Tony Gray, who has died in England aged 82, began a writing career on The Irish Times over 60 years ago. He went on to become a prolific author, with 20 books to his credit and about 150 scripts for documentary and training films.
Although he left Ireland to live in Britain in 1959, Irish subjects and themes were a constant inspiration for his literary output. His last book, A Peculiar Man, published in 1996, was a life of the writer, George Moore, which was highly praised in reviews.
The bulk of his impressive output was historical and sociological but he also wrote five novels. Starting From Tomorrow was based on his life in Dublin as a young, hard-drinking journalist in the 1950s. Another called Gone the Time was based on Brendan Behan.
A reviewer in the New Statesman praised it for achieving "a more complete truth in fiction than Behan biographers have managed with fact".
Gray was born in Dublin on August 23rd, 1922. His father, George, had fought in the first World War and had been wounded at the Dardanelles. He later qualified as a radiographer and worked in the Leopardstown Hospital for ex-servicemen run by the British Ministry of Pensions. Tony's mother was Gertrude McKee from Warrenpoint, Co Down.
He grew up in Sandymount and was educated at St Matthew's Church of Ireland School in Ringsend and St Andrew's College. He went straight from school to work in The Irish Times as a junior leader writer under the legendary editor, R.M. Smyllie. In his book, Mr Smyllie, Sir, Gray gives a humorous account of his interview with Smyllie and what it was like to work in the newspaper during that time.
He was soon put in charge of the Books Section and because of his knowledge of Irish became responsible for editing the early columns of Myles na gCopaleen. The Smyllie regime at the time required frequent attendance by staff in the Palace and the Pearl bars where the editor held court for writers and hangers-on. It was a heady experience for a young man not long out of school. There was also a lot of sailing in Dublin Bay.
During the Emergency period, he joined the Local Defence Force and his duties included service at the anti-aircraft battery in Ringsend commanded by Tom O'Higgins, later to become a minister and chief justice. In 1946 Gray married Patricia Walters, who had been working as an editorial assistant in Cahills. They had two children, Michael and Victoria.
Gray was to graduate on the newspaper to writing Irishman's Diary and was then promoted to edit the weekly Times Pictorial. His younger brother, Ken, began his journalistic career working under him on the illustrated newspaper and was later to move up the editorial ladder to become deputy editor. Ken died in May 2002.
In 1949, Gray was learning to fly under the supervision of his friend, Norman Ashe, who had been a glider pilot at Arnhem in 1944. They flew around Ireland taking aerial photographs for the Pictorial. It was then proposed to Smyllie that they should fly around Europe taking pictures of bomb-damaged cities. The trip provided a 12-part series called "Europe as the Crow Flies".
After 19 years on The Irish Times, Gray was offered the job of features editor on the Daily Mirror in London under another legendary editor, Hugh Cudlipp. He estimated that he would be paid more than the then Taoiseach, Seán Lemass. But things did not work out well with Cudlipp and Gray left after two years to go into television. He became editor of ITN's late night news feature programme, Dateline London.
A year later, he moved to Associated Rediffusion to write TV scripts and make documentaries, some of which won awards. When his first book was published in 1965, he went freelance to write more books, scripts for TV companies and a great number of industrial training, recruiting and documentary films. Many for the top British companies like Shell. Others were for the armed forces, Scotland Yard, the Post Office and also the IDA in Dublin.
His numerous books included The Irish Answer about modern Ireland, histories about Nobel peace prize-winners, the McAlpine construction company, the speed record-breaking Campbell family and the siege of Derry.
Three of his books came out in one year alone, 1972. They were the novel based on the comedian Tony Hancock, a history of the Orange Order and a study in religious bigotry called Psalms and Slaughter.
In 1982 he was commissioned to write a history of The Irish Times. He had already written and edited the special supplement commemorating the centenary of the newspaper in 1959. After a preliminary draft of the history was submitted to the then editor, Douglas Gageby, the project was dropped, due, it is believed, to sensitivities about the working of the trust set up to safeguard the newspaper in the 1970s.
But Tony Gray was able to use much of the material he had gathered when he wrote his 1991 profile of R.M. Smyllie and his time as editor. The following year he published a 496-page book to coincide with the implementation of the single European market called Europeople: The Macdonald Guide to the European Community.
He also continued to contribute articles and features to numerous magazines and newspapers in Britain and the US. An unusual project was his trip to Africa in the 1970s to study the white lions of Timbavati which the wildlife expert, Chris McBride, had discovered in his father's private game reserve. Gray ghosted the book which followed. He was also involved in the book by Terry Murphy, director of the Dublin Zoo, called Some of My Best Friends Are Animals. Much of his writing was done in France, where he spent several months of the year.
He is survived by his wife Pat, son Michael, daughter Vikki Deeley, and sister Joan Lanham.
Tony Gray: born August 23rd, 1922; died October 31st, 2004