P. J. Kavanagh (1931-2015) was a poet, writer, actor, broadcaster and columnist. He went to a Benedictine school, served in the Korean war during national service, worked for the British Council in Barcelona and Indonesia, and acted on stage and TV - his last appearance in an episode of Father Ted. The Perfect Stranger was awarded the Richard Hillary Memorial Prize in 1966, and his novel A Song and Dance won the 1968 Guardian Fiction Prize. Poetry remained his major occupation, and his Collected Poems was given the Cholmondeley Award in 1992.
