A. A. Gill - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

A.A. Gill was born in Edinburgh, the son of television producer and director Michael Gill and actress Yvonne Gilan, and brother to Nicholas, now a chef. The family moved to the south of England when he was one year old. In 1964 he appeared briefly in his mother's film The Peaches.

Gill was educated at the progressive independent St Christopher School in Hertfordshire and would later recall his experiences at the school for his book The Angry Island. After St Christopher, he moved to London to study at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design 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 30, having abandoned his ambitions in art, he spent several years working in restaurants and teaching cookery.

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