| Peter Cook, not often seen on TV these
days, and perhaps forgotten a bit. He passed away 11 years ago, and
I think the world forgot just how good he was. He partnered Dudley
Moore in 'Not only but also' and that was a very funny sketch show
of its time. The biography below comes from here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/discovering/famous/peter_cook.shtml
Comedian Peter Cook was described by most
people who met him as the wittiest man they knew.
The satirist - best known for his work with Dudley Moore - was born
in Bronshill Road, Torquay in November 1937.
The house was within cheering distance of Plainmoor, the home of
Torquay United, who he supported all his life (along with Spurs).
Cook was born and brought up by his nan, because his father
Alexander was a diplomat in Nigeria and his mother, Margaret, didn't
want the young Peter growing up there.
As Peter Cook explained: "I
was conceived in Nigeria but born in Devon because my mother had
this obsession about newborn babies catching malaria in the middle
of downtown Lagos. So I was reared in Torquay."
Cook himself was expected to follow his father into the diplomatic
service but, as he said himself, "we ran out of colonies."
Comedian Peter Cook was described by most
people who met him as the wittiest man they knew.
The satirist - best known for his work with Dudley Moore - was born
in Bronshill Road, Torquay in November 1937.
The house was within cheering distance of Plainmoor, the home of
Torquay United, who he supported all his life (along with Spurs).
Cook was born and brought up by his nan, because his father
Alexander was a diplomat in Nigeria and his mother, Margaret, didn't
want the young Peter growing up there.
As Peter Cook explained: "I
was conceived in Nigeria but born in Devon because my mother had
this obsession about newborn babies catching malaria in the middle
of downtown Lagos. So I was reared in Torquay."
Cook himself was expected to follow his father into the diplomatic
service but, as he said himself, "we ran out of colonies."
Then came his partnership
with Dudley Moore in the TV comedy, Not Only, But Also. They created
some of the best loved characters in British comedy - cloth-capped
Pete and Dud, and Derek and Clive.
This was to be the best time of his career. Cook, who had a majority
shareholding in the satirical magazine Private Eye, had problems
with alcoholism.
Married three times, he admitted he lacked the will to pursue fame
and fortune: "I think I ran out of ambition at 24," he once said.
"I am indolent to the point of doing absolutely nothing. In an ideal
world, I would have liked to have been born enormously rich, working
when I felt like it.
"I've always been lazy and disliked anything that's too much like
hard work."
After Cook's death aged 57 in 1995, Dudley Moore said: "Verbally he
was the most witty man that I have ever come across and strangely
inventive."
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