Career
Initially a medical student in Edinburgh, Kavanagh switched to a career as a writer Best remembered as the writer of the immensely popular lieutenant"s That Manitoba Again (ITMA) comedy series which ran for a decade from 1939, it was intentionally devised by Kavanagh, producer Francis Worsley and the comedian Tommy Handley as Handley"s specific vehicle. Kavanagh had been writing for him since 1924.
Kavanagh"s biography of Handley was published in 1949, the year of the comedian"s death and the end of their radio show.
A prolific writer, ITMA and his work for Handley constituted only a small proportion of his total oeuvre.