P. J. Kavanagh

P. J. Kavanagh
Kavanagh at his home in 2006
Born	Patrick Joseph Kavanagh (1931-01-06)6 January 1931 Worthing, Sussex, England
Died	26 August 2015(2015-08-26) (aged 84)
Occupation	Poet, actor, journalist
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Douai School; Merton College, Oxford
Spouse	Sarah Philipps (m. 1956–1958; her death) Catherine Ward (m. 1965)
Children	2

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P. J. Kavanagh

He published several volumes of poetry: One and One, On the Way to the Depot, About Time, Edward Thomas in Heaven, Life Before Death and An Enchantment and Something About. There were collections: Selected Poems, Presences: New and Selected Poems, and Collected Poems. In 1993 he was given the Cholmondeley Award for poetry.

Kavanagh's first novel, A Song and Dance, was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize; he wrote three further novels: A Happy Man, People and Weather, and Only by Mistake; and two novels for children: Scarf Jack and Rebel for Good. He published a collection of essays and articles People and Places: A Selection 1975–1987, a travel autobiography Finding Connections, and a literary companion Voices in Ireland.^{[citation needed]} He was editor of Collected Poems of Ivor Gurney, The Bodley Head G. K. Chesterton, The Essential G. K. Chesterton, The Oxford Book of Short Poems (with James Michie) and A Book of Consolations.^{[citation needed]} He co-presented the programmes Poetry Please on BBC Radio 4 and Not So Much a Programme on BBC1 TV.^[5]

His acting roles included the films Masters of Venus (1962), Half Moon Street (1986) and Hidden Agenda (1990), and his television appearances include Journey Through Summer, as the Nazi-memorabilia-collecting Father Seamus Fitzpatrick in the episode of Father Ted, "Are You Right There, Father Ted?", and as the secret agent Sean Mortimer suffering from drug-induced amnesia in the episode "The Forget-Me-Knot" of the series The Avengers, the last episode with Diana Rigg in the female leading role. He was a columnist for The Spectator from 1983 to 1996 and then for The Times Literary Supplement until 2002.^[5]

Death

Kavanagh lived in Gloucestershire from 1963 until his death. He married his second wife, Catherine Ward, in 1965; they had two sons together.^[2]

Publications

• One and One, London: Heinemann, 1959.
• The Perfect Stranger (autobiography), London: Chatto and Windus, 1966.
• On the Way to the Depot, London: Chatto & Windus/The Hogarth Press, 1967.
• A Song and Dance, 1968
• About Time, London: Chatto & Windus/The Hogarth Press, 1970.
• A Happy Man, 1972.
• Edward Thomas in Heaven, London: Chatto & Windus/The Hogarth Press, 1974.
• People and Weather, London: John Calder, 1978.
  ISBN 0-7145-3666-0
• Scarf Jack, 1978.
• Life Before Death, London: Chatto & Windus/The Hogarth Press, 1979.
  ISBN 0-7011-2415-6
• Rebel for Good, 1980.
• Collected Poems of
  ISBN 0-19-211963-X
  (paperback)
• The Oxford Book of Short Poems (co-editor with James Michie), Oxford University Press, 1985.
• The Bodley Head G. K. Chesterton, (editor), 1985
• Only by Mistake, 1986.
• The Essential G. K. Chesterton, (editor), 1987
• People and Places: a selection 1975–1987, 1988
• Finding Connections, 1990
• An Enchantment, Manchester: Carcanet, 1991.
  ISBN 0-85635-961-0
• A Book of Consolations, (editor), 1992
• Collected Poems. Manchester:
  ISBN 978-1-85754-212-7
• Voices in Ireland: A Traveller's Literary Companion, John Murray, 1995.
• Something About, Manchester: Carcanet, 2004.
• P. J. Kavanagh Reading from his poems, The Poetry Archive 2005