Satirical writer, erudite man dies

CHRISTCHURCH - Noted satirical writer A. K. (Allan Keith) Grant died yesterday, aged 59.

Lawyer Chris McVeigh and comedian David McPhail, long-time friends and colleagues, said Grant was more than a fine comic writer.

He was an erudite man with an encyclopaedic knowledge, who would identify instantly snatches of music or quotes from literature and was equally at home discussing metaphysics and rugby.

Grant, one of four children of a primary school principal, was born in Wanganui on February 11, 1941, and spent his early years on the West Coast. Apart from three years in England, he lived the rest of his life in Christchurch.

Grant graduated in law from Canterbury University in 1964 and then worked for a firm of legal publishers in London until 1967. He was a partner in the Christchurch legal firm of Ames MacLean and Grant from 1969 to 1976 and practised as a barrister from 1976 to 1980.

Three years of part-time writing in 1977-79 for TV's A Week Of It helped pay the bills as he became established in his legal practice. In 1980, he took up writing fulltime. He had numerous books and plays published as well as writing scripts for television comedy series, including McPhail and Gadsby, and Letter to Blanchy.

He was a longtime newspaper and magazine columnist. McPhail said Grant would observe bits of life, then encapsulate them spontaneously in witty phrases.

When asked what he thought of an experimental dance troupe he had seen, Grant replied without pausing, "Transsexuals in grey overalls dancing to the music of concrete mixers."

Grant was twice married. He leaves two daughters from his second marriage.

- NZPA

A. K. Grant