Peter Cattell

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Peter Cattell
Cattell on the set of VSB News at 10, 1973
Born	Peter Fransisco Cattell May 6, 1923 (1923-05-06) (age 85) Umberstraad, Frankfurt, Germany

1 Peter Cattell, (born 1923 - present)
2 Early Childhood
3 New York & Radio City
4 Style
5 Trivia

[edit] Peter Cattell, (born 1923 - present)

A five-time (local) Emmy award-winning journalist, he has been the main anchor for the VSB Channel Four News Team from 1954 to present.

[edit] Early Childhood

Cattell was born in the German township of Umberstraad and fondly recalls his early childhood as been a frivolous time, "summers spent skinny dipping in the near by Danjke fjord and chasing squirrels through the Hoberft Forest, the winters spent touring Belgium & France" with his Uncles performance circus.

However the outbreak of the second World War in 1939 saw the Cattells uproot and move to the safer surroundings of Hoboken New Jersey. Here 16 year old Peter enrolled in NJ Community College and when a chance opportunity to join the college radio station presented itself, Peter literally jumped feet first into the role! A former class mate remembers the day clearly , "Well, Peter was certainly a man about campus with an infectious joie de vie and an energy the classroom simply couldn't contain. When a hallway prank went horribly wrong, which saw Peter scissor kick then college news announcer Jimmy Calhown unconscious, he had no choice but to front that afternoons bulletin and I guess the rest is history". Peter quickly developed a taste for journalism & minor celebrity and when college broke for the fall a young but ambitious Cattell packed his bags and purchased a one way ticket to New York.

[edit] New York & Radio City

In New York Cattells career stalled somewhat after a now infamous incident in the hallways of Radio City, involving a young Liza Minelli, a goat and Cattell, then field reporter for an early version of Good Morning America. Cast from Radio City and with a reputation as a savvy journalist but equally as a master prankster, Cattell was viewed by some as a liability in a then conservative forum. However chance would once again have a part to play when Cattell, working as a 'skater waiter' for ""Al Grands Burger & Shake Roller-rink" in Hoboken served a visiting Bermudian entrepreneur, Arthur DeFonts who 1 year earlier had established a burgeoning VSB News Corp. Immediately recognising the raw talent in Cattell, De Fonts offered him a one year contract to front his new Newscast and with that Cattell was on the next steam ship to Bermuda. The year was 1954 and Cattell has never looked back.

[edit] Style

Oft described as "that rare but exciting breed, 2 parts archetypal 1960s mod, with his constant advocacy for free love, his use of obscure expressions and his clothing style, 1 part 1970s regional news Anchorman, delivering the news in a deadpan, irreverent format but with flashes of quick wit and zest for mischief" Cattell has cemented his spot as Bermudas premier newsreader and respected journalist. With his flamboyant ways and never-changing dress-sense, he has endeared himself to the Bermuda public during a career that has spanned over a half century and he is widely regarded as a major celebrity on the Island.

Cattell has stayed true to his roots though and visits Germany every other year, delighting in the frivolity of once again chasing squirrels through the Hoberft and skinny dipping in the Danjke, though this led to the threat of minor charges being pressed in 1998, which were later reduced to a caution from local police. He also maintains a close bond with New York, his early 'stomping ground' and continues to write satirical pieces for the New Yorker and to date has made 8 appearances on the popular Letterman show.

[edit] Trivia

Some of his abilities include a kind of hypnosis he learned in India from Guru Shastri, "a chaste man, who died from a disease that had all the hallmarks of syphilis." He is also fluent in Russian, Flemish & Spanish but has often cited a difficulty with the English language as been an ongoing struggle. He has a great fondness for a good glass of scotch whisky, poetry, and refers to his fists as Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary, though he laughed off suggestions he had also named his penis 'The Octagon'.