Jani Allan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jani Allan
|
|
|---|---|
Allan in 2010
|
|
| Born | 11 September 1952 |
| Died | 25 July 2023 (aged 70) |
| Citizenship |
|
| Education | University of the Witwatersrand |
| Occupation | Journalist, broadcaster, author |
| Employer |
|
| Spouse(s) |
Gordon Schachat
(m. 1982–1984)Dr Peter Kulish
(m. 2002–2005) |
| Partner(s) |
|
Jani Allan (11 September 1952 – 25 July 2023) was a South African journalist, columnist, writer and broadcaster. She became one of the country's first media celebrities in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1980, Allan became a columnist for the centrist newspaper, the Sunday Times, South Africa's biggest-circulating weekly newspaper. She published columns such as Just Jani, Jani Allan's Week, and Face to Face. The newspaper commissioned a Gallup poll in 1987 to find "the most admired person in South Africa" and she came first. In 2015, Marianne Thamm of the Daily Maverick described Allan as having been "the most influential writer and columnist in the country."
Allan began writing freelance columns for British publications and published a regular column for Scope. She returned to South Africa in 1996, publishing a sponsored web column and presenting a radio show on Cape Talk. After an extended break she returned to the South African media frame in 2013. Jacana Media published Allan's memoirs, Jani Confidential, on 16 March 2015. She began writing semi-regularly for The Epoch Times from 2018. In South Africa she continued to write freelance opinion pieces, with her work mostly appearing in the Daily Maverick, Fair Lady, and in Rapport. Allan lived in the United States since 2001 until her death in 2023.
Contents
Early life
Allan was adopted by a wealthy British-South African couple, John Murray Allan and Janet Sophia Henning, at the age of one month. Allan's adoptive father, a former sub-editor of the Johannesburg daily The Star, died when she was 18 months old. Her mother was an antiques dealer with a store in Randburg. Allan was raised by Henning and her second husband, Walter Eric Monteith Fry. The family lived in Randburg before moving to Bryanston in Sandton. Allan attended Franklin D. Roosevelt Primary School as well as Blairgowrie Primary School where one of her contemporaries was the writer Rian Malan.
Allan later attended Roedean School and graduated from Greenside High School. She was a trained classical pianist, recorded a televised piano concerto as a child, and made her debut with Johannesburg symphony orchestra at the age of 10. She also attained a BA Honours degree in Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand where she also obtained a H.E.D. Post-grad Teaching Diploma. Allan received a first for painting and design, and local gallery owner Trevor Coleman offered to give her a one-woman exhibition. British newscaster Michael de Morgan opened the exhibition that was attended by art critic and watercolour artist Richard Cheales.
Career
Prior to becoming a journalist, Allan worked as a photographic model and an English and Art teacher at Wynberg Boys' High School, Bryanston High School, and Sevenoaks Finishing School. Allan's first published work was a series of classical music reviews for The Citizen.
1980–1989: Sunday Times
In 1980, Allan was employed by editor Tertius Myburgh to write a column for the Sunday Times, then the nation's biggest-circulating weekly newspaper. Later, in the main body of the Sunday Times newspaper, she also began publishing Radio Jani, her music reviews. She also had a nightly pop news spot on the David Gresham show on Springbok Radio. In 1986 she began publishing Jani Allan's Week in the main newspaper.
Allan was voted "the most admired person in South Africa" in a Gallup poll commissioned by the Sunday Times in 1987. Daily Maverick writer Marianne Thamm supports this view, describing Allan as "once the most influential writer and columnist in the country."
In 1988, her bosses replaced Jani Allan's Week with "Face to Face", a profile column with greater focus on political subjects. As South Africa became increasingly isolated in the international community because of apartheid, she interviewed political players such as Eugène Terre'Blanche, Winnie Mandela, Denis Worrall, and Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
1990–1996: London
By 1990 Allan had become a regular columnist for the South African weekly magazine, Scope, launching the self-titled Jani Allan column from her base in London. At the peak of its success, Scope had the largest circulation of any English-language magazine in South Africa. An article written by Allan on 5 October 1990, volume 25, number 20 in the magazine was presented by the MP Dries Bruwer to the South African parliament in 1991 in support of a legislation issue.
.JPG)
In 1990, she also worked as an occasional society columnist for the London Sunday Times, interviewing personalities such as Charlton Heston for the newspaper and publishing opinion pieces for the newspaper.
Allan later worked for the SABC broadcaster and journalist, Cliff Saunders's London press agency and interviewed South African and European political figures such as Jean-Marie Le Pen. Allan was also published by the London Evening Standard where she published reports on her former inquisitor George Carman's latest case, in which Carman was defending The People against a libel case taken by Mona Bauwens. She also wrote for The Spectator where she described Carman as "a small bewigged ferret." Allan published opinion pieces in the Daily Mail and British conservative magazine The Salisbury Review. She also did research for and contributed to the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. In 1995, she gave a primetime interview to SABC.
1996–2001: return to South Africa
Allan's return to South Africa in 1996 was marked by an appearance on the cover of Style magazine and an in-depth interview.
In the same year she took up a position as a host on Cape Talk Radio, a Cape Town-based radio show, and launched her show Jani's World, which aired on Friday evenings between 9 p.m. and midnight. Well-known political and entertainment figures appeared on her show including Constand Viljoen.,Rhodesian Premier Ian Smith, and Faye Dunaway. The Mail & Guardian praised the way in which the "no guts no glory" content creates a refreshing, witty forum".
Soon after establishing the radio show in Cape Town, she was contracted by MWEB to launch the website "CyberJani" with a weekly column, letters page and live chatline. The stated mission of the column was to provide "all the truth that is unfit to print and equally offensive to the left, the right and the centre". Allan tackled a variety of subjects such as gender issues. She also published a social diary.
From 2000 to 2001, she was a speechwriter for Buthelezi.
2001–2012: United States
Between 2004 and 2005, Allan wrote on a freelance basis for titles such as WorldNetDaily. As a personal interest, she also worked as a published astrologer. In 2006, Allan's Terre'Blanche column was republished in the book A Century of Sundays: 100 Years of Breaking News in the Sunday Times. The book included details of the libel case and reproduced reportage about the case.
2013–2023 Jani Confidential and freelance
In 2013, Allan was approached as a subject for a magazine article following "yesterday's media icons." Allan joined Twitter and publishing a new blog titled My Grilling Life. She regularly wrote satirical pieces about her experiences in the restaurant where she once worked.
In October 2013, she was the subject of a profile piece by the Mail & Guardian newspaper titled "The Return of Jani Allan". Allan announced to the newspaper a new media project, an interactive biography project about her life and South Africa. In conjunction she launched a new self-titled website.
On 16 October, Allan made a morning radio programme appearance on the Redi Thlabi show, broadcast on Johannesburg's Radio 702 and Cape Town's Cape Talk. On 27 October, an interview with Allan was published in the Business Times section of her former newspaper, the Sunday Times.
In September 2014, Dekat, an upmarket South African lifestyle magazine published in English and Afrikaans, featured a column by Allan. Allan's column was part of the magazine's 1980's edition and is a letter from Allan to her younger self.
RT (Russia Today)
In April 2020 Allan began writing opinion columns for RT (formerly Russia Today), the Russian TV network and news agency.
Jani Confidential
An interview with Allan and an extract from her memoirs, Jani Confidential was published in the February 2015 edition of Fair Lady. On the weekend of 28–29 March, Jani Confidential was serialized by The Weekend Argus and by Rapport on 29 March 2015. Serializations were also published by the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Independent. On 30 March, The Star published an extract from the book.
Allan's memoir has been well received in the Afrikaans press.
Animal rights advocacy
On social media, Allan described herself as an "animal rights activist." Her journalism reflected a concern for animal welfare issues.
Personal life
In 1973, Allan was a student at the University of the Witwatersrand when she met her first husband, finance magnate and art collector Gordon Schachat. They married in Mauritius in 1982 and shared a home in Linksfield Ridge, an upscale Jewish area in Johannesburg's northern suburbs. Their two-year marriage ended in divorce in 1984. Allan attributed her burgeoning career as a factor: "I was obsessed with my column. I was intent on becoming the best journalist in the country." They remained friends and Schachat supported Allan's testimony in the 1992 libel suit she brought against Channel 4 in London. Allan told a London court that eight years after their marriage breakup, Schachat was her closest friend and described their union as "the right people at the wrong time."
Allan became a born-again Christian in 1994. She returned to South Africa two years later at the urging of her then-partner, Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, an IFP MP and Italian expatriate. She emigrated to the United States in 2001. The following year she married Dr. Peter Kulish, an American proponent of biomagnetic therapy. The couple divorced in 2005.
After their divorce, Allan worked as a waitress in New Jersey. In July 2017, Allan wrote a widely circulated column about her financial situation and ageism in the workplace. Her column was republished by BizNews and widely quoted in the South African press. Allan appeared on the front page of both the Sunday Times and Beeld newspaper. Her former newspaper devoted page three to their former columnist.
Death
Allan died from cancer in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on 25 July 2023, at the age of 70.
See also
In Spanish: Jani Allan para niños
