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. She later attended Roedean School and graduated from Greenside High School. She is 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. She would report on parties hosted by South Africa's elite and continue to interview famous figures. A year later Allan was in Mauritius covering the Marlin fishing when the Helderberg South African Airways Flight 295 crashed east of the island. Allan and her colleague Geoff Allan were the first journalists at the airport. The Sunday Times published their joint report on the crash that killed everyone on board. She 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