65 Facts About Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter.

Peter Cook was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishment comedic movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s.

In 1961, Cook opened the comedy club The Establishment in Soho, Central London.

Peter Cook was born at his parents' house, "Shearbridge", in Middle Warberry Road, Torquay, Devon.

Peter Cook's father served as political officer and later district officer in Nigeria, then as financial secretary to the colony of Gibraltar, followed by a return to Nigeria as Permanent Secretary of the Eastern Region based at Enugu.

Peter Cook only discovered the truth when later researching his family.

Peter Cook was educated at Radley College and then went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read French and German.

At Pembroke, Peter Cook performed and wrote comedy sketches as a member of the Cambridge Footlights Club, of which he became president in 1960.

Peter Cook's hero was fellow Footlights writer and Cambridge magazine writer David Nobbs.

Beyond the Fringe became a great success in London after being first performed at the Edinburgh Festival and included Peter Cook impersonating the prime minister, Harold Macmillan.

In 1961, Peter Cook opened The Establishment, a club at 18 Greek Street in Soho in central London, presenting fellow comedians in a nightclub setting, including American Lenny Bruce.

Peter Cook befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club.

Peter Cook opened an Establishment club in New York in 1963 and Lenny Bruce performed there, as well.

In 1962, the BBC commissioned a pilot for a television series of satirical sketches based on the Establishment Club, but it was not immediately picked up and Peter Cook went to New York City for a year to perform Beyond the Fringe on Broadway.

When he returned, the pilot had been refashioned as That Was the Week That Was and had made a television star of David Frost, something Peter Cook made no secret of resenting.

Peter Cook complained that Frost's success was based on directly copying Cook's own stage persona and Cook dubbed him "the bubonic plagiarist", and said that his only regret in life, according to Alan Bennett, had been saving Frost from drowning.

Peter Cook had realised that Frost's potential drowning would have looked deliberate if he had not been rescued.

Peter Cook invested his own money and solicited investment from his friends.

Wisty, whom Peter Cook had conceived for Radley College's Marionette Society.

Peter Cook played characters such as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and the two men created their Pete and Dud alter egos.

When Peter Cook learned a few years later that the videotapes of the series were to be wiped, a common practice at the time, he offered to buy the recordings from the BBC but was refused because of copyright issues.

Peter Cook suggested he could purchase new tapes so that the BBC would have no need to erase the originals, but this was turned down.

Peter Cook's increasing alcoholism led him to become reliant on cue cards.

In 1970, Peter Cook took over a project initiated by David Frost for a satirical film about an opinion pollster who rises to become President of Great Britain.

Peter Cook frequently appeared on and off stage the worse for drink.

Peter Cook returned to Britain and in 1973, married the actress and model Judy Huxtable.

In 1978, Peter Cook appeared on the British music series Revolver as the manager of a ballroom where emerging punk and new wave acts played.

Peter Cook's acerbic commentary was a distinctive aspect of the programme.

In 1979, Peter Cook recorded comedy-segments as B-sides to the Sparks 12-inch singles "Number One Song in Heaven" and "Tryouts for the Human Race".

Peter Cook appeared at the first three fund-raising galas staged by Cleese and Martin Lewis on behalf of Amnesty International.

Peter Cook performed on all three nights of the first show in April 1976, A Poke in the Eye, as an individual performer and as a member of the cast of Beyond the Fringe, which reunited for the first time since the 1960s.

Peter Cook appeared in a Monty Python sketch, taking the place of Eric Idle.

Peter Cook was on the cast album of the show and in the film, Pleasure at Her Majesty's.

Peter Cook was in the second Amnesty gala in May 1977, An Evening Without Sir Bernard Miles.

In June 1979, Peter Cook performed all four nights of The Secret Policeman's Ball, teaming with Cleese.

Peter Cook performed a couple of solo pieces and a sketch with Eleanor Bron.

Peter Cook performed it that same night and the following night.

Peter Cook hosted a spoof film awards ceremony that was part of the world premiere of the film in London in March 1982.

Peter Cook played multiple roles on the 1977 concept album Consequences, written and produced by former 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.

Peter Cook's struggles with alcohol are mirrored in Haig's drinking, and there is a parallel between the fictional divorce of Walter and Lulu and Peter Cook's own divorce from his first wife.

Partly spurred by Moore's growing film star status, Peter Cook moved to Hollywood in that year.

Peter Cook then appeared as an uptight English butler to a wealthy American woman in a short-lived United States television sitcom, The Two of Us, with Mimi Kennedy and Dana Hill.

Peter Cook made some cameo appearances in a few undistinguished films.

In 1983, Peter Cook played the role of Richard III in the first episode of Blackadder, "The Foretelling", which parodies Laurence Olivier's portrayal.

Peter Cook appeared as Mr Jolly in 1987 in The Comic Strip Presents.

That same year, Peter Cook appeared in The Princess Bride as the "Impressive Clergyman" who officiates at the wedding ceremony between Buttercup and Prince Humperdinck.

Peter Cook again collaborated with Moore for the 1989 Amnesty International benefit show, The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball.

Peter Cook then says to "throw away those silly little glasses" whereupon the other party guests toss their sunglasses in the swimming pool.

Peter Cook occasionally called in to Clive Bull's night-time phone-in radio show on LBC in London.

In late 1989, Peter Cook married for the third time, to Malaysian-born property developer Chiew Lin Chong in Torbay, Devon.

Peter Cook provided him with some stability in his personal life, and he reduced his drinking to the extent that for a time he was teetotal.

Peter Cook lived alone in a small 18th-century house in Perrins Walk, Hampstead, while she kept her own property just 100 yards away.

Peter Cook returned to the BBC as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling for an appearance with Ludovic Kennedy in A Life in Pieces.

Peter Cook appeared in the 1993 Christmas special of One Foot in the Grave, playing a muckraking tabloid photographer.

Peter Cook made his last television appearance on the show Pebble Mill at One in November 1994.

Peter Cook was first married to Wendy Snowden, whom he met at university, in 1963.

Peter Cook then married his second wife, model and actress Judy Huxtable, in 1973, the marriage ending in 1989 after they had been separated for some years.

Peter Cook married his third and final wife, Chiew Lin Chong, in 1989, to whom he remained married until his death.

Peter Cook died in a coma on 9 January 1995 at age 57 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London, from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage, a complication resulting from years of heavy drinking.

Peter Cook's body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, and his ashes were buried in an unmarked plot behind St John-at-Hampstead, not far from his home in Perrins Walk.

Peter Cook was an avid spectator of most sports and was a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur football club, though he maintained support for his hometown team Torquay United.

Peter Cook is widely acknowledged as a strong influence on the many British comedians who followed him from the amateur dramatic clubs of British universities to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then to radio and television.

However, Peter Cook always maintained he had no ambitions for sustained success.

Peter Cook assessed happiness by his friendships and his enjoyment of life.

Eric Idle said Peter Cook had not wasted his talent, but rather that the newspapers had tried to waste him.