27 Facts About Pete McCarthy

Peter Charles McCarthy Robinson was an Anglo-Irish comedian, radio and television presenter and travel writer.

Pete McCarthy was noted for his best-selling travel books McCarthy's Bar and The Road to McCarthy, in which he explored western Ireland and the Irish diaspora around the world.

Pete McCarthy decided to become a writer and studied English at Leicester University.

Pete McCarthy discovered a talent for comedy and co-founded a successful comedy troupe, in which he wrote and performed for ten years.

Pete McCarthy became a solo stand-up comic and comedy writer, and after success with The Hangover Show in 1990 he presented television and radio shows.

Pete McCarthy followed McCarthy's Bar in 2002 with The Road to McCarthy.

Pete McCarthy was born on 9 November 1951 in Warrington, Lancashire.

Pete McCarthy attended Leicester University and earned a first-class degree in English literature.

Pete McCarthy studied at a teacher training college and taught English and Drama at a comprehensive school on the coast of Suffolk.

In 1975, Pete McCarthy moved to Brighton, East Sussex, and worked in a community arts project in nearby Shoreham-by-Sea, which led to his first television appearance, on Tommy Tractor's Triffic Toyshop Show, a show for primary school children.

Pete McCarthy moved into comedy, co-founded Cliff Hanger Theatre with friends Robin Driscoll, Steve McNicholas, Tony Haase and Rebecca Stevens, and discovered a talent for verbal repartee.

Pete McCarthy was described as "a brilliantly funny writer and performer".

Pete McCarthy toured the country performing in pubs, and their first show, The Featherstone Flyer, was premiered in the Hope and Anchor in Islington, North London.

In 1987, McCarthy began performing solo stand-up comedy, adopting his mother's surname as his stage name after learning of another actor using the name Peter Robinson.

Pete McCarthy acted as guide, inventing surreal explanations for the sights of Hove.

Pete McCarthy then took them on a tour around Hove, making up the sights as he went along.

In 1990 Pete McCarthy explored this theme further in The Hangover Show, directed by John Dowie.

Pete McCarthy was awarded the Critic's Award for Best Comedy and nominated for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Pete McCarthy regularly compered at The Comedy Store in Central London.

Pete McCarthy recalled: "We travelled to Zanzibar and China, Fiji and Corsica, Costa Rica and Laos, stood on the edge of volcanoes, had lunch with heroes of the Crete resistance, and got caught up in a military coup in Vanuatu".

Pete McCarthy starred in a string of other television and radio shows throughout the 1990's, including BBC 2's Country Tracks ; Meridian Television's The Pier; and Channel 4's Desperately Seeking Something, an exploration of alternative religious movements around the world.

Pete McCarthy won "Newcomer of the Year" at the British Book Awards in 2002, and Pete McCarthy's Bar was a great success, selling over a million copies.

Pete McCarthy said in McCarthy's Bar that his grandfather's surname had been spelled 'MacCarthy'.

Pete McCarthy moved with his family from Brighton to a village in the South Downs in East Sussex, and enjoyed taking solitary walks across the Downs.

Pete McCarthy described the landscape as "a kind of neolithic M25".

Pete McCarthy was diagnosed with cancer in February 2004 and died at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton on 6 October 2004 at the age of 52.

Pete McCarthy was survived by his wife Irene and three daughters, Alice, Isabella and Coral.