
Peter Cook (I)
- English
- Actor and writer
Press clippings Page 8
Jackie Kennedy 'had affair with Peter Cook'
Jackie Kennedy apparently found time for a fling with British comedian Peter Cook.
Paul Revoir, Daily Mail, 8th December 2009Richard Lester's adaptation of the play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus is a truly bonkers curio. Set in a blasted post-apocalypse Britain where roughly 20 people have survived, all of whom steadfastly avoid discussing what has happened, the film features an impressive pantheon of 1960s British talent - Milligan, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Ralph Richardson, Arthur Lowe - attempting to carry on as normal with bicycle-powered public transport and the ever-present threat of mutation.
Lowe turns into a parrot, Moore turns into a sheepdog, and Richardson wearily endures his inexorable transformation into the titular rented accommodation. Bleak, dark, surreal, silly and truly unique.
Empire, 25th May 2009The long-lost 1969 comedy The Bed Sitting Room is finally given the spotlight it deserves. Based on a rather freeform post-apocalyptic play by Spike Milligan, this is rightfully regarded as something of a missing link in UK comedy. Under Richard Lester's inventive direction, Britain is reduced to around a dozen characters following a nuclear "misunderstanding" and the population dwindles further as radioactivity causes people to mutate into parrots, wardrobes and the titular cheap accommodation - yes, Spike Milligan clearly did write this. It's a bleak and funny mix of music hall gags and Samuel Beckett-style existentialism with a cast including the great Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Marty Feldman.
Phelim O'Neill, The Guardian, 16th May 2009What Peter Cook really thought about cuddly Dudley
Previously unshown out-takes from the infamously foul-mouthed 'Derek and Clive' recordings show the true extent of the animosity between Britain's most popular comedy pairing.
James Morrison, The Independent, 22nd December 2002What has Peter Cook been doing while Dudley has been cavorting with wet women? Evidently watching a lot of TV from the sound of Peter Cook And Co (LWT). He could not do better. It induces a state of manic depression highly conducive to comedy.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 15th September 1980The very title "Where Shall I Sit?" indicates what the show was attempting and why it was dropped. There is a certain uncertainty about it. A suggestion of L plates.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 13th March 1971Peter Cook seems hellbent on antagonising his audience and succeeds. "Long may I remain an amateur" was his final, defiant cry, but Where Shall I Sit? suggests he doesn't give a damn about his audience. And I don't suppose he does.
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian, 27th February 1971