A. A. Gill Audiobooks

Far and Away: travel with one of the sharpest and least sentimental voices in Fleet Street

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.7/5 average

100 listener ratings

Who is A. A. Gill?

A. A. Gill – Adrian Anthony Gill, born in 1954, died in 2016 – was a Scottish writer who became one of the defining journalistic voices of his era. He came to writing sideways, after failing to establish himself as an artist: his first piece appeared in Tatler in 1991, and by 1993 he had joined The Sunday Times, where his reputation was made writing about food, travel and television. He also wrote for Vanity Fair, GQ and Esquire, and published numerous books along the way.

Gill’s wit was genuinely sharp rather than merely fashionable, and it cut in both directions: he won numerous awards for his writing, and his articles also generated a steady stream of complaints to the Press Complaints Commission. Both facts are the point. On his death, one editor called him ‘a giant among journalists’, and few in the trade would have argued.

A. A. Gill in audiobooks

Far and Away is the Gill title in our catalogue, and travel was one of the subjects on which his reputation rested. Writing like his is a particular pleasure in audio: sentences engineered for rhythm and timing, observations delivered with the confidence of a man paid to have opinions. It suits shorter listening sessions beautifully – dip in, be provoked, come back for more – and for UK listeners there is the extra pleasure of a sensibility that is recognisably ours: irreverent, unsentimental and allergic to humbug. They do not make many like him, and audio is a fine place to hear why.