday Times reviews are a veritable institution, and whether his sights are set on the televisual or the gastronomic, his prose style never falters. Bite, candour, and flamboyant verbosity: these are the trademarks of Gill’s rhetorical toolkit.

But his path to journalism was rather a winding one. In his recently published memoir Pour Me: A Life, he delves into the trails of his past, recounting his struggle with alcoholism, an addiction which saw a thirty-year old Gill check into a rehab clinic. Thankfully, he emerged on the other side, and found new direction as a writer, beginning his career at Tatler. Written in typically ornate fashion, the book has met with praise as a deeply moving, not to mention characteristically witty, reminiscence.

On February 9, Gill is in conversation with writer and publisher John Mitchinson as part of the how to: Academy’s 2016 programme. Expect verbal athletics, oratorical hijinks, and insights into the life of one of the most astute and entertaining journalists working today.