Pete McCarthy

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Pete McCarthy (born Peter Charles McCarthy Robinson) (November 9, 1951 - October 6, 2004), was a British broadcaster and successful travel writer.

1 Biography
2 Radio Credits
3 Television Credits
4 External links

[edit] Biography

He was born in Warrington, then in Lancashire but now part of Cheshire, in the north of England, the son of an Irish mother and an English father. He went to West Park School, which was run by Christian Brothers, a teaching order he never forgave for their treatment of him at school. When he was 14, he decided to become a writer, but instead ended up in the comedy buisness after going to the University of Leicester, teaching and travelling. He co-founded the Cliffhanger Theatre in Brighton. He used his mother's maiden name, McCarthy, to avoid confusion with another comedy writer and actor named Peter Robinson. His popularity increased as he wrote comedy scripts for Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. He then went on a comedy tour of Britain and Australia with Roger McGough.

In 1990 his comic performance about the conseqences of drink entitled The Hangover Show, received the Critics' Award for Best Comedy as well as a nomination for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival.

He then began presenting programs on BBC Radio 4. His most successful radio show was X Marks the Spot, which he presented. Along with his radio programs, he presented a travel program on Channel 4 called Travelog. He later described this as a marvelous experience, enabling him to travel across the globe.

His television career after that included Country Tracks on BBC 2 and The Pier on Meridian Television. One of his most popular series was Desperately Seeking Something, a look at various spiritual movements.

In 2002, he won the Newcomer of the Year award at the British Book Awards and the humorous travel book, McCarthy's Bar (ISBN 0-312-31133-8), sold over a million copies. This first book was about his travels around Ireland in search of identity. He followed with The Road to McCarthy (ISBN 0-00-716212-X) about his travels to remote places around the world in search of Irish connections, culminating in tiny McCarthy, Alaska. He had planned a third book in the series, looking at Northern Ireland.

He was diagnosed with cancer early in 2004, and died of the disease in October of that year at the age of just 52. After his death, his old friend Roger McGough wrote a poem about him called November the Fifth.